Presentation on IST's Seminars on Innovation, Dec 4th, 2012

1. INNOVATION AND
ORGANIZATIONAL
LEARNING
Artur Ferreira da Silva
artur.silva@ist.utl.pt
SIDS/IST
2012, December 03

2. INNOVATION AND
ORGANIZATIONAL
LEARNING
Content
A dialogic presentation with no PPT’s
Additional materials:
• PPT presentation (to see after the session)
• Takeuchi et al, “The Contraditions that drive
Toyota sucess”
AFS - IST SIDS 2012

3. INNOVATION AND
ORGANIZATIONAL
LEARNING
Note:
 PowerPoint Is Evil
Power Corrupts. PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutely.
By Edward Tufte
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html
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4. Levels of Concern
WORLD
NATION
ORGANIZATION /
COMMUNITY
GROUP
INDIVIDUAL
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5. At all Levels – Domains of Concern
RESILIENCE
META-INNOVATION
INNOVATION
LEARNING/CHANGE
KNOWLEDGE
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6. Other Domains of Concern
• Values
• Culture
• Complexity
• Chaos Theory
• Self-organization
• Emergence
• Paradigms
• Metanoia
• …
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7. ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
 What does “Learning” means?
 “Impart of Knowledge” or Knowledge Creation?
 Learning by socialization in a community?
 Life-long Learning?
 All work is learning? (learning by doing, reflective
practice)
 Incremental Learning Vs. Deep Learning
 Piaget, Khun, Argyris, Schön
 Learning and Unlearning (of obsolete
“knowledge”)
 Learn how to Learn
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8. ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
 Learning (L) and Knowledge (K)
 L = dK/dt (not an exact mathematic formula)
 Learning is “Knowledge Creation”
 Explicit Knowledge (Know what) Vs. Tacit
Knowledge (Know how)
 It’s neither possible nor interesting to manage
knowledge; one must create an organizational
context that facilitates knowledge creation
(adapted from Von Krogh et all, 2000 - see also
Wilson, 2002, “The Nonsense of KM”)
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9. ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
(Argyris & Schon)
 Many organizations understand that they
need to learn
but
 The great majority of organizations have
big difficulties in change their “mental
models” in order to deep learn (they have
‘learning disabilities’)
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10. ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
(Argyris & Schon)
 Single Loop Learning Vs Double Loop Learning
governing
action consequences
variables
Single-loop learning
Double-loop learning
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11. ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
 Learning and Change
 Type 1 and Type 2 Change (Watzlavick)
 All deep Learning implies Change and all deep
Change implies Learning
 Deep Change and deep Learning involves a
Paradigm Shift (Khun) or a Metanoia (Alberoni)
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12. ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
 Learning and Innovation
 Innovation involves the creation of new applicable
knowledge, hence it involves learning
 Breakthrough Innovation needs double-loop
Learning
 Both imply new ways to see learning and
innovation (meta-learning, meta-innovation)
 Both need a new paradigm of resilient
organizations, in a resilient and sustainable
world, more close to real people and to nature
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13. INNOVATION & META-INNOVATION
«(…) Really, what we need is “meta-innovation” –
innovation about ways to innovate. (…) We need
innovation not just in the technology but innovation
in (…) the institutions that manage the
collaboration and that manage a global
community working on problems. The question
is: Is there a way that we can create an institution or
a set of institutions where the right answers
emerge consistently from collaborative efforts?
(…)».
Erik Brynfolson, “Beyond Enterprise 2.0”
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14. INNOVATION & META-INNOVATION
«(…) I’m not saying that the complete level
playing field that the Internet makes possible
is a great idea in all cases. But the business
opportunity it presents is to create the
architecture of participation – the ground
rules of the game – so that the good
material emerges. (…)».
Andrew McAfee, “Beyond Enterprise 2.0”
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15. INNOVATION & META-INNOVATION
Innovate
PLAN OF
INNOVATION Sharing Creating Justifying Building Cross-
Tacit a a a -Levelling
Knowledge Concept Concept Prototype Knowledge
Source: Adapted to Innovation by AFS, from Van Krogh et al. (2000). AFS - IST SIDS 2012

16. INNOVATION & META-INNOVATION
META-PLAN
(Cultivate a Context Enable Innovation
that Enables
Instill a Manage Mobilize Create the Globalize
Innovation) Knowledge Conversa- Knowledge Right Local
Vision tions Activists Context Knowledge
Innovate
PLAN OF
INNOVATION Creating Building
Sharing Justifying Cross-
Tacit a a a -Levelling
Knowledge Concept Concept Prototype Knowledge
Source: Adapted to Innovation by AFS, from Van Krogh et al. (2000). AFS - IST SIDS 2012

17. INNOVATION & META-INNOVATION
META-META-PLAN Change the Way to Think about Enabling
(Paradigm Shift or Innovation: Patterns for Organizational
Metanoia – multiple Resilience – Some Exemples
Enabling Patterns) 1) Combine incremental/planned change & learning with
transformational/emergent change, learning & innovation;
2) Use Open Space Technology - that facilitates both
META-PLAN
Enable Innovation
(Cultivate a Context
that Enables Instill a Manage Mobilize Create the Globalize
Innovation) Knowledge Conversa- Knowledge Right Local
Vision tions Activists Context Knowledge
Innovation
PLAN OF
INNOVATION Sharing Creating Justifying Building Cross-
Tacit a a a -Levelling
Knowledge Concept Concept Prototype Knowledge
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18. INNOVATION & META-INNOVATION
META-META-PLAN
(Paradigm Shift or Metanoia:
Change the way we think
about Innovation, Learning and Change )
META-PLAN
(Cultivate a Context
that Enables
Innovation)
PLAN OF
INNOVATION
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19. How to promote Organizational
Metanoia
 A Value based Organization
 Respect for people and diversity
 Action Research and Reflexive Practice at all
levels
 OST – Open Space Technology (Owen, 1997)
 WW OST NING http://openspaceworld.ning.com/
 OST Institute of Portugal – http://www.instituto-
ost.pt/
 Creativity Culture (Robinson, 2011)
 Presencing (Scharmer, 2000, 2006 )
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20. PRESENCING
 Dialog on Leadership
 Bill O’Brian: «The success of the intervention
depends on the interior conditions of the
intervener» (Scharmer, 2000).
 «Presencing: the process of coming-into-being of
emerging futures» (Scharmer, 2000).
 «The experience of presencing is twofold: co-
creating and giving birth to a new reality and, at
the same time, being transformed and born into a
new world by the very same process» (Scharmer,
2000).
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21. PRESENCING
The U-Theory
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22. PRESENCING – TWO MODELS
OF LEARNING
From Past Experiences From the Emerging Future
Observe Seeing
Reflect Act Sensing Enacting
Plan Presencing
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23. Long-living (resilient) Companies
(Shell Study): Learning Companies
Arie de Geus, 1988, 1997
 Long-living Companies (200-700 years) versus the
majority (30-40 years for “Fortune 500” companies)
 The first ones are able to adapt and survive the
competition in their “eco-system” with the same
identity (a form of “natural selection”) – hence they
are able to learn and change (they are “learning
companies”) and they are “resilient”
 From the Shell study, long-living companies are:
 “Sensitive to their environment” (open, learning)
 “Cohesive, with a strong sense of identity” (have a
“persona”)
 “Tolerant” (also used “decentralized”)
 “Conservative inIST SIDS 2012
AFS -
Finance”

24. Organizations, Communities and
Societies “Life Cycles” (Greiner, 1988,
adapted by Gómez-Pallete, 1995)
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25. The Sigmoide Curve ( Handy,
1994)
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26. The Sigmoide Curve:
Consequences
 Companies normally understand the need to change
their business model at point B
 But then it is too late – they no longer have neither
the resources nor the energy
 There is no way to define where the correct point to
begin a new life cycle (point A) is located
 The only solution is to be resilient that is to undergo
deep changes without or prior to a crisis (Hamel and
Välikangas, 2003)
 This implies an “Architecture for Resilience”
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27. An Architecture for Resilience
 Combine incremental change with
transformational emergent change
 Be prepared for the possibility of transformational
change, before it is too late (Handy’s point B) – be
prepared to be surprised!
 Have a culture of double-loop learning and
breakthrough innovation, not only on products, but
also on structures and policies
 Try multiple patterns of innovation until one (or
some) emerge(s) as the correct one(s)
 Have adequate meeting procedures – Open
Space Technology is the most powerful as it
enhances self-organization and emergence
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28. BIBLIOGRAPHY (1)
 Alberoni, F., 1990, Génese, Bertrand Editora, Lda.
 Alexander, C., 1979, The Timeless Way of Building, Oxford University Press
 Alexander, C., et all, 1977, A Pattern Language – Towns, Buildings, Construction, Oxford
University Press
 Argyris, C. and Schön, D., 1974, Theory in Practice – Increasing Professional Effectiveness, San
Francisco, Jossey-Bassey Publishers.
 Argyris, C. and Schön, D., 1996, Organizational Learning II – Theory, Method and Practice,
Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
 Arthur, W.B., 1991, “What Counts is Where You’re Coming From In Your Inner Self”, conversation
with J. Jaworsky, G. Jusela and C.O. Scharmer. Available: www.dialogonleadership.org
(8/5/2007).
 Brynjolfsson, E. and Mc.Afee, A., 2007, “Beyond Enterprise 2.0”, Special Report: The Future of
the Web, Sloan Management Review, Spring, pp.50-55.
 Dialog on Leadership, 2001. Available: http://www.presencing.com/presencing/dol/ (2/12/2012).
 de Geus, A., 1988, “Planning as Learning”, Harvard Business Review, March-April, pp.70-74.
 de Geus, A., 1997, The Living Company – Growth, Learning and Longevity in Business, Harvard
Business School Press.
 Gómez-Pallete, F., 1995, La Evolución de las Organizaciones, Noesis, Madrid
 Greiner, L. E., 1988, Evolution and Revolution as organizations grow. HBR, May
 Kaufman, F. e Senge, P., 1993, Communities of Commitment: the Heart of the Learning
Organization, Organizational Dynamics, Autumn
 Kuhn, T., 1962, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 3rd ed. (1996), The University of Chicago
Press, USA.
 Lao Tse, 1989, Tao te King, 4ª ed., Editorial Estampa.
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29. BIBLIOGRAPHY (2)
 Hamel, G., and Välikangas, L., 2003, The Quest for Resilience, HBR, September: 52-63
 Handy, C., 1994, The Age of Paradox, HBS, Boston, UAS
 Instituto OST, 2009, http://www.instituto-ost.pt/ (12/12/2010)
 Nonaka, I. and Takeuchi, N., 1995, The Knowledge-Creating Company – How Japanese
Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation, Oxford University Press, USA.
 Owen, H., 1990, “Learning as Transformation – The evolution of Consciousness”. Available:
http://ho-image.com/learnTrans.htm (8/5/2007).
 Owen, H., 1997, Open Space Technology – A User’s Guide, 2nd ed., Berrett-Koehler Publishers,
Inc.
 OST World Wide Community NING, 2009, http://openspaceworld.ning.com/ (12/12/2010)
 Robinson, Ken, 2011, Out of Our Minds – Learning to be Creative, Capstone, Chicester, UK, 2nd
ed.
 Scharmer, O., 2000, “Presencing: Learning from the Future as It Emerges. On the Tacit Dimension
of Leading Revolutionary change”, Conference on Knowledge and Innovation, May 25-26,
Helsinki School of Economics, Finland. Available: http://otto.scharmer.com (8/5/2007).
 Scharmer, O., 2005, “A New Social Technology for Transforming Capitalism and Deepening
Democracy” Voices from the Edge”, presentation recorded live at Foxhollow Forum , MA (2005).
Available: http://www.wie.org/unbound/media.asp?id=78 (8/5/2007).
 Scharmer, O., 2006, “Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges. Fieldnotes: an online
Newsletter of the Shambhala Institute for Authentic Leadership”, Setp.-Oct. Available:
http://otto.scharmer.com (8/5/2007).
 Schön, D., 1983, The Reflective Practitioner – How Professionals Think in Action, Basic Books.
 Senge, P., Scharmer, C.O, Jaworski, J. and Flowers, B.S., 2005, Presence – Exploring Profound Change in
People, Organizations and Society, Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
 Smith, M. K., 2001 “Chris Argyris: theories of action, double-loop learning and organizational learning”,
the encyclopedia of informal education. Available: www.infed.org/thinkers/argyris.htm (8/5/2007).
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30. BIBLIOGRAPHY (3)
 Van Krogh, G., Ichijo, K. and Nonaka, I., 2000, Enabling Knowledge Creation – How to Unlock the
Mystery of Tacit Knowledge and Release the Power of Innovation, Oxford University Press.
 von Hippel, E. (1976). The dominant role of users in the scientific instrument innovation process.
Research Policy, 5(3), 212-239 . (http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/papers/evh-01.htm)
 von Hippel, E., 2001, Innovation by User Communities: Learning from Open-Source Software. MIT
Sloan Management Review, 42(4), 82 (http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/papers/evh-04.htm)
 von Hippel, E., 2005, Democratizing Innovation, MIT Press (also Creative Commons License:
http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/democ1.htm
 Watzlawick, P., Weakland, J. and Fisch, R., 1974, Change – Principles of Problem Formation and
Problem Transformation, New York, Norton Inc, tradução em castelhano (1985) Cambio, Barcelona,
Ed. Harder.
 Wenger, E., 1998, Communities of Practice – Learning, Meaning and Identity, Cambridge University
Press.
 Wenger, E., McDermott, R. and Snyder, W., 2002, Cultiving Communities of Practice, Harvard
Business School Press.
 Wilson, T.,2002A,The Nonsense of Knowledge Management, http://informationr.net/ir/8-
1/paper144.html
 Wilson, T., 2002B,The Nonsense of Knowledge Management (presentation)
http://dcti.iscte.pt/eibd/seminarios/20031018_Tom_Wilson/KM_dissent2.pdf
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