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OLKC2020: Organisational Learning, Knowledge and Capabilities
A C Meyers Vaenge 15
Copenhagen, Denmark, April 21-24, 2020
Conference websitehttp://www.olkc2020.aau.dk
Submission linkhttps://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=olkc2020
Abstract registration deadlineDecember 1, 2019
Notification of acceptanceApril 1, 2020
Submission deadlineApril 1, 2020
Topics: action research organizational learning sustainability organizational development


We are delighted to announce that the Call for Papers for the Organisational Learning, Knowledge and Capabilities (OLKC) 2020 Conference is now open.


The aim of the conference is to explore, discuss, consolidate and contribute to the development of studies of organizational learning, knowledge and innovation.
OLKC is an annual multidisciplinary conference, which dates back to 1996. It began as one of the initial forums where researchers interested in innovation, collective knowledge and how to integrate organisational capabilities could meet and debate the latest research and issues of interest.
In April 2020, the University of Aalborg has the honour of hosting the conference on our campus located in the centre of Copenhagen, Denmark. The OLKC 2020 will take place over four days (21-24 April), the first two days consisting of the Doctoral Symposium and the Welcome Reception. Details of the conference, including topics, convenors, and social events can be found at the conference website.

Featured speakers

  • Bente Elkjaer, Professor in Learning with special focus on Organzational Learning and Work Place Learning, Aarhus University, DK
  • Hillary Bradbury, Professor of Division of Management, OHSU (Oregon Health Sciences University), US
  • Steen Hildebrandt, Professor Emeritus of Organization and Leadership, Aarhus University, DK
  • Barbara Simpson, Professor of Work, Employment and Organisation, University of Strathclyde, SC

Key dates

  • December 1. 2019 – Deadline to submit abstracts to general and thematic tracks, as well as abstracts for contributions to the Doctoral Symposium
  • February 7. 2019 – Notification of acceptance
  • April 1. 2019 – Deadline to submit full papers
  • April 21-24, 2019 – Conference

Conference structure
In line with the OLKC theme ‘Bridging organizational learning’, the conference presents different
tracks – A General track and a number of Thematic tracks.

Tracks:

In line with the OLKC theme ‘Bridging organizational learning’, the conference presents different tracks – A General track and a number of Thematic tracks.

General track

The General track invites submissions broadly concerned with questions of organisational learning, knowledge, innovation and the capabilities that organisations foster or require for operationalising these.

Bridging research and practice through organizational learning is the theme of OLKC 2020 – bridging diverse practices, organisations, people and disciplines in order to explore new perceptions of organizational learning with the intension of creating organizations and companies that are ready for the challenges of the third decade of the 21st century. At the conference, we want to explore the possible positive outcomes of relating and connecting theoretical and practical understandings of organizational learning in new ways. An “out-of-the-box” thinking, to other disciplines, other professional fields and other areas of production, is necessary as new understandings of organizational learning is needed in order to support sustainable organizational development – understandings that can grasp the increasing complexity of the impending decade.

Thematic tracks invite contributions that focus on a specific aspect within the field of organizational
learning, in order to survey and build the community, as well as to share latest thinking around
questions pertaining to the track. For OLKC 2020, we are excited to invite contributions to the
following thematic tracks.

  1. Sustainable organizational development
  2. Crafting sustainable organizations based on action-oriented and collaborative approaches to organizational learning
  3. Inter-organizational learning: Where are we now and where are we going?

1. Sustainable organizational development
At the UN General Assembly in 2015, the member states adopted Resolution 70/1, "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development". The resolution describes 17 goals for global sustainable development, also known as the Sustainable Development Goals or simply SDG’s (United Nations, 2015). More or less, every country in the world have subsequently strived to translate the SDG’s into concrete practice. However, the latest survey has shown that none of the UN member states at the moment are meeting the set targets, and the researchers stresses that all countries face massive challenges restructuring policies but also the organizational landscape if they are to reach the defined goals by 2030 (Sachs et al. 2018).
Transition to more sustainable modes of production is a as a set social task for modern enterprises if we are to ensure that future generation will enjoy the same possibilities to fulfill their needs as our generation does. Hovewer, companies also bears responsibility to owners, shareholders, employees and the community in which the company is located. Thus, successful sustainable transition require that companies find ways to combine sustainable restructuring and business development (Economy, 2016. EU, 2018; B&SDC, 2017). However, research indicates that most companies struggle to adopt a more sustainable model of production (Johnson, 2015; Verboven & Vanherck, 2016; Pinelli & Maiolini, 2017). Thus, more research in sustainable organizational development is needed in order to support the essential turnaround of modern organizations.
In this track, we invite empirical and theoretical papers that explore organizational sustainability initiatives in relation to organizational development and organizational learning. The thematic track is chaired by Associate Professor Nikolaj Stegeager.
References

  • Business & Sustainable Development Commission (B&SDC) (2017). Better Business, Better World – The report of the Business & Sustainable Development Commission. Tilgængelig på: http://report.businesscommission.org/uploads/BetterBiz-BetterWorld_170215_012417.pdf [2019, 23-04-2019].
  • Economy, N. C. (2016). The sustainable infrastructure imperative: financing for better growth and development. London, UK. Tilgængelig på: http://newclimateeconomy.report/2016/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2014/08/NCE_2016Report.pdf [2019, 23-04-2019].
  • EU (2018). A Clean Planet for all - A European long-term strategic vision for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate neutral economy. Tilgængelig på: https://ec.europa.eu/clima/sites/clima/files/docs/pages/com_2018_733_analysis_in_support_en_0.pdf [2019, 23-04-2019].
  • Johnson, M. P. (2015). Sustainability management and small and medium‐sized enterprises: Managers' awareness and implementation of innovative tools. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 22(5), pp. 271-285.
  • Pinelli, M., & Maiolini, R. (2017). Strategies for Sustainable Development: Organizational Motivations, Stakeholders' Expectations and Sustainability Agendas. Sustainable Development, 25(4), pp. 288-298.
  • Sachs, J., Schmidt-Traub, G., Kroll, C., Lafortune, G., Fuller, G. (2018). SDG Index and Dashboards Report 2018. New York: Bertelsmann Stiftung and Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).
  • United Nations. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly.
  • Verboven, H., & Vanherck, L. (2016). Sustainability management of SMEs and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. uwf UmweltWirtschaftsForum, 24(2-3), pp. 165-178.

2. Crafting sustainable organizations based on action-oriented and collaborative approaches to organizational learning
In a time of increasing complexity, individualization and fragmentation, we need to create spaces and communities for identifying and addressing urgent complex organizational problems in order to develop and rethink the ways in which we do organizing. In addition, we need to figure out how to create sustainability in our work life. This track puts emphasis on action research and related collaborative approaches to organizational research where the researcher is engaged in future-forming activities and acts as an agent for change. Action research-oriented approaches, e.g. action research and action learning, are based on democratic participation, research and action (Bradbury, 2015; Greenwood and Levin, 2007). These approaches offer common spaces for creating innovative and sustainable ways of navigating from within the organization itself building on the collaboration between multiple voices and multiple perspectives (Hersted, Ness and Frimann, 2019). In terms of research, collaborative and action-oriented approaches to organizational learning and knowledge creation bridges theory and practice, action, dialogue and reflexivity in order to co-create new knowledge, new ways of organizing and new solutions to complex organizational or environmental challenges.
We invite papers based on a variety of perspectives within action research or related forms of collaborative research, including some of the following:

  • Bridgebuilding between theory and practice in action-oriented approaches to organizational learning.
  • Co-creation of sustainable ways of learning and organizing.
  • Theoretical papers targeting issues of action research based and other collaborative approaches to organizational learning and research.
  • Case studies applying action research and other collaborative approaches focusing on organizational learning, collaborative knowledge creation and relational research in organizations.

This thematic track is chaired by Associate Professor Søren Frimann and Assistnat professor Lone Hersted. The track is connected to a Special issue of Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management titled Opening a Window on Action Research. Emerald Publishing Limited (Emerald).

References

  • Bradbury, H., ed. (2015). The Sage Handbook of Action Research. 3rd edition. London: Sage.
  • Bradbury, H. and AR+ Associates (2017). Cooking with Action Research: Resources for Self and Community Transformation. Kindle Edition. Retrieved from www.amazon.com
  • Greenwood, D. J. and M. Levin. 2007. Introduction to Action Research: Social Research for Social Change. 2nd ed. London: Sage.
  • Hersted, L., Ness, O. and Frimann, S. (2019) Action Research in a Relational Perspective -
  • Dialogue, Reflexivity, Power and Ethics. New York & London: Routledge.
  • Madsen, C. Ø., Larsen, M.V., Hersted, L. and Rasmussen, J.G. (2018). Relational Research and Organization Studies. New York & London: Routledge
  • McNamee, S. and Hosking, D. M. (2013). Research and Social Change. New York & London: Routledge.

3. Inter-organizational learning: Where are we now and where are we going?
The decision for organizations to open up and search for outside knowledge – or to create new knowledge together with external partners – can be investigated from many theoretical perspectives. This thematic track is dedicated to advance our current understanding of this important phenomena from an interorganizational learning perspective. The argument is that interorganizational learning is increasingly becoming a relevant theme because of its potential: it is recognized to create opportunities and outcomes that individual organizations cannot leverage and achieve by themselves (Bruneel et al., 2010; Schulz and Geithner, 2010;). This potential is relevant not only for private organizations (van Winkelen, 2010; Argote, 2011; Martins, 2016; OECD, 2018) but also because of global tendencies such as the increase in collective impact projects (Kania and Kramer, 2011) and increase in co-production activities stemming from the Collaborative Governance wave (Bevir, 2013; Brandsen et al., 2018). Based on this premise, it is more important than ever to study interorganizational learning and also its connection to organizational learning. More precisely, a better understanding is needed of how knowledge is created, transferred and intertwined between and within organizations to create value; both for the individual organization and its partners (Holmqvist, 2003; Greve, 2005; Brix, 2017). Studying the organizing around the processes of exploration and exploitation and the roles required by the people taking part in this ‘two-level-game’ is hence important (Beeby and Booth, 2000; Mariotti, 2012). This thematic track is chaired by Associate Professor Jacob Brix. The track is connected to a special issue that will be published in The Learning Organization (Emerald Journal).
References

  • Argote, L. (2011), ”Organizational learning research: Past, present and future”, Management learning, Vol. 42 No. 4, pp. 439-446.
  • Beeby, M. and Booth, C. (2000), “Networks and inter-organizational learning: a critical review”, The Learning Organization, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 75-88.
  • Bevir, M. (Ed.). (2013). The SAGE Handbook of Governance. Sage, London, United Kingdom.
  • Brandsen, T., Steen, T. and Verschuere, B. (Eds.) (2018). Co-production and Co-creation: Engaging Citizens in Public Services. Routledge, London, United Kingdom.
  • Brix, J. (2017), ”Exploring knowledge creation processes as a source of organizational learning: A longitudinal case study of a public innovation project”, Scandinavian Journal of Management, Vol. 33 No. 2, pp. 113-127.
  • Bruneel, J., Yli‐Renko, H. and Clarysse, B. (2010), ”Learning from experience and learning from others: how congenital and interorganizational learning substitute for experiential learning in young firm internationalization”, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 164-182.
  • Greve, H.R. (2005), ”Interorganizational learning and heterogeneous social structure”, Organization Studies, Vol. 26 No. 7, pp. 1025-1047.
  • Holmqvist, M. (2003), “A dynamic model of intra-and interorganizational learning”, Organization Studies, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 95-123.
  • Kania, J. and Kramer, M. (2011), “Collective impact”. Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter Issue, pp.36-41.
  • Martins, J. T. (2016), “Relational capabilities to leverage new knowledge: Managing directors’ perceptions in UK and Portugal old industrial regions”, The Learning Organization, Vol. 23 No. 6, pp. 398-414.
  • Mariotti, F. (2012), ”Exploring interorganizational learning: a review of the literature and future directions”, Knowledge and Process Management, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 215-221.
  • Schulz, K. P. and Geithner, S. (2010), ”Between exchange and development: organizational learning in schools through inter-organizational networks”, The Learning Organization, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 69-85.
  • van Winkelen, C. (2010), “Deriving value from inter-organizational learning collaborations”, The Learning Organization, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 8-23.

More information and deadlines will appear on the general website of the OLKC 2019.

There is currently room for more thematic tracks. If you are interested in hosting a thematic track please write us at olkc2020@learning.aau.dk with a title and a short description of the theme and your track will be included in the second call for papers coming shortly after the summer break.

Please submit an extended abstract (1800 words excluding references) by December 1st, 2019. Acceptance notification will be sent by 7th Febuary 2020. Full papers (5,000-7,000 words) will be due by 1st April 2020. Abstracts and papers can be submitted via the conference website. All papers must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another journal or conference. Submission Guidelines are available at the conference website.  Content in the conference website will be added as the event develops and we invite you to check for updates from time to time.

Doctoral Workshop (PhD and DBA) - Organizational learning in a changing world – Tomorrows’ solutions for the problems of today
In this Ph.D. course we will focus on how organizations need to change in order to address the challenges of tomorrow and how research can help promote this change.
The challenge of tomorrow truly calls for interdisciplinary approaches and understandings. Thus, we invite Ph.D. students from all field of study that are interested in bringing about organizational change to participate in the course. However, the focus of the course will center on concrete action – namely how to bring about actual organizational change through participative, interdisciplinary research.
This PhD course intends to introduce, explore and critically reflect upon different methodological approaches to the study organizational change. The course will take up discussions and explorations into how one can include understandings of global challenges and organizational change in interdisciplinary research.
We invite submissions for our doctoral workshop, which will take place at the University of Aalborg, Campus Copenhagen on 21st and 22nd April 2020. All students participating in the doctoral workshop will be eligible to attend the main conference without additional charge (except conference dinner). The Workshop will provide the opportunity for students to engage with experienced researchers from the OLKC community.

An extended abstract of 1000 words should be set out under 7 sub-headings: Objectives, Research methods, (expected) Findings, Research implications, Practical implications, Originality, Key references.
You will then be required to submit a paper of 4000 words by 16st March, following the same format as the abstract. You should also include an additional section (no more than 300 words) outlining the main challenges you currently facing in your doctoral studies.

List of Topics

  • Action research
  • Organizational learning
  • Organizational development
  • Sustainability
  • Complex organizational problems

Committees

 committee

  • Associate Professor Nikolaj Stegeager
  • Associate Professor Anja O. Thomassen
  • Associate Professor Søren Friman
  • Assistant Professor Mogens Sparre
  • Assistant Professor Lone Hersted
  • External Lecturer Nikolaj Klee
  • Conference secretary Jeanette Arboe

Venue

The conference will be held at Aalborg Univercity in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Adress: A.C Meyers Vaenge 15, 2450 Copenhagen

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to Conference Secretary Jeanette Arboe olkc2020@learning.aau.dk

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