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Creating a School Without Walls and Building a Learning Organization: A Case Study
Author(s) -
Frankl Spencer N.,
GibbonsCarr Michele
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of dental education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.53
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1930-7837
pISSN - 0022-0337
DOI - 10.1002/j.0022-0337.2001.65.11.tb03485.x
Subject(s) - learning organization , action learning , organizational learning , knowledge management , organization development , action (physics) , sociology , management , pedagogy , cooperative learning , teaching method , computer science , physics , quantum mechanics , economics
This article describes the genesis of a “school without walls” philosophy and the implementation of learning organization principles at Boston University School of Dental Medicine (BUSDM). In Peter Senge's five‐discipline approach to organizational learning, a learning organization is defined as “an organization that is continually expanding its capacity to create its future.” It is an organization that changes and innovates based on continuous learning, which in BUSDM's case constituted learning from industry trends, patients, students, staff, faculty, and other key stakeholders. Most important, such organizations successfully translate that learning into effective action. It is this capacity to innovate and create change that is critical to competitive advantage and success in a changing environment. This case study of organizational change provides a discussion of the conceptual framework guiding the design and implementation of the learning organization and the chronology of transformation that occurred in three phases over a period of twenty years. We also describe the lessons we learned and the lessons that are still emerging.