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The Social Science Research Center Berlin: organizational learning as a research and institutional project
Author(s) -
Antal Ariane Berthoin,
Kocka Jürgen
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
european management review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.784
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1740-4762
pISSN - 1740-4754
DOI - 10.1057/emr.2008.2
Subject(s) - research center , discipline , institution , sociology , organizational learning , politics , center (category theory) , china , empirical research , public relations , political science , social science , management , epistemology , philosophy , chemistry , law , economics , crystallography
This article describes an academic institution that is committed to conducting problem‐oriented basic research, a combination that is unusual in Europe, if not the world. After sketching the history of the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) and the development of its diverse research areas, a large empirical project is presented to illustrate the kinds of studies undertaken there by scholars working across disciplinary and national boundaries. We describe and reflect on how the team explored organizational learning in the People's Republic of China, the Federal Republic of Germany and Israel, and summarize some key findings. We conclude by looking at how the WZB itself engages in organizational learning to respond to or stay ahead of changes in its socio‐political as well as its academic environment.