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Introduction

T his article sets out a prospectus for facilitat-

ing learning, development and research by

means of an organizationally integrated frame-

work of action learning, suppor ted by inter-

net-based resources and tu tored sessions inthe workplace. T he themed approach, devel-

oped in response to corporate needs and

aspirations, provides a uniquely crafted learn-

ing framework which is derived from a generic

curriculum and augmented to address indu s-

try and corporate specialisms and themes. T he

theming is derived from: an internet Forum;

an experiential knowledge base (distributed by

internet and intranet); the assessment

approach and the concept of a long-term

learning partnership between a corporate

client and International Man agement C entres(IMC) . T he article is underpinned by the

work of Gordon Wills and especially his book

Your Enterprise School of M anagementwhich

contends that managers learn best at work:My p roposition is that each and every enterprise

mu st institutionalize its workplace learning

systems and opp ortu nities in such a way that it

radiates what it has already achieved, and from

such a well-understood p latform moves on to

realize its full poten tial. There can be no self-

dou bts. T he enterpr ise itself is the key. T here is

no o ther cost-effective way to motivate man -

agers to learn, or to p rovide the oppor tunities tolearn, that are the inescapable requirements for

todays and tomorrows successful enterpr ise

(Wills, 1993 , p. 9).

International Management Centres (IMC) in

conjunction with Un iversities in Australia and

the UK (for example, the alliance between the

Un iversity of Surrey and IM C is known as

Surrey IMC) p rovide an integrated resource

dedicated to supporting the aspirations of

industry, commerce, the professions and adu lt

learners in the wider field of continuing educa-

tion. T he learning resource encompasses

action learning, applied and basic research and

learner support p rovided by MC B University

Press, Anbar Electronic Intelligence and the

British Library. IMC is dedicated to suppor t-

ing life-long learning and corporate aspirations

to become a learning organization. To sup-

port these goals, IMC aims to establish long-

term learning partnerships with organizations

and to work with them in building and main-

taining in-company learning networks.

T he article considers the concept andvision of a learning organization and reviews

the role of teamworking in enact ing change

and sustaining innovation. T he value and

poten tial of workplace action learning is

95

Journal of W orkplace Learning

Volume 10 Number 2 1998 pp. 95121

M CB Un iv ersi ty Press I SSN 1 36 6- 56 26

Part I IDeve loping acurriculum for

organizationa l learningRichard E. Teare

The authorRichard E. Tea re is Forte Professor, Universit y of Surrey,

Guildf ord, Surrey, UK.

Abstract

Addresses the agenda for learning, development and

research by presenting an organizational fram ewo rk for

action learning, supported by internet-based resources

and tut ored sessions in the w orkplace. Outlines a them ed

approach, developed in response to corporate needs and

aspirations, w hich is derived from a generic curriculum and

augment ed to address industry issues and corporate

specialisms.


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assessed in relation to the hospitality indu stry

and the Hospitality and Tourism Global

Forum on th e Internet provides a means of

distributing interactive learning resources

worldwide. T he concept of industry and

corporate theming is also illustrated in this

section with reference to the Airport Business

Forum and BAA Plc, the airpor t owner and

operator. Industry applications in the form of

project-based assignments and assessment

and a broader interface for learning, develop-

ment and research are used to explain and

illustrate the dynamics of partnerships

between IM C and its clients.

A vision of t he learning orga nizat ion

An organizations rate of learn ing must be equa l

to or greater than the rate of change in its exter-

nal environment (or : L > = C) (Reg Revans)

A recent report from th e Henley Cen tre

commissioned by T he Joint Hospitality

Industry Con gress (JH IC) reflects the scale of

the change agenda and the challenges facing

industry:

T he challenge:

to be flexible, convenient, good value, cus-

tom made, accessible, safe and in touch with th e

consumer

to be un ified, professional, informed, inn ov-

ative and inspired

(Vision for the Future, JH IC Report, June 1996).

In respond ing to change, a growing number of

organizations are seeking to embed a culture

of continuous learning and development,

characterized by:Con tinuous improvement (team s, recognizing

achievements)

H um an resource development

(recognizing that learning is an investment n ot a

cost)

Encouraging a commitment to learnPrototyping radical ideas (thinking and acting

differently)

T he character istics of learning organizations

and some of the array of evidence that organi-

zations improve and learn by doing provide

a basis for interpreting the role of action learn-

ing in learning organization partnerships

(see Figure 1).

Organizat ional sources of lea rning

Enablers

(1) Policy and strategy:

Management have made a visible and

clear comm itment of their desire to

consciously man age learning in the

organization;

this commitment is backed by policy

and values statements;

systems and processes reinforce the

policy;

it is consistently referred to in compa-

ny commu nications;

resources are dedicated to making the

policy effective.

(2) Leadership: Leadership behaviours that

suppor t learning are defined and used in

appraisal, selection and promot ion they

might include:

coaching/mentoring of others;

defining and articulating a vision;

courageous, risk taking, empowering;

open-minded, experimenting, admit-

ting mistakes;

encouraging views/dissent;

visibly a learner personally;

collaborator/sharer, listener, seeker

and giver of feedback;

conscious/generous provider of learn-

ing opport unities.

(3) People management processes:

Feedback on performance is rigorous

and com plete not reliant on just one

input; both monetary and non-monetary

rewards encourage continual learning;

internal selection takes account of

learning needs recognizes the special

value of learning from experience;

where possible, roles are described in

ways which give people scope to grow

and experiment.

(4) Use of information technology:

People are connected electronically

and can both communicate and worktogether;

people have access to information

easily and simply, both in tern al and

relevant external;

experience and knowledge gained from

the past is captured and made available

to all;

people are able to use electronic inter-

active learning opportunities.

Environment

(1) A supportive culture:

People talk about learning naturally

(not just training) and bu ild it into

their daily way of working;

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Developing a curr iculum for organizat ional learning

Richard E. Teare


Volume 10 Number 2 1998 95121


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people take personal responsibility for

their learning and development an d

freely help others;

knowledge is not regarded as power

but freely shared;

people are open-minded, free to ques-

tion assumptions and to make mistakes

without recrimination;

time and money are committed and

regarded as a priority.

Learning

(1) Individual learning: Individuals take responsibility for their

own learning and development an d

can do so comp etently;

they have personal learning plans,

derived from an und erstanding of their

own needs and those of the business;

they understand their own learning

style and how to both choose and

ut ilize different learning options;

they are skilled at both giving and

receiving feedback;

they know how to use others, and help

others, in the learning process.

(2) Team learning:

Teams and working groups utilize the

capability of each member for the

benefit of all;

they frequently learn and unlearn

together, in order to share a common

approach;

they support each other in individual

learning objectives;

the organization encourages cross-boun dary groups, commun ities of

common interest, and intern al and

external networks in order to m aximize

sharing of learn ing;

teams help other teams and learn from

each other.

(3) Organizational learning:

T he organization consciously adapts

its strategies to the changing environ-

ment planning processes are flexible

and iterative;

there are mechanisms for listening to

all the stakeholders, for benchmarking

against best p ractice, and for adapting

objectives as a result;

there is a systematic and disciplined

approach to the flow of knowledge

across the organization;

mergers, acquisitions and alliances are

seen as opportunities for learning as

much as financial gain;

structures are designed to consider

learning an d knowledge flow.

Results

Improved business results:

Formal learning activities are derived

from a business goal; costs due to ineffectiveness as a learn-

ing organization are identified and

tracked;

revenue losses are equally identified

and tracked;

human intellectual asset value

increases steadily;

improvements can be measured for

each stakeholder.

Enacting chang e a nd susta ininginnovation

T his section draws from case study research

conducted in 14 U K and US-based

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Richard E. Teare



Source: Adapted from: Andrew M ayo, BAA Plc., Conference for Learning, 24 September 1996

Policy andstrategy

Supportiveculture a

learningclimate and

organizationalteamworking

Individuallearning

Team

learning

Organizationallearning

Improvedbusinessresults

Leadership

Enablers Environment Learning Results

Peoplemanagementprocess

Use of informationtechnology

Figure 1 The concept and vision of t he learning organization


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manu facturing and service firms, m ost with

matur e teamworking stru ctures. Th e aim is

to examine pract itioner perspectives and

current practices in teamworking and to

assess the strategic contr ibution that

work-based teams are making to quality

improvement.

Proc esses or functions? The role

of team working in workplace

learning

In recen t years a growing number of organiza-

tions have adopted a process paradigm an d

approach and among those that have, most

are cur rent ly exploring ways of attaining

higher levels of service and responsiveness.

H ere, emphasis is placed on processes (such

as the activities of support ing customers or

suppor ting those that do) that transcend

traditional functional boun daries. In the early

stages of change this may mean little more

than the creation of a matrix structure wher-

ever a readily identifiable service chain exists.

Evidence suggests that p rocess-based organi-

zations can derive a number of benefits and

especially where process owners process

champions and process teams are encour-

aged (Gar vin, 1995). A team concept is cen-

tral to the development of process-basedmanagement and it is one of the few means by

which large business processes can be inte-

grated. F urther, teamworking holds especial

significance for the management structure as

those who m ove to a process-based approach

take a team-based approach as a paradigm for

managing the bu siness (Ingram et al., 1997a;

1997b)

T he aim here is to explore the contemp o-

rary role of teamworking in a selection of

award-winning UK and US firm s (Teare et.al., 1996a; 1997a; 1997b). T he examples

draw on: single prob lem-solving team pro-

jects; self-directed team project s and organi-

zation-wide quality improvement based on a

team ph ilosophy and approach. T he section

concludes by drawing together some of the

notable benefits derived from team-based

initiatives in these different contexts.

Total teamworking

Twelve of the case stud y organizations were

1995 finalists in UK national competitions

run by the N ational Society for Quality

through Teamwork (N SQT ), a registered

charity dedicated to enabling member

organizations in all sectors of British Ind ustr y

to achieve their goals in continu ous improve-

ment , people involvement and customer

service. Its recipe for total teamworking is

based on t he premiss that a climate of contin-

uous change is needed to stimulate a never-ending programm e of improvement and th is

is sustained by drawing on a m ix of six ingre-

dients (see Figure 2).

T hese are: management comm itment

(visible at all levels, but led from t he t op );

education ( ensuring that everyone knows

the language and uses the improvement

tools and t echniques); measurem ent ( visible

in all workplaces and self-set goals, bench-

marked against t he best); recognition

(appreciation of members and t eamsimprovement achievement s) and regenera-

tion (ensuring that the programme continu-

ously evolves).

T he NSQT /Michelin Excellence Awards

introduced in 1990 and sponsored by the

Michelin Tyre Company, are given each year

to up t o three teams who have demonstrated

excellence in the way they have ident ified a

problem, solved it and then implemented an

effective solution. T he six examples here,

reflect two categories single problem, man-agement promoted projects (Table I) and

continuous improvements made by self-

directed teams (Table II).

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Richard E. Teare



Company Improvement Programme

M anagement Comm itment; Education; Implementation;M easuring and Benchm arking; Recognit ion; Regeneration

Programme Ingredients'The Mix of Six'

Deployment of Departmental Programmes

Reactive Teams(Corrective Act ion Teams,Workplace Improvement Teams)

Proactive Teams(Process Im provement Teams)

M anagement and Staff

Figure 2 Ingredien ts of chang e: the NSQTs view


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Single problem/managem ent promoted

projectsT he th ree illustrat ions typify the ways in

which teams can provide a means of dealing

with:

(1) a crisis situation (Albright & Wilson);

(2) design improvement (BSF Garr ingtons);

and

(3) unwanted process outcomes (Severn

Trent).

In each case, solutions were found and in so

doing, team members reported other benefits

(see Table I). T hese included : increasedcommitment and m otivation; improved com-

mu nications; a sense of learn ing from each

other and of satisfaction derived from drawing

upon a blend of team m ember skills and

abilities. In essence, the unexpected bene-

fits were personal and in terp ersonal as well as

organizational (see Figure 3).

Continuous improvement/self-directed

team projects

In many respects, the lifeblood of continuou simprovement emanates from self-directed

teams seeking to identify prob lems and

improvement opportu nities and then app ly

solutions themselves. In the following cases,

teams sought to make process improvements

with multi-disciplinary inputs and, while thisapproach is well established in manufactur-

ing, it is mu ch less widespread in services (see

Table II). T he key point here is the potential

to refine, innovate or re-invent processes so

that they serve their pu rpose more effectively

(see Figure 4).

T he Britannia Airways example demon-

strates invent ive thinking in dealing with the

prob lems associated with servicing and

replacing passenger seat ashtrays. A relatively

simple, cost-saving solution meant that the

work of cleaning staff was also easier and

cleaner to perform a nice illustrat ion of

internal customer-centred improvement ,

greatly appreciated by cabin servicing staff.

An example from Land Rover is ind icative of

the way its business has been literally trans-

formed d uring the p ast few years by adopting

a total teamwork approach. In this instance, a

discussion group found a perfect solution to

an imperfect provision for preventing scratch-

ing and paint damage dur ing vehicle assem-

bly. H ere a simple solution was found and thecheapest possible way of implement ing it

accomplished by the assembly line team

mem bers themselves because they felt com-

mitted to getting things right.

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Richard E. Teare



Table I Single problem/managem ent promot ed projects

Team M ain feat ures of t he act ion t aken Principal out com es

The Potassium Phosphat es Formatio n of a process change Excellent teamw ork (visible commit ment

Improvement Team1 cross- funct ional team; use o f wo rk to the p ro ject and to each o the r) ;

(Albright & Wilson Plc.) sh i f t ove rlaps fo r team meet ings; increased leve ls of mo t ivat ion (d r iven by

in troduct ion o f a process log book the desire to succeed and not by personalto record prob lems, comments and reward); f ree-flow ing in format ion, t rust

decisions and to identify project tr ia l and a wil l ingness to learn from each

opt ions ot her

The Hub-Run-Out Team2 A supplier-based core team form ing The team achieved process improvement

(British Ste el Forging s, tw o mult i-functional teams. Each and a product design change w hich

Garringtons) used databased problem-solving resulted in a permanent solution to a

techniques. One team used cause recurr ing prob lem. Th is is a t t r ibuted to

and effect charts to improve the use of a logical problem-solving

machining capabil i ty, the other approach and the effective blend of core

w orked w ith the customer on design team skil ls and qualit ies

and process modifi cationsThe Goscote Team3 The team, w ith the support of a Solutions w ere mainly implement ed on a

Severn Trent Plc. Quality Facil i tator and laboratory day-to-day basis as improvements w ere

analyses, studied data collected over trai led and left in place. Refinement s

a 24 mont h period. The team also arose from brainstorm ing, testing ideas

used cause and ef fect ana lysis and agains t up-to-date in format ion and by

p ro b le m so l vi ng d i sci p li n e w a l l- d ra w i ng o n p ro ce ss ex pe rt s w h o

charts to iden t i f y act ion del i ve ry p rovided techn ica l adv ice

dates


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T he opportu nity to re-invent the

familiar yet ineffective is clearly shown in the

Varity Perkins case. In th is, a cross-functional

team solved an array of problems (admini-

strative, financial, techn ical, supp lier and

produ ction-related) by setting-up a newprocess and procedure for procuring a vital

piece of production line equipment ( see also

Teare et al., 1997c). All three examples

demon strate an overriding commitment t o

make things better and to tr y the unthink-

able if need be to achieve the desired result.

At the un it or site level it is clear that singleproblem and self-directed team structures

10 0


Richard E. Teare



Table II Continuous improvem ent/self-directed team p rojects

Team M ain feat ures of t he act ion t aken Principal out com es

Quality Street4 Th e t ea m use d a st a nd ard p ro b le m - Th e p ro j ect l ed t o t h e i n tr od u ct i on of an

(Britann ia Airwa ys) so lv in g m o de l t o id en t if y t he se rv ici ng i n no va t iv e b la nk in g p la t e so lu t io n t o

p ro b le m s a sso ci at e d w i t h p ro vi di ng t h e m i su se o f ash t ra ys. By re m ov in g

ashtrays to al l passengers. Action ashtrays (except in smoking sections)included : b rainsto rming ; in forma t ion reduct ions in clean ing t ime, the tu rnover

gathering/fact fin ding; and a of ashtrays and stock holding of ashtrays

so lut ions ef fect d iagram to t est w ere ach ieved

ideas for reducing cabin servicing tim e

and costs

New Star Trekkers5 A range of assemb ly -rela ted p rob lems By refin ing the means o f p reven t ing pain t

(Land Rover) w ere identified using brainstorming damage during vehicle assembly, the cost

and cause and effect diagrams. After in t im e and materials needed to re-work

thi s, the team used its analysis to on average 14 vehicles per w eek has

co n st ruct a s ol u ti o ns ef f ect d i ag ra m . b ee n el im i n at ed . Th is im p rov em e nt h a s

Line trials w ere used to test several been achieved by switching from w oodenp o ssi bl e so lu t io n s a nd d at a f ro m t h e b o ards t o r ub b er m a t s. Fu rt h er, a t i m e

trials w ere used to refine the and mot ion study has confirmed

sp eci fi ca ti on f or scr ap m at s u sed o per at i on al ben efi t s f ro m u si ng t he m at s

to prevent paint damage

Dyane Team6 The team used bra insto rming , process An in -house to ta l qua li t y cycle p rov ided

(The Varity Perkins mapping and action planning the investigative and planning framew ork

Group) techniques to identify the scope of for identify ing and testing a new process

the p rob lem. Th is p rompted a rev iew and p rocedure. Pr ior to to ta l qual i t y (TQ),

of the volume of paper w ork innovative solutions w ere rarely possible,

transactions needed to process the as solutions w ere handed dow n rather

w o rk . A l on g an d va ri ab l e t u rn arou n d t h an d ev ol ved t o t h e p eo p le f aci ng t h et ime fo r recond it ioned par ts was a lso p rob lem to so lve. The TQ in f rast ructu re

investigated and a radical solution meant that all objectives cost, lead-tim e,

adopt ed aft er a series of carefully im provem ent and end user satisfaction

p lanned project t rials w ere at tainable

Problemidentified

Success factors:

(4) technicalinnovationsBritannia Airways

(6) process/procedurere-designThe Varity Perkins Group

(5) 'zero defects'refinementLand Rover

Team-directedprojects Outcomes:

Refine, innovate andre-invent processes;Zero defects and c ostreduction improvements;Cross-functionalinnovations t ry the'unthinkable'.

Figure 4 Continuous improvement /self directed team project outcomes

Problemidentified

Success factors:

(1) group

sublimationAlbright &Wilson Plc

(3) technicaladvice and trials

Severn Trent Plc

(2) supplierliaisonBritish Steel Forgings Garringtons

Managementpromotedproject

Outcomes:Problem resolved;Increased commit mentand motivation;Improved com munications;Shared learning;unexpected personal andinterpersonal satisfaction

derived from team input.

Figure 3 Single team project out comes


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offer d ifferent yet interrelated vehicles for

addressing problems and improvement

opportun ities. If they are to function effective-

ly, an organizational framework for team work-

ing is needed and th e basis for th is is reflected

in the N SQT /Perkins Award criteria.

Fram eworks for organizational

teamworking

T he N SQT /Varity Perkins Quality Improve-

ment Award, sponsored by Varity Perkins was

launched in 1987 (see Table III). T he Award

is presented to the management team which

best demonstrates its continuing commitm ent

to a programm e of total people involvement,

with qu ality and em ployee activities as key

elements. T he judging criteria are designed to

measure the m anagement t eams progressdur ing the immediate past year in relation to:

the quality journey; the deployment of qu ality

improvement throughou t the organization;

quality education an d training; the systems of

measurement applied; achievements as

recorded by the measurement system; man -

agement com mitment and the recognition

process and futu re continuous improvement

plans. T he featured o rganizations are:

Each or ganization u ses a framework

for organizational teamworking and inthis instance, sought to ach ieve specific

improvement goals in the cour se of a one

year per iod. To illustrate the gener ic

poten tial for organizationally-based team -

working, the shor t pro files below relate the

natu re of the organization and its main bu si-

ness to its teamworking focus and outcomes.

Co-operation and integration. T he Benefit

Enquiry Line7 (BEL) Preston UK is part of the

Benefits Agency and it provides a nat ional, free

telephone advice and information service for

people with disabilities, their carers and repre-sentatives. BELs team structure of discussion

groups and focus groups are intentionally

cross-grade and cross-team so as to encourage

teamworking and inter-departmental support.

Each department operates an open-door

policy and staff routinely work in other depar t-

ments so that an atm osphere of co-operation

and mutu al understanding is sustained.

Learning and cost reduction. Britannia Top-

sides Project, London8, part of the wider

Britannia Field development project, creates

facilities to produ ce gas and condensate from a

UK N orth Sea field. T hree companies, con-

tractor AMEC and oil companies CON OC O

and C H EVRON, form an alliance to jointly

develop the offshore facilities. Topsides has

established an effective cost control system,

based on the principles of empowerment. A

feature of this work is the data bank of more

than 600 cost-saving ideas, all of which reflect

open thinking and teamworking. A cost saving

of around 10 million has been achieved since

the inception of the ideas programme.Business performance improvement. RH P

Bearings Ltd, F errybridge9 part of NSK, the

worlds second largest bear ings man ufactu rer,

employs 18,000 people worldwide. Ferr y-

bridge is one of seven RH P m anufacturing

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Richard E. Teare



Table I II Varity Perkins quality improvement award

Com pany Organizat ional vision, object ives and team w orking Focus

Benefit Enquiry To foster an organizational culture that is enabling, Co-operation and

Line

7

em po w eri ng , co -o per at ive an d t ea m- dr iv en ; an d w i th in teg rat io n teams that involve staff, custom ers and suppliers

Britann ia Topsides8 To create a learning organi zation to bring about cultural Learning and cost

ch an g e a nd b y t h is m e an s a ch ie ve co st re du ct i on go al s red u ct i on

RHP Bearings Ltd9 To achieve business excellence by means of a team -based Business perform ance

approach im provem ent

Royal Insurance Life To improve the company s compet i t ive posi t ion by improv ing Compet i t ive

& Pensions10 the team w orkin g culture, its business processes, customer positio ning

satisfaction levels, retention rates and reputation and t he

cost effectiveness of it s operations

Slag Reduction To im prove w orkforce flexibi l i ty, human and physical resource Improving resource

Company1 1 uti l ization and improvements in w orking practices. uti l ization

Wel lman To involve every employee in meeting custom er expectations, M aximizing employee

reducing process imperfections and quality costs and providing partic ipation

Internat ional Ltd1 2 opportunit ies to im prove work m ethods by real participation


8/27

sites, with a workforce of 620 people. Team-

based business performance improvement

was achieved by undertaking a rad ical change

program me. I ts key features were:

(1) the introduction of a transparent struc-

ture to cascade the mission, plans, strate-

gies and t argets of the company through-

out th e factory and a concert ed effort to

encourage peop le involvement in decid-

ing how targets could be met;

(2) the use of regular reviews to identify

where things were going to plan an d what

corrective action was needed ;

(3) the development of several key cross-

depar tmental projects to address known

problems;

(4) recognition that an open culture of mutu-

al trust and support m ust be built gradu-ally and that it must prom ote fairness

and equality of status, irrespective of job

role;

(5) th e adoption and development of an

annu al quality process-based review

incorporating objective an d subjective,

self-assessment measures.

Competitive positioning. Royal Insurance L ife

& Pensions, L iverpool10 identified a need to

incorporate new measures into its reporting

system. A feature of the n ew measurement

system is that it is owned by the continu ous

improvement group m embers, rather than by

senior managemen t. A key element is the

balanced scorecard app roach which consists

of a range of measures designed to report on

performan ce indicators relevant to t he inter-

ests of customers, staff and shareholders.

Em ployees see this as a wholly positive devel-

opm ent, p roviding useful information which

contr ibutes to achieving quality targets.

Improving resource utilization. T he SlagReduction Com pany Limited, Redcar11 is

the ind ustrial service division of Faber Prest

plc on Teeside. Its quality improvement

initiative achieved som e specific

breakthrou ghs including: the elimination of

restrictive practices and the re-design o f

working m ethods to achieve improved effi-

ciency levels and an improvement in employ-

ee utilization from 50 per cent to 88 per cent

(verified by British Steels work study and

operational research department ).

M aximizing employee participation. Well-

man International Ltd, K ells12 , based in

Ireland, is a premier supplier of polyester and

polyamide fibres to customers in Eu rope and

beyond. I ts effort to m aximize employee

involvement has led to a more open style of

management and a mu ch greater emphasis

on softer performance indicators like

employee attitud es and morale, customer

focus and the effectiveness of training, com -

mu nications and teamworking activity. E vi-

dence suggests that a greater sense of open-

ness and freedom has fostered a much greater

commitment to qu ality improvement am ong

the workforce as a whole.

It is interesting to reflect on the u niversal

poten tial of teamworking as a means of

unlocking organizational capability, especial-

ly in the context o f business process re-engi-

neer ing which is genera lly viewed as a

count er-teamworking step. While their jour-

neys have necessarily been quite different,Corning Incorporated and the GT E C orpo-

ration bo th h ave corporate quality offices that

are deliberately kept small to em phasize their

facilitating role. Responsibility for quality

performan ce rests with the operating units

which all receive quality edu cation in a cas-

cading approach, start ing with senior man-

agement. Fu rther, bot h comp anies are global

players with presences on several continen ts,

making qu ality their b asic business principle,

regardless of where they operate. T hey do so

because they define quality as meeting cus-

tomer requiremen ts. It is from this perspec-

tive of being customer-driven and customer-

focused that they keep on re-inventing th eir

organizations to remain customer-responsive

and enhan ce competitive advantage (see

Table IV).

Process re-engineering. A Fortune 500 com-

pany, C orning13 concentrates on t he three

key global markets that account for 60 per

cent of its revenues: opt ical comm unications,

life sciences and the environm ent. To achieveits re-engineering goals, C orn ings President

cham pioned the initiative after which key

processes were re-structured (rather than

eliminating jobs) an d t he firm s employees

were invited to participate. To achieve this, a

strict timetable for each phase was needed

priority setting and team launch; opportu nity

detailing (focused on innovation effective-

ness, the roles of the corp orate and line orga-

nizations, manufactur ing effectiveness, pur -

chasing and inventory effectiveness andinformation technology) and action planning

during which 17 teams totalling around 100

employees worked full-time to re-design

processes and reduce complexities.

10 2


Richard E. Teare




9/27

Decentralized planning. GT E14 is the largest

single provider of local telephon e services in

the U nited States and it sought to align itself

more closely with its customers and re-engi-

neer its business processes in order to keep

pace with the rate of change. An over-arching

consideration was its quality programm e and

GT E successfully encouraged its operating

un its to focus on business processes (via

customer satisfaction) as a mean s of improv-

ing quality but withou t insisting on a stan-

dard approach. In essence, it encouraged

teamworking and provided incentives to

adopt quality processes that would d eliver

customer satisfaction but it gave each bu si-

ness unit the freedom to craft its own qu ality

programme. T his decentralized approach has

enabled GT E to transform its organization

and deliver its products and services mu ch

more efficient ly and cost effectively.

Learning from team s

Figure 5 summ arizes the array of evidence

drawn from the 14 case illustrations relating

to th e role of teamworking in tackling single

problem and team-directed projects; the

development and refining of tools and tech-

niques for total quality and its contr ibution

to organizational change and development.

Workplace action learning and t hecurriculum

T he new vision theme of partnership in

workplace learn ing offers a timely opportun ity

to review the evolving natu re of hospitalityoperations management and to discuss some

of the likely challenges ahead. In the field of

training, development and learning these

include: assessing hu man resource needs and

priorities (Linney and Teare, 1991; Teare and

Brotherton , 1990) the implications for train-

ing and management d evelopment (C lose and

Teare, 1990) and th e role of open and prob-

lem-based learning (Teare and Akehurst,

1988a; 1988b) among other n on-standard

forms of learn ing suppor t. To assess the scope

for workplace learning, it seems appropriate

to speculate on the outcom es of gradual

change brought about b y technological

advancement and other forms of innovation

(Teare et al., 1996b) as well as the per vasive

influence of more dramatic, often uncon trol-

lable forces like econom ic recession. T he aim

here is to review the way in which structural

103


Richard E. Teare



Table IV Teamw orking organizational fram ewo rks in North America: Corning and GTE

Com pany Recent organizat ional t eam w orking im perat ives Focus

Corning Corning competes involved a re-engineering exercise to Process

Incorporated13 reduce costs and im prove shareholder value re-engineering

GTE Re-engineering to achieve excellence in process focus, Decentr alized

Corporat ion14 q ua li ty/ cu st o mer sa ti sf act i on l ev el s a nd co st r ed uct io n p la nn in g

Single problem project sTeam-directed projects

Develop and refine TQ methodology

Establish an organizational teamw orking framew orkand define teamworking priorities

(7) Co-operationand integrationThe Benefit Enquiry

Line (Preston UK)(8) Learning andcost reductionBritannia TopsidesProject (London)

(9) Businessperformanceimprovement

RHP Bearings Ltd,Ferrybridge(10) CompetitivepositioningRoyal InsuranceLife & Pensions

(11) Improvingresource uti lizationThe Slag Reduction

Co. Ltd Redcar(12) M aximizingemployee participationWellman Int . Ltd, Kells

(13) Processre-engineeringCorning Inc orporated

(14) DecentralizedplanningGTE Corporation

Figure 5 Organizational teamworking frameworks and focused outcomes


10/27

changes in the industry are influencing the

nature and scope of managerial work at un it

level (Teare, 1990) . T his in tu rn, has implica-

tions for the way in which the curriculum

model is conceptualized and hospitality oper-

ations management teaching and learning is

suppor ted so that it aligns with the new

realities of industr y (Johns and Teare, 1995,

Teare and O wen, 1996) and the needs of

aspiring graduate managers (Teare et al.,

1996c).

Structural change and the implications

for operations managem ent

During the 1980s the European hospitality

indu stry gradu ally began to shift away from its

highly fragmented state as firms became

bigger, bett er organized an d more efficient.

T he main goal was to out-perform competi-

tor s, mainly by achieving higher profitability

through geographical expansion and

increased distribu tion. In their ana lysis of the

macro-economic trends affecting the main

European hotel markets in 1990, L itteljohn

and Slattery (1991) conclude that competi-

tion will continue to be dr iven by the n ature of

deman d, the oppor tun ities for further expan-

sion, and the threat to profitability posed by

prevailing levels of industr y compet ition.During the same year, Olsen (1991) profiled

the events that were starting to shape industry

structu re, with the help of a dozen or so Euro-

pean hospitality indu stry execut ives repre-

senting hotel and restaurant firm s, suppliers

and industry associations. He begins by trac-

ing the origins of the industr y investmen t

boom to th e involvement of the capital-

market comm unity dur ing the early 1970s.

T he prospects of sustained growth and above

average levels of retu rn on investment, cou-pled with the emergence of bigger firms who

knew how to harn ess the benefits of buying

power and advanced technology, fuelled the

expansion which took p lace. In recent times,

firm s geared for expansion were forced to

consolidate th eir market positions in response

to recession in Europe. A potent cocktail of

volatile and unpredictable events forced many

European hospitality firms to de-layer or

downsize their corporate organizations so

as to address dem and instability, high interest

rates and oth er events. Con sequently, most of

the bigger hospitality firm s are now flatter

and leaner th an at any point in their recent

histories.

Olsen concludes his analysis by reflecting

on the natu re of the challenge facing firms

who are trying to come to term s with intern al

re-structur ing and with fewer senior man agers

working in specialist roles:It is clear from discussions with Europ ean

hospitality executives that the most significantissue facing hospitality firms during this decade

(the 19 90s) will be how to accomplish the

change in thinking necessary to develop opera-

tions-oriented unit-level managers into strategic

thinking managers. While the increasing com-

petitiveness of the ind ustry in Europ e is well

recognised and the downsizing of corporate

headquar ters is nearly accomplished, in most

firms the m anagers in th e field are not yet ready

to accept the d ecentralisation challenge. What

are required a re uniqu e and inn ovative ways to

try to edu cate, and in many cases socialise, these

managers about t he need for and value ofthinking strategically (p. 24) .

In an em pirical study of food and beverage

management career paths in American luxury

hotels, Nebel et al. (1994) confirm that corpo-

rate downsizing is still continuing.

It app ears to be targeted in a similar way to

European effort s to reduce middle levels of

management and the numbers of staff special-

ists who are not d irectly responsible for opera-

tional activities. T hey conclude that in the

current circumstances, a balanced education-al curriculum of professional and technical

skills is needed to prepare graduates for oper-

ations career paths. Further, that bu siness and

management subjects should be shaped to

equip people for careers in hospitality opera-

tions so that they can add value by adopting

a broader strategic view of operations man -

agement. In summ ing-up, they conclude that

unit m anagers will be selected m uch m ore

carefully in the future as they will be expected

to adop t a wider man agerial role.It would seem that re-structuring has, and

will continue to affect the nature of managerial

work at unit level. T he trad itional view of

operations managers as food and beverage or

accomm odation specialists with a compara-

tively narrow scope of responsibility is chang-

ing as they assume respon sibility for managing

other aspects of the business. It is reasonable

therefore, to assume that graduate managers

need a broader, strategic vision of operations

management based on an updated view of the

hospitality operations curriculum (Eccles and

Teare, 1995; 1996). To achieve this, closer

integration of technical and professional devel-

opment is needed so that graduates can readily

10 4


Richard E. Teare




11/27

apply the principles of marketing, m anaging

people and other specialist subject areas to the

operations environment. T he more limited

opportu nities for career enhancement in the

immediate futu re will almost certainly depend

on the extent to which young managers can

demonstrate their ability to manage teams

effectively, improve standards, control costs

and m eet profit targets.

If unit m anagers are having to work differ-

ently now and in the future, they must also

learn to t hink different ly and to facilitate th is,

the scope of hospitality operat ions manage-

ment needs some re-definition. F irst, it is

necessary to consider in more detail some o f

the key activities that un it managers are

engaged in so that a con ceptual view of the

hospitality operations curr iculum can be

established. After th is, it is possible to consid-

er some of the implications for supporting

appropriate teaching and learning activities.

Hospitality operations and m anagerial

effectiveness

T he content of hospitality management cour s-

es is the subject of much d ebate and it is inter-

esting to observe that established ideas abou t

managerial work are now being challenged by

educators as well as by industrialists. T he

industry view reflects a pattern of continuous

change requiring a more business-oriented

hospitality manager who can deploy financial

skills to analyse the business and th ink out-

wards rather than inwards about customer

needs. Fu rther, the t raditional autocratic style

of doing business is steadily giving way to

modern team-building and facilitation, part ly

so that to tal quality aspirations can be

realised th rough greater people involvementwhich harn esses more of the talents, creativity

and energy within the organization as a whole.

T he tasks that hospitality managers need to be

able to perform effectively can be depicted in

relation to four broad cur riculum themes as

shown in Figure 6.

Workplace lear ning and the c urriculum :

(1) M anaging operations:

day to day operations;

specialist technical areas;

managing a crisis.

(2) M anaging people:

managing individuals;

managing teams;

managing external contacts;

managing personnel administration.

(3) Personal sk ills:

making presentations/training;

interpersonal skills;

using computers in management;

self-development.(4) M anaging the business:

managing business performance;

managing projects;

managing strategic decisions;

managing legal complexity.

In order to facilitate managerial effectiveness,

an appropriate blend of educational input s

(techn ical, professional, personal develop-

ment) is needed so that hospitality managers

are equipped with the basic tools needed to

perform well in the workplace. Further, the

educational goal should be seen as nu rtu ring

individuals who have a sense of commitm ent,

vision and the ability not only to do th ings

right bu t also with the wider understanding of

doing the right thing. A closer partn ership

with industry seems to be the logical way of

achieving a better fit between the stud ent

experience of the curriculum an d the realities

of operations management. It d oes however,

prompt a question as to how this can this be

achieved without stifling an exploration of themore theoretical, often abstract ideas which

can in them selves be so enriching. A conceptu-

al mod el of cur riculum development which

links managerial effectiveness to prevailing

industry con ditions offers a relatively flexible

way of keeping in touch. T he logical focal

point is the creation and continual enhance-

ment of a realistic work environm ent so that

managers can begin to build a holistic under-

standing of the intellectual challenge of man-

aging operations effectively. F ur ther, that all

other subject areas can be linked to and

shaped by the operat ional focus. T hese rela-

tionships are depicted by using an outer wheel

to por tray the wider economic environment

105


Richard E. Teare



ManagingPeople

PersonalSkills

ManagingOperations

Managingthe Business

Managerialeffectiveness?

Figure 6 Workplace learning and the curriculum


12/27

and inner segments representing all the activi-

ties which directly influence operational effec-

tiveness (see Figure 7) . T hese are:

business performance, monitoring and

control;

manpower organization and structure;

scientific suppor t activities such as safety,

hygiene and health;

technology and product development;

the consumer of hospitality services;

operational support and infrastructure; and

the hospitality business environment.

In som e respects, it is easier to conceptu alize

than to deliver a curr iculum that parallels the

contemporary developments in hospitality

operations management. Su mm arizing so far,

the aim has been to suppor t an industry-driven view that operations management

should be positioned at the centre of the

curriculum. If it is intend ed to serve industry,

it must m irror the changes that have been

occurring du ring the last few years. Fur ther,

if it is to serve youn g managers who aspire to

become accomplished managers, it must

provide a balance of technical and p rofession-

al skills that will equip t hem with a detailed

und erstanding of day-to-day operations and a

broader, strat egic vision of how to man age

and analyse every facet of un it and multi-unit

business activity. To achieve th is, a new, more

radical vision for operations man agement is

needed to suppor t the teaching and learning

needed to make this happen.

Operations m anagement: an integrated,

resource-based approach

T he changing nature of managerial work at

un it level suggests that educationalists should

monitor the implications for up-dating or

even re-shaping their curriculum to ensure

that it reflects industry needs and develop-men ts. In these circumstances, a logical step is

to d evelop teaching and learning courseware

which is sufficient ly flexible to u se in d ifferent

situations and with different types of man -

agers (see Figure 8).

T he concept of a resource-based approach to

hospitality operations m anagement is found ed

on m any of the observations made above and

in particular, the need for a modern curricu-

lum using student-centred learning method s.

Each t itle in th e series follows a stand ard, 60

page format and draws from a core of text

book and journal reading to provide an inte-

grated stu dy guide consisting of concise

explanations, commentary and extension

material. T he three hospitality operations

man agement titles are designed to facilitate a

logical and progressive study of Operational

Techniques (foundation level) Operations

Management (interm ediate level) and Strate-

gic Management ( advanced level).

T he overall aim of the three interlinking

titles is to equip student s with the conceptualund erstanding of how to man age hospitality

operat ions effectively. An important distinc-

tion from prior work is that the advanced level

studies in strategic man agement seek to equip

the graduate manager with the broader per-

spective of unit management that ind ustrial-

ists are pressing for. Fur ther , a key objective is

to tr y to break-down the somewhat ar tificial

divide that exists between accommodation

and food and beverage management , by

focusing on shared operational themes atfoundation and intermed iate levels.

Operational Techniques(Johns et al., 1994)

introduces systems theor y as a basis for under-

standing and analysing the function and man-

10 6


Richard E. Teare



Wider business & economic environmentHospitalitybusinessenvironment

Businessperformancemonitoring& control

Manpower:Organization

& structure

Scientificsupportactivities

HospitalityBusinessActivity

Operationalsupport &infrastructure

The consumer

Technology &product development

Figure 7 A conceptual mo del for hospitality operations curriculum

development

Foundation (Level 1)

Hospitality systemsProduction & serviceHuman factors

Technical factorsQuality factors

Intermediate (Level 2)

Level 3:

Level 2:

Level 1:

Operations M anagement

OperationalTechniques

Strategic M anagement

Hospitality operationsThe service organizationCapacityProductivityQuality

Advanced (Level 3)

Strategic planningExternal analysisInternal analysisStrategic choiceImplementation &evaluation

Source: Hospitality & Tourism, Resource-Based Series, Cassell, London

Figure 8 A conceptual mod el for hospitality operations curriculum

development


13/27


14/27

(5) Strategic implementation and evaluation

Monitoring business strategy;

Achieving structure and strategy co-

alignment;

Sustaining strategic focus.

Implications for workplace learning

H ospitality operations management has once

again become the focal point for curriculum

development and the stru ctural changes

occurring in the industry suggest that scope

exists for re-shaping specialist subject areas so

that stud ents are fully equipped and prepared

for the oppor tun ities that change creates.

According to Olsens analysis this mean s

that un it managers need to know more about

the interrelationships between technical and

business issues:unit man agers are now being asked to per-

form d ifferently. T hey are being asked to com-

pete effectively on th e local level, where condi-

tions are becom ing extremely comp etitive, to

scan the environmen t for threats and opp ortun i-

ties, and to bu ild a strategic plan for their units

based on t his type of analysis. T his leaves the

unit man ager with the need to become a much

more independ ent decision-maker and on e who

is much m ore aware of the forces in the environ-

ment and h ow they affect the future of the un it

(Olsen, 1991, p. 23).

It seems likely therefore, that unit managers

will assum e a greater degree of influence as

their operational role expands to fill the gaps

created by re-structuring and consolidation.

In this scenario, a fresh strategic vision of

operations management will be needed.

The concept of industry and corporatetheming

The concept of an Internet forum:

a global mee ting point for industryand education

T he challenge of managing a comparat ively

rapid transition from print to electronic pub-

lishing prom pted MC B U niversity Press

(MCB-U P) to explore both academic and

practitioner uses of the inter net so that its

portfolio of journals and other p roducts and

services might be combined to p rovide a

mean ingful cluster of resources for sub-

scribers, authors and stud ents (or Associates)

undertaking programm es delivered by itsaffiliate company IMC . T he concept of a

Forum a global meeting point for people

with shared interests in a topic or subject area

or more broad ly in relation to a given indu stry,

has emerged dur ing the past 18 to 24 months.

T he concept is already capable of sustaining a

broad-ranging industry theme via print and

electronic journal publishing, related internet

conferencing, World Wide Web (WWW)

hyper-text linking and homepage areas dedi-

cated to state of the ar t exchanges between

academics and practitioners aroun d the globe.

Fu rther innovations in electronically distr ib-

uted materials will reinforce this powerful

distribution and networking medium in the

near future. T he H ospitality and Tour ism

Global Forum has been operational since

Autumn 1995 during which time it has hosted

four Internet conferences with paper s deliv-

ered by conference speakers and partici-

pant s drawn pr incipally (though n ot exclusive-

ly) from Eu rope, North America and the Asia

Pacific region.

The Ho spitality and Tourism Global

Forum on the Internet

T he aim of the H ospitality and Tou rism

Global Foru m (see Figure 9) is to provide a

definitive global meet ing point for hospitality

and tou rism practitioners and academics. T he

For um current ly hosts a variety of Web pages

and sites and for user convenience, they are

arran ged in categories. By hyper-text linkingto existing Web sites it is possible to travel the

world from the Forum (without spending

hours surfing the net).

In addition to the institutional categories,

the Foru m provides access to a variety of on-

line resources and hosts a Virtual Academy

(VA) series. T he aim of the VA series is to

enable students, r esearchers, writers and

pract itioners interested in specialist areas and

their application to h ospitality and t ourism

settings to meet, share news and ideas and tonetwork globally via the In tern et. T he vision

is to enab le a worldwide community of people

to share open ly and con structively, shape new

concepts and disseminate the latest th inking

and managerial practice as reflected by:

A quarterly newsletter with contributions

from around the globe.

Regular updates, reviews and comments

on the latest developments in (VA subject

area) from a hospitality and tourism per-

spective.

E-mail contact groups and news groups to

facilitate an exchange of views and infor-

mation.

A Whats New page.

10 8


Richard E. Teare




15/27

Continuous Internet conferences on

topical them es in (VA subject area).

Links with specialists in other service

fields.

T here are cur rent ly 12 VAs:

(1) Accounting and finance;

(2) Economics and industry trends;

(3) Gaming and enterprise;

(4) Human resource management;

(5) Information management;

(6) M arketin g;

(7) Operations management;

(8) Science and technology;

(9) Service quality;

(10) Small business management;

(11) Strategy and organizational behaviour;

(12) Yield management.

Each VA is managed b y four academics,currently representing Europe, N orth Amer i-

ca and the Asia Pacific region.

Although the H ospitality and Tour ism

Global Foru m has attracted a good deal of

interest am ong academics, it has yet to estab-

lish the volume of visitors necessary to m ake it

an invaluable reference point. In p art, this is

due to the comparatively slow uptake among

pract itioners, the limited range of services

currently available and a degree of uncertainty

abou t the best ways of designing and imp le-

ment ing new features and encouraging wider

participation.

It seemed t imely to initiate a wide-ran ging

review and discussion abou t these and other

issues together with MC B-UP F orum con-

venors, designers, users and system support

staff and a good deal of shared exper ience has

and cont inues to influence our thinking about

the characteristics of the ideal F orum ,

aspects of which are summar ized in the fol-

lowing sub-section.

D esigning internet Forums: shared

learning on structure, content and

participation

In September 1996 a Forum Convenors

discussion group involving 30 IMC and M CB

Un iversity Press Internet Foru m convenors,

designers and development t eam mem bers,

began to share experiences and debate the

issues relating to the design of For um s and

how to encourage wider participation an d

involvement in their development. T he teamare currently involved in building and m ain-

taining more than 20 F orums.

T he aim of the on going discussion group is

to exchange information between For um

convenors managing sites on the M CB-U P

server in order to learn from each other and

keep up to-date with ideas for futu re develop-

ments. T hese include:

ideas from convenors;

announcing new pages across the range of

Forum sites;

design issues, advice and feedback;

sourcing material and F orum participation

(referred to as the volume of hits);

Forum promotion;

109


Richard E. Teare



Figure 9 The Hospitality and Tourism Global Forum w elcome pages


16/27


17/27

provocation task convenor seeks contro-

versy in order to stimulate lively cont ribu-

tions (n ote: may only work with a well-

established and trusting community of lively

individuals not a typical cross-section).

lower-order need reinforcement task site

owners/convenors m ake financial and other

incentives available either rand omly or in

return for some form of prescribed, desir-

able response (such as a Literati Award for

Excellence re: best/most consistent contri-

bution to a conference.)

command culture establishment task

populate every conference with paid

convenors and /or contributor s who partici-

pate daily to seed the conference and

help create a cen trifuge effect.

value for money effect charge a joining

fee so that value for money is related to

the level of active par ticipation in the eventor conference.

A broader strand of discussion aims to specify

the characteristics of an ideal In ternet site

and in order to accomplish this, the Forum

Convenors group is considering the design and

development implications of user satisfiers

and dissatisfiers derived from the many

hundreds of internet sites reviewed by mem bers

of the discussion group. (F or a summ ary of

findings and observations, please see Appendix

1.) Preliminary findings (compiled by Gordon

Wills) reveal a number of key them es:

Forum ideals

Good Internet sites engender a sense of

community where participants feel that

they are sharing in and belonging to a

comm unity with a shared focus (such as

industry and academia shaping and sharing

insights on theor y and practice) that we

cannot see or touch bu t with whom we have

a lot in common. Furthermore, the over-

whelming feeling was that this comm unity

of interest was one where the state of the art

in the topic was being discussed not trivia

but things we really either had no idea

about or are un certain about as we explore.

111


Richard E. Teare



Table V M anaging int ernet Forums: some challenges for convenors

Com m ents Im plicat ions

w r i t e so t h at yo u ca nn o t b e m i su n de rst o o d Fo ru m si t es n eed e ff ect i ve si g np o st i ng

most part icipate in Forum act iv i t ies for no payment The si te should be struc tured so as to fac il i ta te

(because they want to) there is no command struc ture open-ended part icipat ion wi th in a carefu lly

designed framew ork how do you create va lue for money stra teg ies such In the short term hom e pages should provide

as reduced connect t ime and lower phone charges? rap id and easy access (and in so do ing, lower-cost

user t im e). In the medium/lon g term explore

distribu tio n by cable and satellite TV

the internet is not yet sufficiently t im e efficient to Use hyper-text l inking to create one stop

m ake it at t ract ive indust ry Forum s encom passing, t rade,

professional, industry, government and

educational l in ks

(Forum partic ipants) Forum users that come to you Find roles for the enthusiasts w ho want to

(the enthu siasts) are bett er prospects and (pot ential ly) parti cipate and can encourage oth ers to do so by

w orth far m ore ef fort faci l i tat ing and invit ing ot hers to join a grow ing,sharing comm unity

the bo t tom l ine the best /most e f fect i ve bu t very A im to ensu re tha t hyper- tex t l ink ing i s tw o -way so

imperfec t measure is si te h i ts w i thout th is we have no that potent ia l users can easi ly find the ir way to the

(clear direct ions) for fut ure R & D sit e the m ore pathw ays (via hyper-text l inks) t he

greater the prospect of creating a defin it ive global

meeting poin t for an industry, discipl ine or topic

area

far too many comm ercial sites seem far too keen to M aintain the principles of free access, though a

get a credit card number before they have demonstrated joining fee (l ike club membership) may help to

that they w il l deliver value for m oney fost er a sense of belong ing the benefi ts o f

memb ership should include an opportu nity to

partic ipate ful ly perhaps non-members canobserve and t ry before joining


18/27

T he second strand was that the site was a

place because it was as described at (1)

above, that enabled each one of us to pro -

mote and explore our own ideas with the

other m embers the reciprocal of course of

finding out from others. T he use of

Question an d Answer rou tines was an

illustrat ion of th is.

T he third key element relates to the logisti-

cal issues we all liked on e-site hits not

stringing along too long; good links that

guided; logical layouts and the whole site

kept up-to-date.

Internet site dissatisfiers

T he most frequently mentioned source of

dissatisfaction is graph ics/images that don t

work and/or take forever to download .

Several pondered how long this will last

and whether it will still be a comp laint in

the longer term. A close runner-up is too

many gimm icks surely a plea for simple

communications at the site.

Other criticisms include: too much adver-

tising or requests to visit the sponsoring

organizations pages and invitations to pay

beyond the free taster pages. T he logistical

complaints were led by under construc-

tion messages; out of date details, missing

e-mail response provision and pages thatare too long or too short (with too many

links onwards).

T hese observations and th e ongoing Foru m

Convenors discussion group provide a valu-

able source of shared learn ing and guidance

for convenors and designers. The discussion

is also helping to shape a variety of new initia-

tives such as the criteria for an annu al MC B-

UP Best For um Award an extension of its

successful series of L iterati Awards for E xcel-

lence held each year to celebrate auth or andeditor achievements in journal pu blishing. In

establishing a form al mechanism for recogniz-

ing excellence in Forum design, imp lementa-

tion and management , it will be necessary to

ensure that objective assessments can be

obtained and in so doing, a team of Foru m

assessors will be needed. In order to guide the

next phase of development, a Forum advisory

role is also being considered so that the con-

venor and his or her team can seek next step

guidance from an independent expert in thesubject area or industry field.

As Forums establish Virtual Academy

communities of academics in hospitality and

tour ism, airport management and other fields

of interest, they will be able to support elec-

tron ic peer reviews of art icles submitted for

print and electronic journal publication. T his

offers all the advantages of conventional

dou ble blind reviews but with the add ed

benefit of wider international involvement and

real time transmission of manuscripts and

reviewer repor ts.

The role of the Forum in delivering

themed programm es: Airport

Management and BAA Plc

A natural extension of the themed approach

to For um development is to hyper-text link

programm e courseware resources to a Forum

site and seek to bu ild on the range of comple-

mentary and them ed resources provided at

the site. In courseware design and updating

terms, there are several impor tant advantages

updating is not tied to re-printing schedules

and journal reading updates can be automat-

ed by using Anbar on -line M anagement

Intelligence as the access point to a world

library of man agement literature, complete

with on-line ordering and a docum ent supply

service provided by the British L ibrary.

T he user perspective is equally attractive as

the learner (or associate) has access to learn-

ing resources at their place of work (the studyenvironm ent) and via a dedicated set meet-

ing place he or she can keep in constant

touch with other m embers of the learning Set

and the tu torial team. As the sole access point

to the MCB-U P and Surrey IMC sites as well

as day-to-day course materials, assignment

schedules, and many hundreds of Internet

pages of material relating to course regula-

tions and m anagement (the learning environ-

ment , tutor support, the role of external

examiners, course regulations and proce-dures, qu ality assurance am ong many others)

the learner can read and p rint any information

they need with the single exception of confi-

dential personal information and marks which

are not held on the internet.

T he following examples presented in Fig-

ures 10, 11 and 12 show the main elements of

the Airpor t Business Forum infrastructu re that

are in place to support the delivery of a themed

AP(E)L to M BA in-company programme for

BAA Plc, a core element of a learning par tner-

ship comm itment to Surrey IMC (workplace

learning programmes) and the U niversity of

Surrey (research and development) . The main

features of the Coolsites Directory an element

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Richard E. Teare




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of the Airpor t Business Forum resources are

presented in Figure 13.

The knowledge base: form alizing the

learning agenda for the future

While the generic learning framework neces-

sarily reflects the cornerston es of man age-

ment education that are traditionally associat-

ed with Certificate, D iploma and Master of

Business Adm inistration cou rses, it is wholly

in keeping with the philosophy of action

learning to relate p rogrammed knowledge

(P) to the workplace environm ent. All organi-

zations, whether large or small, provide

oppor tun ities for peop le to think, observe,

solve problems and learn from action-orient-

ed outcomes. T his corpus of knowledge and

expertise, der ived from workplace learning, is

reflected in th e relative strengths and weak-

nesses of the en terp rise as a whole. Yet ques-

tioning insight (Q ) is rarely formalized in away that is easily disseminated to futu re gen-

erations of managers who learn on the job

and, if they are fortu nate enough to be men-

tored in an appropr iate way, receive the bene-

fit of insight and wisdom from those who

them selves gained expert ise from doing,

applying, making mistakes and taking correc-

tive action. In balancing these very different

yet equally important dimensions of learning,

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Richard E. Teare



Figure 10 An o verview o f th e Airport Business Forum resources


20/27

it is appropr iate to envisage outcomes in the

form of an equation: L = P + Q (where L =

Learning). To achieve a balance between P

and Q (learning from doing) an industry

specific knowledge base is being created (as

appropr iate to client organization needs) by

pairing Surrey IMC tutor s and other acade-

mics with m anagers so as to produce publish-

able outpu ts and electronic media resources.T he process of captur ing and formalizing

Q based knowledge will both theme and

augment the generic curriculum framework.

The co ncept of a practitioner knowledge

base

T he development of an industry specific

knowledge base provides an op portunity to

disseminate expert ise in the form of published

works (art icles, cases, textbooks, work books,

workshop p roceedings, Inter net resources)wherever public domain ou tput s are applica-

ble. T his will encourage shared learning in

rapidly changing fields such as the intern a-

tional Airport Business. Com mercially

sensitive, company-specific resource outputs

will be distributed (as appropr iate) by

intranet. It also contextualizes learning by

augmenting generic core cour se materials

with an array of indu stry and com pany specif-

ic resources (see Figure 14).

A framework for learning, par ticipation

and personal developmentT he qualifications framework for BAA Plc is

based on an incremental route to M BA with

multiple entry points appropriate to prior

experience, qualifications and the needs and

aspirations of the individual (see Figure 15).

Each cohor t consists of a learning Set of

between 12-18 Associates (with its own tutor-

ial team an d external examiner) with sub-Sets

of three or four associates for some discussion

group activities and self-help support . A range

of learning suppor t is provided, beginningwith start-up residential sessions on learning

styles, and learning to learn (among oth-

ers); how to access and u se the internet site

and briefings for in-company mentors, project

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Richard E. Teare



Figure 1 1 BAA plc Set meeting places


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Richard E. Teare



Figure 12 Learning set inform ation, resources and A nbar l ibrary support

Figure 13 Coolsites An bar quality-related Web d irectory


22/27

clients, steering group mem bers (as appropr i-

ate). T he in-company support (m entors,

clients, steering group) coupled with inpu ts

from functional specialists provides the for-

mative infrastructure for an Enterprise

School of Man agement (E SM) which in

time, shou ld grow organically as MBA gradu-

ates themselves contribute to th e learning

partn ership by mento ring or tutoring as

faculty members.

Corporate them ing and workplace

learning

T he incremental pattern of action learning

draws on a multiplicity of inputs which are

applied and interpreted in both an indu stry

and a corporate context (see Figure 16). T he

theming elements are integral to the learning

process as they provide a means of augment-

ing and sustaining a dynamic curr iculum and

a framework for interpreting the m uch broad-er field of management as reflected by the

core courses, textbook principles and access

to t he worlds management literature on-line

via the Anbar service to associates.

Applying the learning framew ork

Increme ntal action learning and project-

based assessment

If managers are to become more effective in

the workplace they must b e able to use and

apply the body of programmed knowledge (P)

and learn from doing (Q) by undertaking

meaningful project assignments that requ ire

careful specification, in-com pany client sup-

port an d the attainment of specific outcomes

that demonstrate that learning has occurred.

In this sense, questions and qu estioning

insight the ability to find and apply optimalsolutions constitute an important d imension

of the curriculum. T he courseware resources

and in part icular the core courses, provide a

minimal framework that tutors and Associates

will invariably build on as they seek the best fit

between (P ) and (Q) . Access to the latest

management thinking via Anbar p rovides a

fast, intu itive way of searching an on-line

database of abstracts from more than 400

academic and professional journals (the

journals list is accredited by a panel of inter-

nationally respected academics). Anbar on

CD -ROM is issued quarterly and more

recent ly, In tern et delivery facilitates daily

updating by the Anbar product team. Fur-

ther, on-line electronic ordering with full-text

docum ent supp ly by the British L ibrary direct

to the workplace, ensures that Associates have

a uniqu ely flexible form of resource support

as they seek to apply the literature to the

challenges provided b y the learning environ-

ment encapsulated by the assignments they

under take. A progressive series of assign-ments relate to the pattern of study, starting

from a personal perspective and building to a

broader, company-wide strategic focus.

The lea rning organization: a part nershipapproach

Corporate them ing: BAA Plc

T he learning framework and embedded

theming, provide three types of output as

shown in Figure 17. F irst, managers learnfrom exploring the body of management

literature an d applying it in a meaningful way.

Second, managers become more effective by

learning how to ask the right questions and

11 6


Richard E. Teare



A framew ork for organizational learningThemed support for incremental action learning routes to M BA

Level 1: Certificate in M anagement Studies (12 months)(skills development focus)

Theknowledge

base

The knowledge base represents a corpus of expertise and 'best practice' experience.W herever possible knowledge w il l be 'captured' so as to provide a meaningful referencepoint for personal and organizational development. Outputs w ill include: Internet andintranet resources; E-Journal articles and Internet conferencing; print publishing.

Level 2:Diploma in ManagementStudies (up to 24 months)

(Functionalcore areasfocus)

Level 3:Master in BusinessAdministration(up to 24 months)(Broad, strategicfocus)

Figure 14 The concept of a know ledge base as a corporate, them ed resource

Surrey IMC

Incremental Action Learning Routes to MBA

IncrementalRoute 63.5-4 years

Incremental

Route 6A2.5-3 years

Direct Route 118-24 months

Cert ificate Diplom a

Diploma

Masters

Masters

Masters

M BA ESM

Figure 15 Incremental action learning pathw ays


23/27

find appropriate solutions and third, they

contribute to a collective body of practitioner

knowledge that will in par t at least, set the

agenda for futu re development. T he knowl-

edge base concept affords an oppor tun ity to

integrate assignment work completed byAssociates and together with other inpu ts,

the solutions sought and implemented in

each and every assignment will collectively,

provide a valuable interdisciplinary resource.

T he learning framework also provides an

oppor tun ity to build an international network

of people interested in collaborating and/or

contributing to debates about the component

disciplines of the airport business. T he Virtual

Academy series provides the means of achiev-

ing the wider involvement of academ ics andother u niversities in managing and facilitating

Intern et Foru m activities, contributing to the

knowledge base and pu blishable outpu ts and

partn ering the development and delivery of

the programme.

117


Richard E. Teare



Corporate theming and work place learning

Know ledge Experience Set interact ion Faculty

Inputs

Corporatetheming elements

Industry specificInternet Forum

Industry specificKnow ledge base

Outputs:Action im plementationImproved effectivenessReturn on Investm ent

Pattern of act ionlearning andintegration via:WAIRWABIIS

WACIRMaster's project

Outputs

Inputs

Inputs

Information Management

Financial M anagement

M arketing M anagement

Operations Management

Strategic M anagement

Six core courses:

Human Resource Mgt .

Learning t o learn

Communication skills

Action for change

International business

Time management

Skills andcomplementary issues

Team development

Figure 16 Corporate theming and w orkplace learning

Corporate theming: BAA Plc.

Know ledge ExperienceLearning framew ork, tutors and mentors

Inputs

ActionLearning

ProgrammesWorkplace

Projects andshared

learning

Core activities:Electronic JournalVirtual Academy seriesInternet conferencesLearning Set HomepageManagement JournalsForum resourcesAnbar abstractsWW W s i tes

Airport BusinessInternet Forum

Outputs

ManagerialTheory and application

State of the art sharedlearning, theorizing

and global netw orking

Action implementation,improved effectiveness,

return on investment

Industry-academic partnership that buildon experience and expertise via appliedresearch and learning resource outputs

Formalized know ledge

Indicative core areas:Airfield OperationsAir Traffic Control (ATC)Airline BusinessTerminal M anagementProject M anagementProperty ManagementRetail Operations

The Airport Businessknowledge base

Figure 17 An overview o f the corporate and industry theming approach


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UK Plc ( hospitality and tourism): a

learning partnership approach

T he benefits of a long-term learning partner-

ship between a corporate client an d a un iversi-

ty are two-way; it provides oppor tun ities for

collaborative writing and other forms of schol-

arly activity (like secondments, ind ustr ial

placements and the development of und er-

graduate and postgraduate study options) and

opportunities to conduct basic and applied

research. By ensuring that the par tnership is as

broad as possible with academ ic and practi-

tioner con tacts across the range of discipline

areas it is possible to collaborate on m ultidisci-

plinary projects while at the same time, main-

taining an appropr iate industry and company

specific focus. The scope that a learning part -

nership offers includes the opportunity to

work with an ar ray of other institu tions other

un iversities and academic teams, professional

and trade associations, customers, suppliers

and contractors. Fur ther, the ongoing pro-

gramm es of study provide a natural point of

connection for related scholarly activity and

research and a channel of communication for

discussing project ideas, problems and oppor -

tunities. Together, mutually supportive pro-

gramm es of stud y and research will provide asignificant m eans of sustaining innovation and

responding to change through teamworking

and an organizational comm itment to learning

(see Figure 18).

UK Plc (hospitality & tourism ):

programm es for learning, development

and research

To provide a po

developing a-organizational curiculum

Documents