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Learning by Design

Building Sustainable Organizations

Peter Docherty author A B Shani author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:John Wiley and Sons Ltd

Published:5th Mar '03

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Learning by Design cover

This book advances a design-based approach for the investigation and creation of sustainable organizations. The learning-by-design framework is utilized to examine learning in six successful companies in different industries and national settings and provides a roadmap for improving systematic learning in organizations.


  • Investigates learning-by-design in successful companies.
  • Focuses on the choices organizations make about the design of learning mechanisms.
  • Built around six detailed case studies taken from different industries and national settings.
  • Provides a framework for improving the conditions for systematic and sustainable learning in organizations.
  • Offers a clear process model for action and change.

“It provides a much-needed bridge from an organizational learning literature that is often abstract and idiosyncratic to concrete organizational learning mechanisms that can make the space for adaptive learning to occur for individuals, teams and the organization. Shani and Docherty have created a book that is valuable for both scholars and practitioners in management and organizational learning.” David A. Kolb, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

“Collective design is certainly one of the main issues for the advancement of management and social sciences, and by adopting a learning perspective Shani and Docherty offer fresh, perfectly grounded, and valuable views to the field, both in theory and practice." Armand Hatchuel, Ecole des Mines de Paris, Paris, France


“These authors have been pioneers in the area of organizational learning. The insights and experience on which they draw, backed by recent case examples, are a major strength of the book and make it a valuable resource for practitioners in industry and for students of organizational learning and change.” Bengt Stymne, Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm, Sweden

"This book belongs to the management literature, but as so few libraries have become learning organisations that it would be good if more managers read books like this one" Electronic Library

ISBN: 9780631232773

Dimensions: 248mm x 173mm x 19mm

Weight: 435g

240 pages