CorpU Weekly Digest: Social Learning (2012-Apr-02)

Topics: Social Learning

Here are this past week's headlines in social learning: 

• Measuring social learning: some preliminary thoughts to inform approaches on capturing the application of that which was learned ; 
• Books: Superpower! and The Institutional Logics Perspective: A New Approach to Culture, Structure and Process ; 
• Webinars ; 
• Conferences

 Measuring social learning: some preliminary thoughts to inform approaches on capturing the application of that which was learned
Harold Jarche recently offered a framework for social learning in the enterprise to outline how the concept of social learning relates to the large-scale changes facing organizations as they struggle to manage how people share and use knowledge. Indeed, Jay Cross suggests that the whole discussion needs framing in terms of collaboration. Yet, saying social learning occurs largely through collaboration means delving into the subtleties of how social networks relate to the organizing work of project teams as well as to their performance. After all, much of the work done in enterprises involves multidisciplinary teams, often spread across departments, operating units, and locations. One of earlier Larry Irons' posts posed the question "Who's on Your Team?" to highlight the importance of social networking to establishing team identity and enhancing knowledge sharing across distributed, multidisciplinary teams. Its focus was on the importance of social software applications in the enterprise to the ability of distributed project team members to recognize who is on their team at any point in time, and who isn't. Organizational analysts refer to the challenge of establishing team identity as a boundary definition problem for teams, when members are spread across large distances whether geographic or cultural in nature. The author suggests that collaboration is about people working with other people to achieve common goals and create value. Even though goal-orientation is a big part of collaborating, collaboration requires more to achieve goals effectively. Read Larry Irons' article "Social Learning, Collaboration, and Team Identity"

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 The Business of Learning: New Major Products, Mergers, Acquisitions, and Partnerships

No major news in mergers, acquisitions, or product releases.

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 Books To Read

Do you want more out of your life and your job with less effort and better results? Have you ever felt that there just has to be a better way to get there? If so, you're not alone. Millions of people, just like you, are faced with many challenges in their professional and personal lives on their journey to success. Superpower! to be released on June 5, 2012, is internet marketing guru Ford Saeks first book bringing together principlesto solve problems faster, make better decisions, and improve one's professional and personal life. In today's competitive, information-overloaded, and challenging economic conditions, there is no such thing as job security—only skills security. And sometimes, learning from a skilled marketer can help you stay ahead. Buy Now

How do institutions influence and shape cognition and action in individuals and organizations, and how are they in turn shaped by them? Various social science disciplines have offered a range of theories and perspectives to provide answers to this question. Within organization studies in recent years, several scholars have developed the institutional logics perspective, as first introduced by Alford and Friedland in Powers of Theory: Capitalism, the State, and Democracy (1985). In The Institutional Logics Perspective: A New Approach to Culture, Structure and Process, Prof. Patricia H. Thornton (Duke University, Fuqua School of Business), Prof. William Ocasio (Kellogg School of Management and Northwestern University), and Prof. Michael Lounsbury (University of Alberta School of Business) bring together a lot of the research on institutional logics perspective, making it accessible for the practitioner as well. This approach affords significant insights, methodologies, and research tools, to analyze the multiple combinations of factors that may determine cognition, behavior, and rationalities, and is likely to be the go-to book for some time. Buy Now

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 Webinars 

HR Analytics Roadmap 
Date: Wednesday, April 04, 2012, 2:00 PM ET
Presenter: Laurie Bassi, CEO of McBassi & Company Register now

Ensuring High-Quality Healthcare in the Midst of Rapid Growth & Change 
Date: Thursday, April 5, at 11:00 AM ET
Presenters: Suzanne Darrow and Allison Parish, Cancer Treatment Centers of America® (CTCA) Register now

LMS evaluation and deployment for a small and medium sized business
Date: Thursday, April 05, 2012, 2:00 PM ET
Presenter: ACD Learning Solutions Register now

Making E-Learning Stick  
Date: Tuesday, April 10, 2012, 1:00 PM ET 
Presenter: Carole Robin, Stanford Graduate School of Business Register now

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 Conferences

The Six Disciplines of Learning Transfer: Presented by ASTD in Partnership with Fort Hill Company
Date: April 4-5, 2012
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA Register now 

Talent Management Summit
Date April 10-12, 2012
Location: São Paulo, Brazil Register now

Assessing & Developing High Potentials
Date: April 16-17, 2012
Location: Washington DC, USA Register now

OnBoarding Talent
Date: April 16-18, 2012
Location: Sydney, Australia Register now

Emotions and Education: Affect, Anxiety and Achievement
Date: April 19, 2012
Location: New York City, NY, USA Register now

2012 Sloan-C Blended Learning Conference and Workshop: Perfecting the Blend
Date: April 23-24, 2012
Location: Milwaukee, WI, USA Register now

Learning TECH 2012
Date: April 23 - 25, 2012
Location: Chicago, IL, USA Register now 

Delivering the Strategic Role of HR
Date: May 2, 2012 
Location: New Zealand Register now

Global Management Conference: Fourth Annual Conference on Globalization, Sustainability and Development, 2012
Date: May 2-5, 2012
Location: Rio De Janeiro, Brazil Register now

1st Annual People Effectiveness @ Work Conference
Date: May 8, 2012
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa Register now

HR Summit 2012
Date: May 9-12, 2012 
Location: Singapore Register now

Corporate University Xchange's Global Leadership Congress
Date:  May 15-17, 2012
Location: Philadelphia, PA, USA Register now 

Social Recruiting Strategies Conference
Date: 22 to 25 May 2012
Location: Chicago, IL, United States Register now

National Institute on the Assessment of Adult Learning
Date: June 6-8, 2012
Location: Atlantic City, NJ, USA Register now

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