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- Florén, Henrik
(författare)
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Collaborative approaches to management learning in small firms
- 2003
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Ingår i: Journal of Workplace Learning. - Bingley : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 1366-5626 .- 1758-7859. ; 15:5, s. 203-216
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to describe how learning in collaborative approaches – in this paper labeled “collaborative approaches to management learning” (CAML) – can support the learning situation of small firm owner-managers. Drawing on a socio-cognitive learning framework, the context of the small firm and its consequences for management learning are framed and discussed. Drawing on four episodes of management learning in CAML, it is suggested that CAML establishes a new context in which old truths can be questioned and new insights can be created. In CAML the owner-managers are offered a position on the periphery of practice of the other managers and other network visitors, where trust among the network participants provides the foundation for admitting and openly facing lack of knowledge on different issues, something that is prohibited within their enterprises, due to the lack of peers and expected omniscience of the owner-manager.
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- Florén, Henrik, et al.
(författare)
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Key learning themes in the small-business literature
- 2003
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Ingår i: Small Enterprise Research. - Caulfield East : School of Accounting, Monash University. - 1321-5906 .- 1175-0979. ; 11:1, s. 56-70
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article presents a review of the literature on learning in small businesses. The sources for the review are two major databases on management research: Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) and ABI/INFORM (ABI). In all, about 500 abstracts published between 1973 and 2002 have been classified. The review shows that research still is built on primary empirical research and that there are no obvious core groups of researchers publishing in the field. Our review does, however, identify a general trend pointing towards an increasing interest in research on learning in small businesses. Further, it is shown that key learning themes discussed during the last 30 years related to small businesses are: education and training (of both management and employees), strategic planning and IT/Software support. During the last decade, the interest in inter-organizational learning (networks and clusters) has increased dramatically. The review indicates that research on small businesses and learning is multidisciplinary and in an early stage of its growth. An in extenso analysis, of all articles in the five most prominent journals found in the review, shows few signs of coherent bodies of knowledge on which the literature draws. Many of the articles (37%) give no accounts of explicit theory. This is the case particularly in the early publications. The review does not reveal any 'original' theory generated by the small-business research community. Instead theories are extracted from other academic disciplines, mainly from the field of economics but also from other social sciences such as sociology and psychology and from engineering. The review shows that empirical studies of learning in small businesses are rare. This means that our understanding of learning processes in this kind of organisations is limited. Research is necessary to increase our knowledge of learning in different levels but also from different perspectives in small firms. The 'small-firm effect' on learning needs to be further explored.
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- Florén, Henrik, et al.
(författare)
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The emergent prerequisites of managerial learning in small firm networks
- 2004
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Ingår i: Leadership & Organization Development Journal. - Bradford : MCB Publishing. - 0143-7739 .- 1472-5347. ; 25:3/4, s. 292-307
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Descriptive studies have shown that co-operation in networks produces better possibilities for higher-level learning than small firms can organise on their own. Previous studies of learning in networks, however, have not considered how the prerequisites for higher-level learning develop over time in networks. This paper reports on a seven-year participant observational study of two different network constellations. A conclusion from the study is that the learning in networks of small-firm owner/managers is based on trust and has emergent prerequisites. These prerequisites are reciprocity between learning actors, the learning actors’ receptive and confronting capacity, and the transparency of the dialogue in the networks. Over time these prerequisites develop and create better opportunities for higher-level learning.
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- Florén, Henrik, et al.
(författare)
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What do owner-managers in small firms really do? : Differences in managerial behavior in small and large organizations
- 2004
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Ingår i: Small Enterprise Research. - Caulfield East, Vic. : School of Accounting, Monash University. - 1321-5906 .- 1175-0979. ; 12:1, s. 57-70
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The research presented is a replication of Mintzberg's on managerial work. The article focuses on owner-managers in small manufacturing firms in an initial attempt to reveal the nature of the work undertaken by this type of managers. The purpose is to describe what they do and to compare their behaviour with that of managers in large and intermediate organizations as described by Mintzberg and Kurke & Aldrich. Our study compliments an earlier small-scale study on managerial behavior in small firms and includes sufficient data to test Mintzberg's propositions on managerial work. Empirically this paper draws on an observational study that deployed the method of structured observation. The daily activities of the small-firm owner-managers in our study are characterized by, among other things, informality and constant interruption as the process by which their work is organized. This differs partly from the results found in the studies of managers' work in larger organizations, where formal and planned activities serve more often as the procedure through which the managers design their work. Of Mintzberg's seven propositions, we found support for four, although with some hesitation. This calls into question the asserted generality of several such propositions. Our study indicates that there seem to be certain myths about what small-firm owner-managers really do, myths that need to be considered in future research.
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