D. Christopher Kayes

Experiential learning in teams

Teamwork is prevalent in organizations, yet it has pitfalls such as social loafing, groupthink, overdependence on a dominant leader, overcommitment to goals, and diffusion of responsibility. Such negative factors can be overcome and team effectiveness improved when teams intentionally focus on learning. This article draws on nearly four decades of research and theory on experiential learning theory in teams. We identify learning as the key component of six aspects of team development: purpose, membership, role leadership, context, process, and action. Teams learn differently in early versus later stages of development. The Kolb Team Learning Experience addresses all six aspects through a structured written simulation. Upon completion of the simulation, the team has knowledge about the functions of teams in general, experience about the functions of its team specifically, and awareness of learning and progress through the learning cycle modes.

Learning versus Performance in Short-Term Project Teams

In this article, the authors propose and test hypotheses about the relationship between learning and performance and the team processes that are most predictive of learning and performance in short-term project teams. Results show a moderate but nonsignificant relationship between learning and performance. Results also reveal that team processes most predictive of team learning include interpersonal understanding, proactivity in problem solving, and creating clear work procedures (a negative predictor). Team processes most predictive of team performance include interpersonal understanding, proactivity in problem-solving, and confronting members who break norms (a negative predictor). Results suggest that the needs of short-term project teams differ from those of longer-term teams. They also suggest the potential for tension between learning and performance in short-term project teams. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

The 1996 Mount Everest climbing disaster: The breakdown of learning in teams:

Qualitative analysis of the events leading to the deaths of eight climbers on Mt Everest in 1996 illustrates the breakdown of learning in teams. The analysis contributes to research on the role of teams in organizational disasters by considering team learning and development as the basis for success in complex and changing organizations. Multiple qualitative methods reveal three precursors associated with the breakdown of learning in teams: narrowly defined purpose, directive leadership and failure to sense an ill-defined problem. Findings have implications for normal disasters and sense-making, performance in short-term project teams, and organizational learning.

Essential competencies for cross‐cultural knowledge absorption

Purpose – To describe the competencies necessary for managers to effectively engage in cross‐cultural knowledge absorption. Design/methodology/approach – A comprehensive literature review of knowledge management and cross‐cultural competency research which identifies seven thematic competencies for knowledge absorption. Findings – The study identifies and provides examples of seven cross‐cultural knowledge absorption abilities: valuing different cultures, building relationships, listening and observing, coping with ambiguity, managing others, translating complex ideas, and taking action. Research limitations/implications – The research relies on a single theory of learning and integrates research into a single set of assumptions. The research has not been tested empirically. Practical implications – The paper provides a model to guide managers and others in organizations through successful knowledge transfer and absorption efforts including training, development, selection and project planning. Originality/value – The paper integrates diverse and extensive literature on knowledge absorption into a single framework based on how managers learn from experience and suggests competencies for managing absorption efforts.

Expatriate learning: exploring how Japanese managers adapt in the United States

We present an exploratory study of how Japanese expatriates adapt to working in the United States over time. We view expatriate adaptation to a host culture through the lens of Experiential Learning Theory and learning style. Results of two studies, using quantitative and qualitative data, conducted in Japanese multinational corporations doing business in the USA reveal how learning style in Japanese expatriates changes over time and how Japanese managers differ from their US counterparts. Results suggested that Japanese managers become more concrete and more active in their learning styles over time spent in the USA. Results also revealed that the learning style of expatriates changes in response to cultural demands and that the patterns of change do not necessarily reflect that of US managers. We suggest that Japanese managers do not directly assimilate into US culture but develop specialized modes of adaptation to their host culture. Results of the study are generalized into eight propositions to guide future research on expatriate adaptation to a host culture.

Developing teams using the Kolb Team Learning Experience

This article shows how the Kolb Team Learning Experience (KTLE) simulation has been used by teams to enhance learning. The KTLE includes seven modules: (a) introduction, (b) team purpose, (c) team membership, (d) team roles, (e) team process, (f) team context, and (g) team action. Each of these modules takes a team through the process of team learning: creating, planning, deciding, and acting (or, in technical terms, diverging, assimilating, converging, and accommodating). The authors describe the simulation and provide examples from teams that have engaged in it.

Teaching with and through Teams: Student-Written, Instructor-Facilitated Case Writing and the Signatory Code

Modern organizations prize teamwork. Management schools have responded to this reality by integrating teamwork into the curriculum. Two important challenges associated with integrating teams in the management classroom include (a) designing teamwork assignments that achieve multiple, sophisticated learning outcomes and (b) instruction in, and management of, the classic social loafing problem. This article addresses these two challenges. First, it provides a method for designing teamwork assignments using Student Written–Instructor Facilitated (SWIF) case learning. SWIF provides the ideal vehicle for achieving all six of Bloom’s (1956) Educational Objectives— knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Second, it demonstrates the use of the Signatory Code, a team-contracting device that helps teams minimize social loafing. Survey results from 112 students speak to the efficacy of this tandem teaching methodology for blending complex management concepts with genuine team experience.

Dilemma at 29,000 Feet: An Exercise in Ethical Decision Making Based on the 1996 Mt. Everest Climbing Disaster

This article describes an exercise based on the 1996 Mt. Everest mountain climbing disaster designed to teach concepts related to ethical decision making. The exercise requires analyzing multiple sides of an ethical dilemma, making an ethically defensible decision and applying this decision to current business and management practices. Instructions for teaching are outlined and resources provided. Class context and audience are described, methods for evaluation suggested. Student feedback illustrates the benefits of using the Everest events to introduce concepts related to ethical decision making. Contributions to this case study for teaching introductory organizational behavior and management ethics and values are presented.

Learning and work satisfaction in Asia: a comparative study of Japanese, Chinese and Malaysian managers

We compared predictors of job satisfaction across three countries, China, Japan, and Malaysia, by surveying 600 managers from these countries who worked for the leading Japanese retail firm AEON Co. Ltd., as it strategically expanded across Asia. Learning is a particularly critical area for human resource management (HRM) in developing countries because of the need to adapt and learn. Therefore, we viewed employee adaptation to the host company culture of AEON through the lens of experiential learning theory and learning style. Results showed that Japanese managers preferred learning through feeling and reflecting; Chinese managers preferred learning through thinking and reflecting; and Malaysian managers preferred learning through thinking and acting. Furthermore, Chinese managers showed more balance as learners, whereas Malaysian managers were comparatively in the middle and Japanese managers exhibited the most specialization in their learning orientation. The study also suggested that learning style is a stronger predictor of job satisfaction than culture and ethnicity, but not as strong as some control variables such as language skills. Work satisfaction has been widely used as an indicator of successful HRM practices in multinational companies in advanced, Western and individualistic cultures. Taken together, the measures of learning style and work satisfaction provide the basis of further study into relationship between Confucianism, capitalism and HRM practices.

“Through the Looking Glass” Management Education Gone Awry

This article draws on poststructural Experiential Learning Theory to conceptualize management development as a series of concurrent reflective conversations. The developmental change process is illustrated through the experiences of Lewis Carroll’s character Alice in the books Through the Looking Glass and Alice and Her Adventures in Wonderland. Furthering the distinction between personal and social knowledge, the article suggests that development, and by extension learning, is not a direct reflection of individual self but rather a process of looking “awry” at individual experience. Implications for the efficacy of various pedagogies—such as lecture, simulations and experiential exercises, critical facilitation, and problem solving—are explored for each conversation.