1. Diversity in Communities of Learning
The Influence of an Individual’s Hierarchical Position on
their Activity and Performance
Martin Rehm
JURE 2010, Frankfurt
21st of July, 2010
4. Organizational Training
• contributing to the competitive advantage of
organizations (e.g. Nonaka, 1994)
• traditional methodologies are neutral to
circumstances (e.g. Eraut, 2000)
• superiority of collaborative learning methods
“hothouse for new ideas and thoughts”
(Schlager, Fusco & Schank, 2002)
5. Community of Learning (CoL)
• “engaging in collaborative learning and reflective
practice involved in transformative learning”
(Paloff & Pratt, 2003, p. 17)
“ins-and-outs”
“Expert” “Novice”
“up-to-date”
6. Diversity
+ sharing of experiences & effectively processing
new information
(Jehn & Bezrukova, 2004)
- create varying degrees of anxiety inhibiting
cognitive functioning
(Jehn, 1995)
11. Controlling for …
• Value diversity
– Questionnaire
• Informational diversity
– Educational background
– Pre-knowledge test
• Social category diversity
– Age, Gender, Ethnicity
(e.g. Jehn, et al, 1999; Pelled, Eisenhardt & Xin, 1999; van den Bossche, et al., 2006)
12. Research Hypotheses
• H1 - Activity:
– Low < Middle < High
“fear of speaking up and making mistakes in the
group” (Edmondson, 2002, p. 139)
• H2 - Performance:
– Low < Middle < High
“more senior managers are used to integrating
new and diverse information” (Bunderson, 2003)
13. Hypotheses Tests & Regression
Level of Activity / Performance
“High”
“Middle”
“Low”
Hierarchical Position
15. Results
• “Stars”
– Leading CoLs irrespective of hierarchical
position
• Duality of “Low”
– A small subset is not confining itself to
merely following discussions
16. Implications & Next Steps
• Anticipate behaviour
– device collaborative learning activities
– target specific groups
social interaction and cognitive discourse
• SNA dynamics / “one-way” vs. “reciprocal”
• CA degree of knowledge creation & diffusion
17. Diversity in Communities of Learning
The Influence of an Individual’s Hierarchical Position on
their Activity and Performance
Martin Rehm
JURE 2010, Frankfurt
21st of July, 2010