Best paper award for LUMS academics

31 March 2015

Kathryn Fahy, Mark Easterby-Smith and Jon Erland Lervik have been awarded the 'Best Paper for 2014' in the journal Management Learning for their article "The power of spatial and temporal orderings in organizational learning". 

is a member of the Strategic Management and a member of the Department of Management learning and Leadership. Jon Erland Lervik works at BI Norwegian School of Management.

Management Learning's editorial team reviewed all papers published during the year and felt that Fahy, Easterby-Smith and Lervik's paper made the most signisficant contribution to the field.

Abstract

This article attends to the call for research on the often neglected spatial and temporal dynamics of organizational life. In particular, we examine the ways in which aspects of space and time facilitate or hinder learning and knowledge sharing in organizations. We draw on conceptual tools derived from work influenced largely by Henri Lefebvre to illustrate how a spatial–temporal lens throws new light on the problem of learning and knowledge sharing across organizational communities. We examine these dynamics in a qualitative study with four high-technology engineering companies in the energy conversion and automation and aerospace sectors. Building on a situated learning perspective, we argue that a spatial and temporal perspective contributes to our understanding of processes of identity construction and the power relations that influence access to forms of participation and learning across organizational communities.

Full paper