Organizational learning: A tool for diversity and institutional effectiveness

Team formation/composition is critical to inquiry teams' success; campuses that struggled to learn or move culture change forward did not have a representative cross-campus team.

“Team formation/composition is critical to their success and campuses that struggled to learn or move culture change forward did not have a representative crosscampus team (Kezar et al., 2008;Smith, 2020;Smith & Parker, 2005).”

Institutional willingness to reflect (culture of learning), typically set by campus leadership, is key for ideas from the inquiry group to be adopted.

“Institutional willingness to reflect (i.e., culture of learning), which is a culture typically set by campus leadership, is key for the ideas that emerge from the inquiry group to be adopted (Kezar et al., 2008;Smith & Parker, 2005).”

Inquiry teams that engage the broader campus in forums on a regular basis were better able to learn and obtain buy-in among others to implement learning from the inquiry group.

“Inquiry teams that engage the broader campus in forums on a regular basis were better able to learn and obtain buy-in among others to implement learning from the inquiry group (Smith & Parker, 2005).”

Campuses with stronger institutional research offices that included their institutional research representative on the team were more likely to make progress.

“For example, several studies identified that campuses with stronger institutional research offices that included their institutional research representative on the team were more likely to make progress (Bensimon, 2012;Smith, 2020;Smith & Parker, 2005).”

Inquiry teams are much like the PLCs that seed change and help to understand why change is needed and offer up some initial solutions.

“Inquiry teams are much like the PLCs that seed change and help to understand why change is needed and offer up some initial solutions (Bensimon, 2012;Kezar et al., 2008;Smith & Parker, 2005)”

Having diverse members with different vantage points on campus helped challenge thinking and support learning.

“Having diverse members with different vantage points on campus helped challenge thinking and support learning (Bensimon, 2005;Smith & Parker, 2005).”

Information and data silos on campus lead to lack of communication that impairs learning.

“Information and data silos on campus leads to lack of communication that impairs learning (Kezar et al., 2008;Smith & Parker, 2005).”

The strategies of the coordinating group reflect factors central to inquiry teams being effective, such as the right team composition, improved data processes, and the importance of connecting the efforts to institutional priorities.

“the strategies of the coordinating group certainly reflect some of these factors such as the right team composition, improved data processes, and the importance of connecting the efforts to institutional priorities (Bensimon, 2012;Kezar et al., 2008;Smith & Parker, 2005).”

Higher education campuses exhibit unique features such as loose coupling, being highly values-oriented rather than data-oriented in decision-making, and lacking robust data systems.

“While trends in studies of organizational learning in higher education tend to reflect the general trends across the multi-disciplinary research base, campuses exhibit some unique features such as loose coupling, which makes information flow and communication challenging (Kezar, 2005;Weick, 1976); being highly valuesoriented rather than data-oriented in terms of decision-making (Kezar, 2005); and”