Leveraging Para-Communities in Fostering Adaptive Schools: Towards Adaptive Organizations
Abstract: In the paper, we discuss problems related to traditional hierarchical organizations and argue that adaptability is important for organizations to survive in the 21st century. Expanding on Bransford’s (1999) notion of adaptive expert, we propose a notion of adaptive organization. Being adaptive, an organization would need to be efficient in her customary routines and be innovative. Most organizations are by orientation efficient, but in other to stay competitive, they need to be innovative. We introduce the notion social capital to substantiate our analysis and suggest that social capital cultivates innovation in organizations. To explain our conceptualizations, we characterize traditional hierarchal organizations at one end of the efficiency-innovation continuum, while on the other end, we have self-evolving CoPs. We discuss the issues of scale, locus of control, and business goals that influence the different ways organizations can potentially be oriented towards adaptability.
Presider: Michael Nastanski, Saint Leo University