Share Paper: Leveraging Para-Communities in Fostering Adaptive Schools: Towards Adaptive Organizations

  1. David Hung, National Institute of Education, Singapore
  2. Der Thanq Chen, National Institute of Education, Singapore
Wednesday, July 2 3:10-3:30 PM FH 101B (3rd Fl)

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 ...