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From the 2008 International Writing Across the Curriculum Conference
Citation preview
Learning to cross
boundaries:
Clay Spinuzzi, University of Texas at [email protected]
Vertical and horizontal learning in interpenetrated organizations
Spinuzzi, Clay. (2008, in press.) Network: Theorizing
knowledge work in telecommunications. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Telecorp> 300 workers20 functional
groupshigh turnover
rapid expansionmultiple fields,
trades
Long-term or lifelong jobs
Steady contacts with other organizations and public
Linear development of expertise
Clearly defined roles
Vertical expertise
Organizational, disciplinary, trade boundaries
Interior vs. exterior
Traditional work
But ...Downsizing
Automation
Flattening of work hierarchies
Proliferating intercompany relationships
Continual reorganization
Breaking down of “silos”/ “stovepipes”
Increase in telecommunications, making it possible to connect any two points in the organization
“Interpenetrated”Anyone can link up with anyone else inside or outside the organization, and consequently any work activities can be intersected.
*
Horizontal expertiseLearning across organizational
boundaries.
<->
coordinativepolycontextual
cross-disciplinaryspliced
transformative
Net work
DimensionLearning
contextTechniques
VerticalWithin functional
groups
Apprenticeship; formal Telecorp
training sessions; trial and error;
stories; documentation
VerticalWithin trades,
disciplines, fields
Computer-based training;
corporate training outside
Telecorp
Horizontal
Across functional
groups
Trial and error, stories,
apprenticeship
Horizontal
Across
organizations
Trial and error, stories,
apprenticeship
•Apprenticeship: participating in an activity, first peripherally, then with increasing responsibility (Lave & Wenger).
•The most frequently mentioned form of training (51 of 84 interviews; 20 of 23 functional areas)
•Contingency based: Shadowing, work reviews.
Apprenticeship: “You never ever do a partial
connection”
•Attempting to complete a task through self-directed exploration.
•Entirely contingency-based.
•“Sink or swim”; “thrown to the wolves.”
•Resulted in limited stable knowledge passed by word of mouth.
Trial-and-Error: “Willing to get your
hands dirty”
•Specific stories about how things went wrong.
•The case of Rex.
•Emphasized contingencies, provided resources to deal with them.
•Oral, ephemeral.
Stories: “There was nothing about a dog
on the ticket.”
A need for formal horizontal learning structures and
practicesbeyond contingency and
reactive stancesconferring stability and
circulation and built into genres and
systems
Implications