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Andrea D. Ellinger: The Pennsylvania State University-Harrisburg, Middletown, Pennsylvania, and
Robert P. Bostrom: The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA
Introduction
In the past several years scholars and practitioners have focused considerable attention on the concept of the learning organization and the importance of leaders and managers in building learning organizations (Dunphy et al., 1997; Jones and Hendry, 1994; Pedler et al., 1991; Senge, 1990a, 1990b; Waldersee, 1997; Watkins and Marsick, 1993, 1996b). The literature has speculated that leaders and managers will assume roles as teachers (Cohen and Tichy, 1998; Senge, 1990a, 1990b), coaches (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1997; Conger, 1993; Evered and Selman, 1989; Marsh, 1992; McGill and Slocum, 1998; Slater and Narver, 1995), educators (Antonioni, 1994), developers (Boydell and Leary, 1994; Hyman and Cunningham, 1998), facilitators (Weaver and Farrell, 1997), leaders of learning (Argyris, 1993) and strategic learning managers (Larsen, 1997).
However, many of the contributions on the learning organization have been descriptive and prescriptive, and scholars suggest that the empirical base has not been fully explicated (Altman and Iles, 1998; Iles, 1994; Jacobs, 1995; Johnson, 1998; Slater and Narver, 1994, 1995; Ulrich et al., 1993). Altman and Iles (1998) acknowledge that few contributions have explicitly discussed the role of leadership in affecting learning. Thus, research is needed that examines these roles and the micro-behaviors associated with them.
The purpose of the current research is to examine the multiple ways in which managers facilitate their employees' learning within learning organizations. The primary question addressed in this paper is: What are the types of behaviors that contribute to the role of managers as successful facilitators of learning? In short, this research explores the micro-behaviors that exemplary managers within learning organizations enact when they perceive themselves to be serving as facilitators of learning.
The next sections briefly review the relevant literature, the conceptual framework guiding the study, the research design, and data analysis. Lastly, findings are reported and implications for practice and research are discussed.
Review of literature
A large base of management and leadership literature has accumulated that has examined what managers and leaders do, how they respond, think and behave (McGovern et al., 1997; Yukl, 1989a, 1994). The studies in leadership and management divide into distinct lines of inquiry and can be classified according...