The Black Box of Governmental Learning

The Black Box of
Governmental Learning
The Learning Spiral—A Concept to
Organize Learning in Governments
Raoul Blindenbacher
in collaboration with
Bidjan NashatThe Black Box of
Governmental
Learning
The Learning Spiral—
A Concept to Organize
Learning in Governments
by
Raoul Blindenbacher
in collaboration with Bidjan Nashat
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ISBN-13: 978-0-8213-8453-4
e-ISBN: 978-0-8213-8474-9
DOI: 10.1596/978-0-8213-8453-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Blindenbacher, Raoul.
T e black box of governmental learning : the learning spiral—a concept to organize learning in govern-
ments / by Raoul Blindenbacher in collaboration with Bidjan Nashat.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8213-8453-4 — ISBN 978-0-8213-8474-9 (electronic)
1. Public administration —Evaluation. 2. Organizational learning. 3. Action learning. 4. Government
executives —In-service training. I. Nashat, Bidjan, 1979- II. World Bank. III. Title.
JF1525.O74B55 2010
352.6'69 dc22
2010019105
Independent Evaluation Group
Communication, Strategy, and LearningWorld Bank InfoShop
E-mail: ieg@worldbank.orgE-mail: pic@worldbank.org
Telephone: 202-458-4497Telephone: 202-458-5454
Facsimile: 202-522-3125Facsimile: 202-522-1500
Printed on Recycled PaperThe Black Box of Governmental Learning
Outline
Foreword
Preface
Executive Summary
Chapter 1 Introduction
Part I—Analytical and Theoretical Considerations
Chapter 2 Analytical Concepts of Governmental Learning
Chapter 3 Theoretical Concepts of Governmental Learning
Chapter 4 A New Concept of Governmental Learning—The Learning Spiral
Part II—Practical Application
Chapter 5 International Conference
Chapter 6 Multiyear Global Program Roundtables
Chapter 7 Study Tour
Chapter 8 Evaluation-Based Workshop
Chapter 9 Multimedia Training and E-Learning Initiative
Chapter 10 Conclusions and Outlook
iiiTable of Contents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xvii
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Why Learning in Governments? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 A Concept to Organize Learning in Governments . . . . 3
1.3 Outline of the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Part I Analytical and Theoretical Considerations . . . . . . 9
2 Analytical Concepts of Governmental Learning . . . . . . . . . . .11
2.1 Historical Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1.1 Origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.1.2 Learning Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2 Today’s Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2.1 Learning Approaches Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.2.2 Practical Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.2.3 Types of Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3 Particularities and Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.3.1 Particularities and Barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.3.2 Lessons from Past and Current Practices . . . . . 39
3 Theoretical Concepts of Governmental Learning . . . . . . . . .43
3.1 Democratic Government, Democratic Governance,
and Governmental Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
vvi The Black Box of Governmental Learning
3.1.1 Concepts of Democratic Government and
Democratic Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3.1.2 Policy Analysis and Governmental
Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.2 Knowledge in Democratic Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.2.1 Concepts of Knowledge Creation . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.2.2 Knowledge Creation in Democratic
Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.3 Learning T eories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.3.1 Individual Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.3.2 Organizational Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
4 A New Concept of Governmental Learning—
The Learning Spiral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
4.1 Learning System and Learning Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.1.1 Learning System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4.1.2 T e Learning Process and Its Methodology . . 69
4.2 Stages of the Learning Spiral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Stage 1: Conceptualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Stage 2: Triangulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Stage 3: Accommodation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Stage 4: Internalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Stage 5: Externalization 78
Stage 6: Reconceptualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Stage 7: Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Stage 8: Conf guration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.3 Practice of the Learning Spiral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.3.1 Template and Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.3.2 Evaluation and Results Framework . . . . . . . . . . 88
Part II Practical Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93
5 International Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95
5.1 Conference Reader—Conceptualization Stage . . . . . . 95
5.2 Sixty Federal and Decentralized Countries—
Triangulation Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97viiTable of Contents
5.3 Introduction of the Conference Reader—
Accommodation Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
5.4 Work Sessions—Internalization Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
5.5 Dialogue Tables—Externalization Stage . . . . . . . . . . 101
5.6 Expert Summaries—Reconceptualization Stage . . . 104
5.7 Interactive Plenary Panels—Transformation
Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
5.8 Conference Proceedings—Conf guration Stage . . . 105
5.9 Final Comments and Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Box 1: Ref ections from Robert D. Ebel, Deputy Chief
Financial