Conversational Learning: An Experiential Approach to Knowledge Creation

Despite conflicting belief systems and other divisive problems, people can still learn from each other to create new knowledge. The medium is conversation. This challenging new book asserts that business conversations can be seen as social experiences through which we discover new ways of seeing the world, destroying the barriers between us. When this occurs, new knowledge can emerge or be developed.

How can people learn from their differences, rather than be divided by them? One way is by creating conversational spaces―areas where conversation occurs. The authors show how such spaces are created, maintained, and enhanced, and how they are used to transform different interpretations and perspectives into new common understandings. With illustrations and case studies, the authors demonstrate the practical value of conversational learning in diverse organizational settings. Emphasis is shifted from techniques that are essentially insensitive to different contexts, attitudes, and beliefs, focusing instead on a theory of learning that is more social and interactive. This remarkable new source of explanatory theory validates an intensely pragmatic way to help organizations get people talking to one another, thereby advancing the well being of the organizations and those within them.

ANN C. BAKER is Assistant Professor in George Mason University's Program on Social and Organizational Learning, and in its Women's Studies Program./e She focuses her research on organizational learning, multiculturalism, organization change, group dynamics, and conversational learning in virtual spaces.

PATRICIA J. JENSEN is Associate Professor of Business and Management at Alverno College, Milwaukee./e Her current research concentrates on ways individuals make sense of their experiences and learn through conversation.

DAVID A. KOLB is Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University./e He is author of four textbooks and numerous journal articles. Kolb is perhaps best known for his research on experiential learning and learning styles.