Community organizational learning: Case studies illustrating a three‐dimensional model of levels and orders of change

Abstract

We present a three-dimensional cube framework to help community organizational researchers and administrators think about an organization's learning and empowerment-related structures and processes in terms of firstorder (incremental or ameliorative) and second-order (transformative) A R T I C L EWe thank (a) the organizations that participated in the survey and especially the in-depth interviews for their staff time and honesty; (b) the students in three service-learning classes who conducted the surveys and many of the interviews; (c) Scot Evans, Carrie Hanlin, and Isaac Prilleltensky for their participation in the project and contribution of ideas to this paper; (d) the project's Community Advisory Board for their helpful input; and (e) the anonymous reviewers for their comments, which strengthened this article in many ways.

Community organizations and sense of community: further development in theory and measurement

“…One study of an earlier version of the COSOC showed SOC to be an important empowering organizational characteristic (Hughey et al, in press). The work of Perkins et al (2007) convincingly showed how internal transformation in community organizations is part of the extraorganizational milieu that affects resources available to individuals and organizations. Consequently, community-change efforts might benefit from future research that quantitatively tests relationships between organizational SOC, organizational empowerment, and organizational learning.…”

“…It has been argued that to address the confluence of social, economic, health, and other community problems, community organizations must learn, transform, and facilitate empowerment at multiple levels of change, i.e., individual, organizational, and community (Perkins et al, 2007;Schneider, Peterson, Vaughn, Mooss & Doebbeling, 2006). One study of an earlier version of the COSOC showed SOC to be an important empowering organizational characteristic (Hughey et al, in press).…”

The mediating influence of organizational characteristics in the relationship between organizational type and relational power: an extension of psychological empowerment research

“…The consortia created environments in which members could participate, develop critical awareness, and act collectively to gain control over their lives (Minkler et al). Another study tied together concepts of learning organizations and empowerment through a case study review of three exemplar nonprofits engaged in second-order change (Perkins, Bess, Cooper, Jones, Armstead, & Speer, 2007). The authors found that organizations engaging in empowering processes at the individual level (e.g.…”

Pathways to Effectiveness in Substance Abuse Prevention: Empowering Organizational Characteristics of Community-Based Coalitions

“…Several studies have been conducted on the OE model, but tested only certain components (Griffith et al, 2008(Griffith et al, , 2010Hardina, 2011;Ohmer, 2008;Perkins et al, 2007;Speer et al, 2013). The complete model of OE (Peterson & Zimmerman, 2004) remains largely untested and provides an opportunity to test the processes and outcomes within the three components of OE.…”