Expansive Learning at Work: toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization

Using Activity Analysis to Identify Individual and Group Behavioral Constraints to Organizational Change Management

“…The division of labour creates different positions for the activity participants, who also carry their own diverse histories. This multivoicedness is multiplied in networks of the organization's interacting sub-activity systems (Engeström, 2001;Sanda, 2006), and serves as a source of both trouble and innovation, which demand actions of translation and negotiation (Engeström, 2001). Since the organizational activity systems also get transformed over lengthy periods of time, the problems and potentials inherent in such systems can be understood only against the system's own history (Engeström, 2001).…”

“…In this framework, organizational contradictions between functional as well as historical phases of the work process (Engeström, 1987(Engeström, , 2004Heydebrand, 2008) are described for work organizations. For example, administrative and technical innovations designed to increase productivity tend to come into contradiction with strategies of established authority structures designed to expand domain, thus impeding or nullifying various organizational reform efforts (Engeström, 2001;Heydebrand, 2008). An organization's activity system is always a community of multiple points of view, traditions and interests which carries multiple layers and strands of history engraved in its artifacts, rules and conventions (Engeström, 2001).…”

“…For example, administrative and technical innovations designed to increase productivity tend to come into contradiction with strategies of established authority structures designed to expand domain, thus impeding or nullifying various organizational reform efforts (Engeström, 2001;Heydebrand, 2008). An organization's activity system is always a community of multiple points of view, traditions and interests which carries multiple layers and strands of history engraved in its artifacts, rules and conventions (Engeström, 2001). The division of labour creates different positions for the activity participants, who also carry their own diverse histories.…”

“…This multivoicedness is multiplied in networks of the organization's interacting sub-activity systems (Engeström, 2001;Sanda, 2006), and serves as a source of both trouble and innovation, which demand actions of translation and negotiation (Engeström, 2001). Since the organizational activity systems also get transformed over lengthy periods of time, the problems and potentials inherent in such systems can be understood only against the system's own history (Engeström, 2001). The activity systems' history needs to be examined, not only as a local history of the activity and its objects, but also as a history of the theoretical ideas and tools that have helped shape the activity.…”

Integrative Action Process in the Perspective of Globalization

“…The model itself is a liberation process [3] for innovative activities, rather than a process for automatic innovation generation. The innovative learning cycles do not follow any fixed order [7] and the freedom of methods and creativity are emphasized in the innovation orientation [13]. Hence, the nature of the integrative process is supportive rather than managerial in the cyclic and thematic elements, and objective in the linear and relevance elements.…”