PhD defence Anouk van der Arend – Kamstra

Keywords: Learning, Organisations, Routines, Exnovation

"Leren van wat goed gaat: Routines, repertoires en narratieven van lerende professionals"

“You can learn from your mistakes,” is often said. Mistakes are eye-catching, prompt action, warn us of potential danger or failure, and encourage us to learn. In daily practice, however, far more goes right than wrong. We pay little attention to what goes well, taking it for granted and rarely consciously reflecting on it. Suppose we did, could we also learn from what goes well?

This dissertation examines how learning processes within teams of professionals at rail infrastructure manager ProRail unfold when a focus is placed on what goes well in the work. By uncovering, clarifying, and discussing the implicit components underlying these processes, they became explicit, enabling us to learn from them. Learning processes were then studied based on implicit action (routines), implicit reasoning (repertoires), and the stories and narratives that connect these two elements.

Click here for the live stream.

Click here for the full dissertation.