Governmental Learning Spiral
The Governmental Learning Spiral is a concept for organizing events in which governmental learning is taking place in order to solve specific governance challenges. It is an instrument to enhance behavioral change in governments through prearranged learning events, such as conferences, e-learning, training, etc., to improve performance in democratic governance. The Governmental Learning Spiral—a heuristic and multidisciplinary concept—has been developed and applied for international governmental learning events worldwide over the past decade.
Concept
The concept consists of an eight-stage learning process, which structures a learning activity based on the specific challenge a government is facing, the analysis of the kind of knowledge a government needs to address it, as well as its particular political and institutional environment, which determines the selection of the learning actors. The template requires that the invited participants represent different content and organizational perspectives and play a precisely defined role as both knowledge holders and knowledge seekers. In this kind of procedure, participants have unlimited access to the collective wealth of the shared tacit and explicit knowledge.
A major characteristic of this type of governmental learning event is the facilitation by a learning broker who oversees all aspects of the event organization. This includes the logistics, the content preparation, the drafting and carrying through of the agenda, the moderation of the learning sessions, and the follow-up activities. The learning broker designs the learning process according to the specific governance challenge at hand.
The effects of applying the Governmental Learning Spiral concept are threefold: The primary effect is that governments’ access to the latest knowledge in democratic governance is enhanced and can be applied in concrete, practical action for specific governance challenges. A second effect is that—because of the iterative character of the learning process—the knowledge to be learned is always validated and updated in real time to include the latest existing experiences on the subject. And a third effect is that participation in the learning process evokes a sense of social belonging among the learning actors, which often leads to the creation of networks and communities of practice, where governments continue to share their latest experiences and by doing so launch the next spin of the Governmental Learning Spiral.
Template
The Governmental Learning Spiral concept consists of an eight-stage template. In this template the stages are aligned in a chronological order and split into three distinct sequences for a particular learning activity.
1. Before: The conceptualization, triangulation, and accommodation stages are considered as the preparatory stages, where the specific challenge is defined and the knowledge framed, the selection and invitation of the participants is completed, and a sense of trust between the learning actors and the event facilitator and between participants and the learning process is established.
2. During: The internalization, externalization, reconceptualization, and transformation stages represent the core of the didactical procedures, where the learning actors review and adapt the new knowledge according to their personal needs. Thereafter the actors change their individual and organizational thinking and behavior in an elaborate inter- and intrapersonal procedure accordingly.
3. After: The follow-up to the learning activity is organized in the final configuration stage, where all developed knowledge is made available and accessible to everybody involved in the learning activity as well as to a wider audience. This new knowledge further serves as the knowledge frame of the next spin of the Governmental Learning Spiral, as well as a feedback loop in the context of a new learning system.
Because knowledge in governance has a short half-life and has to be replaced in an ongoing manner, the learning process itself has to be ongoing, too. This iterative procedure, where knowledge is constantly reviewed, renewed, and transformed into political action in a real-time, multi-turn process, can be illustrated as a spiral. In a figurative way, each of the eight stages of the learning process is bound together by a spin, which ends with the last configuration stage and restarts the next spin with the consecutive first stage.
Application
- Second international conference on federalism: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTGOVTLRN/Resources/chap5.pdf
- A global dialogue on federalism: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTGOVTLRN/Resources/chap6.pdf
- Seminar on the Iraqi judiciary system and the second chamber of parliament: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTGOVTLRN/Resources/chap7.pdf
- Workshop about lessons of a decade of Public Sector Reform: Voices of African Client Stakeholders: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTGOVTLRN/Resources/chap8.pdf
- Global multimedia training and e-learning initiative in the area of private-public partnership in infrastructure: //siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTGOVTLRN/Resources/chap9.pdf
Sources
Blindenbacher, Raoul, and B. Nashat (Collaborator): 2010. The Black Box of Governmental Learning. The Learning Spiral – A Concept to Organize Learning in Governments. Washington DC: World Bank Press
Blindenbacher, Raoul, and Ronald, L. Watts. 2003. Federalism in a Changing World: A Conceptual Framework for the Conference. In Federalism in a Changing World: Learning from Each Other, ed. R. Blindenbacher and A. Koller, eds. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Blindenbacher, Raoul, and Cheryl Saunders. 2005. A Global Dialogue on Federalism. In Constitutional Origins, Structure, and Change in Federal Countries, J. Kincaid and A.G. Tarr, eds. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Dolowitz, David, and Marsh, David. 2000. Learning from Abroad: The Role of Policy Transfer in Contemporary Policy Making. Governance: An International Journal of Policy and Administration 13 (1): 9.
Doornbos, Martin. 2003. Good Governance: The Metamorphosis of a Policy Metaphor. Journal of International Affairs 57 (1): 3–17.
Finer, S.E. 1997. History of Government from the Earliest Times. London: Oxford University Press.
March, James G., and Johan P. Olsen. 1995. Democratic Governance. New York: The Free Press.
Rose, Richard. 1991. “What Is Lesson Drawing?” Journal of Public Policy 11 (1): 3–30.
Reviews
http://indiagovernance.gov.in/bookreview.php?id=7
Further reading
Andrews, Matthew. 2008a. Creating Space for Effective Political Engagement in Development. Faculty Research. HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP08-015. Boston: John F.Kennedy School of Governance.
Andrews, Matthew. 2008b. Effective Political Engagement. In Sina Odugbemi and Thomas Jacobson, (Editors) Governance Reform Under Real World Conditions. Washington DC: World Bank.
Etheredge, Lloyd S. 1981. Government Learning: An Overview. In Handbook of Political Behavior, Samual L. Long, ed. New York: Plenum Press.
Leeuw, Frans, Rist Ray C., and Richard C. Sonnichsen. 1994. Can Governments Learn? Comparative Perspectives on Evaluation and Organizational Learning. New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers.
May, P.J. 1992. Policy Learning and Policy Failure. Journal of Public Policy 12: 331–354.
Nonaka, Ikujiro, and Konno Noboru. 1998. The Concept of ‘Ba’: Building a Foundation for Knowledge Creation. California Management Review 40 (3): 40–54.
Sabatier, Paul A. 1987. Knowledge, Policy-Oriented Learning, and Policy Change. An Advocacy Coalition Framework.” Knowledge 8: 649–692.
Sabatier, Paul A., and Hank C. Jenkins-Smith, eds. 1993. Policy Change and Learning: An Advocacy Coalition Approach. Colorado: Westview Press.
External links
http://www.worldbank.org/ieg/learningspiral/index.html
http://info.worldbank.org/etools/bspan/EventView.asp?EID=1098
http://info.worldbank.org/etools/bspan/PresentationView.asp?PID=2541&EID=1167
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHz6uN636ow
See also
Knowledge transfer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_transfer
Communities of Practice http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communities_of_practice
Theory in Public Administration: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_theory_in_public_administration
Organizational Learning: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_learning
Government Performance Management: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Performance_Management
Public Management: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_management
New Public Management: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_public_management