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In his article, "Intimacy and Ethical Action in Adult Education," Donovan Plumb (2009) suggests a pathway for adult educators to achieve the type of world that Gunter (1996) envisions. Plumb argues that the personal qualities that enable people to have fulfilling (sexually) intimate relationships are also those that enable ethical action on the part of adult educators. On the one hand, his choice of strategy (sexual intimacy) for creating a more honoring, accepting, equitable, and loving learning experience is intriguing because it shocks readers (presumably mostly other adult educators) out of their comfort zones of what is considered "acceptable" to discuss as educators of adults and as members of organizations. Yet, on the other hand, Plumb (implicitly) reinforces some of the very social constructions he seeks to throw off. In this response, the author explores these two aspects of Plumb's work and suggests an alternative framing of intimacy and ethical action for adult educators. (Contains 1 figure.)

Educators and learners in adult education have been sentenced to online learning before we have truly explored the verdict of whether online learning is all it is touted to be. The vast majority of online learning dialogue has extolled the virtues of cybereducation as not only the future but the salvation of education (Brabazon, 2002; Menchik, 2004). Davison (2004), however, suggests we have not mindfully considered how technology transcends mere use and intertwines with our sense of self and the world. In this article we critically question this dominant view of technology, using Bourdieu's (e.g., 1977) theory of practice to inform our challenge of dominant discourses around online education. We present a brief review of Bourdieu's theory of practice, followed by an overview of the dominant discourses associated with cybereducation and our Bourdieusian interpretation of cybereducation. We conclude with implications for the future of online learning for the field of adult education.

How do women navigate and make space for themselves in workspaces where they are not perceived to fit? Women in male-dominated careers often face perceptions of role misfit, leading them to engage in impression management. Using a mixed-methods design, we investigate if women stand-up comedians present as female gendered at work in two settings – one dominated by male performers (N = 257) and one featuring more gender diverse performers (N = 843). Women, as compared with men, presented more gendered in the more gender diverse performer setting and less gendered in the male-performer dominated setting. Using Lorber's taxonomy of feminisms as a lens, assessment of how women presented their gender further implied greater constraint on women in the male-dominated, compared with the diverse, setting. Our findings support Roberts' theory of social identity-based impression management (SIM) in the novel context of stand-up comedy, refine the theory by presenting a fifth SIM strategy, and demonstrate how women are able to adapt their feminism to the characteristics of the situation, thus helping secure their position in settings where they may be unwelcomed. These findings have theoretical implications for impression management and feminism, and practical implications for workplace equality initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay contributes a new perspective to debates about journal ranking lists and their effects on the practice of scholarship. Our argument is grounded in practice theory and draws on Bourdieu's concept of field. We examine the effect of metrics, targets, and rankings on human resource development, a conjunctive field associated with the management learning and education (MLE) field. We examine the ways in which boundaries of the MLE field are shaped by journal ranking lists and how, irrespective of seniority in the field, scholars simultaneously experience both power and powerlessness as a result of journal ranking processes. We contribute a new perspective on issues of academic practice with consequences for specialized areas of scholarship. We conclude by proposing practical interventions that senior scholars and journal editors can undertake to challenge the undesirable effects of ranking systems and encourage scholarly diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This article aims to develop a conceptual framework delineating the key dimension of the learning organization which significantly influences learning transfer. Design/methodology/approach: The conceptual framework was developed by analyzing previous studies and synthesizing the results associated with the following four relationships: the learning organization and learning transfer; the learning organization and organizational performance; the Learning Transfer System Inventory (LTSI) and learning transfer; and the Dimensions of Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ) and the LTSI. Findings: This paper developed the learning transfer framework of the learning organization, which emphasizes the significance of leadership for learning on facilitating learning transfer in the learning organization. Research limitations/implications: First, empirical-analytical research needs to be accumulated to verify the conceptual framework developed in the present paper. Second, instruments to measure the learning organization need to incorporate the learning transfer concept. Last, organizations need to focus on leadership for learning to increase learning transfer if the organization does not have enough resources to develop all dimensions of the learning organization. Originality/value: This article contributes to the literature by producing a conceptual framework that isolates leadership for learning as a key dimension of the learning organization that specifically influences learning transfer. The pivotal dimension of leadership for learning was extracted through investigating the numerous empirical-analytical studies. (Contains 5 tables and 1 figure.)

Paradigms aid organizational researchers in their quest to find the "truth" of a particular event, phenomenon, activity, or topic and by providing them a framework with which to make assumptions about the nature of society and reality. According to Burrell and Morgan (1978), organizational researchers use one of four paradigms: functionalist, interpretivist, radical humanist, and radical structuralist. However, there is a growing body of research which postulates that multiple paradigms can be used to interpret organizational phenomenon (Lewis & Grimes, 1999). Nevertheless, truly understanding and applying these four primary paradigms is challenging, so before they can be used in an integrative manner, HRD scholars need to find a means to help professionals learn about and make sense of the concept of paradigms. We contend that a highly effective means of learning about complex phenomena are popular culture artifacts such as fables and fairy tales. Thus, this paper presents a fable of the aftermath of the "Three Little Pigs" fairy tale as a vehicle for presenting the concept of paradigms in an accessible way by relating the four paradigms as presented by Burrell and Morgan (1978) to each of the characters in the fable. The paper then concludes by offering suggestions for using multiple paradigms in sensemaking, teaching and learning, and organizational research.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that training designers can, and should, account for organizational culture during training needs assessments. Design/methodology/approach: Utilizing the approach and arguments in Giddens' structuration theory, the paper conceptually applies these tenets to training and development programs within organizations. Findings: Within a typical analysis-design-develop-implement-evaluate (ADDIE) training model, relationships between organizational culture and each step of the training are conceptually available. Organizational culture shapes, influences, and redefines training programs which, in turn, shape, influence, and redefine organizational culture. Including a culture analysis within program planning will ultimately alleviate many of the problems that may arise during the implementation of a training and development program because of cultural resistance and/or clash of values between culture and training. Research limitations/implications: The argument provides an initial step for training designers and HRD professionals to begin researching the practicality and usefulness of including an organizational culture analysis within training programs. Future research regarding this relationship should consider using structuration theory as a tool for understanding the context, process, and breadth of reciprocity and influence between agents and the structures with which they interact. Practical implications: The concepts discussed in the paper may very well provide insight into why some training and development programs either prosper or do not succeed. Originality/value: The paper discusses a topic that has yet to be fully realized. Although organizational culture, as a phenomenon, has been widely researched, it has yet to reach its full potential in the human resource development and training and development literature and practice. (Contains 1 table.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the connections between individual learning, intrapreneurship, and organizational learning to create an alternative model of how learning facilitates performance in organizations. Design/methodology/approach: This is a conceptual paper selecting targeted scholarly works that provide support for the proposed model. Findings: The paper presents a model of intrapreneurial learning and performance in which the constructs of environment, individual learning, intrapreneurship, and organizational learning influence organizational performance. Intrapreneurship is a relatively recent area of exploration in which scholarly efforts have primarily focused on identifying the construct and distinguishing it from entrepreneurship. The proposed model of intrapreneurial learning and performance joins a growing number of works that explore how intrapreneurship contributes to organizational performance. It is suggested that the framework may help scholars identify potential strategies of learning that could help organizations position intrapreneurship as a vehicle for improving organizational performance. Originality/value: The paper postulates an original relationship among individual learning, intrapreneurship, organizational learning, environment, and organizational performance. In this framework, individual and organizational learning combine to offer a unique perspective on the link between intrapreneurship and organizational performance. (Contains 2 figures.)

This study explores the court system's treatment of students' Fourth Amendment rights in cases emerging from contrasting minority school settings and whether discrepancies exist in case outcomes between these extremes. From virtually every search and seizure case that occurred between the 1985 U.S. Supreme Court case in "New Jersey v. T.L.O." and December 2003, data for each search and how it was administered were gathered and analyzed. Findings suggest discrepancies in the manner in which student searches are administratively justified and subsequently treated (e.g., school disciplinary infraction versus criminal violation) by school officials. Implications for leadership and the role of emotion in legal decision making are presented. (Contains 8 tables, 1 figure and 1 note.)

When women work in male-dominated organizations, do they form collaborative networks with other women or do they take on the practices of the male-dominated community they are a part of? In this paper, we explore how female staff and volunteer members participate within a male-dominated non-profit organization. We use communities of practice as a lens to explore the extent to which women do, or do not, form support networks with other women. Our findings suggest that gender issues may not be the driving factor in the creation of communities of practice in such organizations; indeed, multiple communities of practice can exist within a single organization despite facing a common set of challenges. (Contains 1 note.)

School-university partnerships are not uni-dimensional projects. Success in these partnerships can be found in loosely-coupled systems such as client-server partnerships and in more tightly-coupled systems such as collaborative development centers. Using a comparative case study approach, we explore two school-university partnership case studies and propose a framework for identifying and evaluating partnerships as learning systems. The structure of the partnership has implications for the focus of organizational learning initiatives that can form the foundation of sustained, systemic internal evaluation.

Human resource development (HRD) uses a wide variety of theories from multiple disciplines and fields of study to create its own unique field of scholarly practice. As with any field, however, we tend to get comfortable with familiar theories and theorists and fail to explore other possible sources of wisdom. One scholar whose work is worthy of study is Mary Parker Follett. Despite a dormancy of many decades, her thoughts are emerging as contemporary and innovative. This article concludes that Follett is an important influence on the field of HRD, not only because her ideas support concepts similar to other scholars whose work informs HRD but also because she introduces adult learning as paramount for the development of the individual and organization. (Contains 1 table.)

At least twenty-three journals in the social sciences purportedly require authors to report effect sizes and, to a much lesser extent, confidence intervals; yet these requirements are rarely clear in the information for contributors. This article reviews some of the literature criticizing the exclusive use of null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) and briefly highlights the state of NHST reporting in social science journals, including Human Resource Development Quarterly. Included are an overview of effect sizes and confidence intervals--their definitions, a brief historical review, and an argument regarding their importance. The article concludes with recommendations for changing the culture of quantitative research within human resource development (HRD) to more systematically reporting effect sizes and confidence intervals as supplements to NHST findings.

This study reports the findings of a qualitative study of competitive West Coast Swing dancers that incorporated both ethnographic and phenomenological techniques. A modern variation of the original Lindy Hop, West Coast Swing is typically learned in dance studios and non-profit clubs. The West Coast Swing community can be considered a community of practice in which nonformal and incidental learning occurs for participants; this study explores the nature of the learning that occurs within this community. The nonformal nature of learning the dance itself creates the community of practice; in turn, dancers encounter incidental learning, especially regarding interpersonal communication, as they learn the dance.

The emergence of the Occupy movements along with other social movements in 2011 elevated the idea of radically decentralized "leaderless" social movement organizations. We argue that looking at such an alternative, horizontalist form of organizing presents an opportunity to reframe how we understand leadership. This paper illustrates how the coordination of the Occupy London movement was accomplished horizontally in the absence of formal organization, leadership, or authority structures. Using an ethnographic approach, we show how this movement generated a "multimodal" repertoire of protest that included (1) the politically effective occupation of urban space; (2) the ability to deploy symbols as compelling forms of aesthetic questioning; and (3) the creation of politically charged spectacles that allowed the movement to appropriate the news agendas of established broadcast media. The findings of this paper challenge the language of leadership and contribute to understandings of feminist forms of leadership and leaderless organizing by explaining one way that "leadership" occurs in horizontal organizational structures such as social movements. Namely we demonstrate how the modes of space, symbols, and spectacles effectively replace the role of "leader" in the absence of formal organizational structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human resource development (HRD) can be seen as both a professional field and an organizational function; the I-A framework introduced in this article is a heuristic that enables us to understand HRD from both of these perspectives. Although scholars have presented frameworks for understanding the underlying theories, philosophies, and meanings of HRD, no framework has been presented to help researchers and practitioners understand the actions they take in the name of HRD. The framework introduced here is an action-oriented conceptual approach to social systems that answers the call for a different means for understanding HRD. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)

Emotions play a more significant part in the process of critique than many acknowledge, and we must take them into account when thinking about adult education practices.