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With the growing demand to use pedagogical approaches to foster 21st-century skills such as problem solving, creativity, critical thinking, collaborative learning and innovation, many educational institutions have chosen to use the pedagogical approach of problem-based learning (PBL). Moving from traditional teaching to PBL, however, demands an organisational change. Although organisational culture is widely recognised as a critical success factor in the implementation of PBL, the literature provides limited insight into how it influences the implementation process of PBL. This paper provides an empirical analysis of the influence of organisational culture on PBL implementation. The research is based on the analysis of two groups involved in implementing PBL for several years. A focus group interview was conducted with each group to identify traits of organisational culture. The Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) was applied to identify the dominant type of culture in each group. The findings indicate that some cultural traits better support the implementation of PBL. In particular, traits of clan culture were identified to be more aligned with PBL principles. In addition, understanding the current culture of a given organisation enables people to be more aware of the level of change required to implement PBL in their organisations.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss how Dewey's notions of experience, inquiry and reflection can increase managers' capacity to cope with sustainability transitions. Design/methodology/approach: Problem-based learning is discussed as an approach for enabling sustainable management learning. Dewey's concepts of experience, inquiry and reflection are used to conceptualize learning as an iterative "self-corrective" learning process toward sustainability. Two public managers' experiences of a personal development module in a management education program are used to discuss how Dewey's concepts work to integrate practice and theory. Findings: Dewey's problem-based learning framework has the potential to increase managers' capability to cope with complex and multifaceted challenges such as sustainability because of its focus on problem-solving. Practical implications: Management is a social practice. Management education can support management learning if management is perceived as a practice. Originality/value: Sustainable management learning is presented as an iterative and gradual learning process aimed toward settled inquiry that emerges when sustainable solutions work satisfactory in relation to the multiple and contradictory forces, which are in play in real-life situations.

Purpose: In accordance with Latour, this paper aims to respond to the call for a "down-to-earth" post-learning organization approach to sustainability, which is critical of Senge's conception of learning organization (LO). Design/methodology/approach: "Gaia storytelling" is used to define a LO that is "down-to-earth". Findings: Gaia is understood through the notion of a critical zone, which foregrounds the local and differentiated terrestrial conditions in which life on Earth is embedded. Practical implications: Gaia storytelling implies perceiving LO as a network of storytelling practices enacted and told by unique creative citizens. Such an organization sustains and grows through several entangled storytelling cycles that allow Gaia to shape learning. Social implications: The article distinguishes five different storytelling cycles as a way to explore how the Gaia theater cycle connects to other cycles. The four other cycles are: Gaia thinking, explorative, creative and Gaia truth-telling. Originality/value: A Gaian LO is a new beginning for LO.

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to provide a framework for reflecting on how different ways of configuring spaces in higher education (HE) condition the possibilities of learning. Second, the purpose is to construct a storytelling approach for the configuration of such spaces. Design/methodology/approach: The paper's conceptual purpose is achieved through a theoretical discussion of three concepts--performance, politics and storytelling. Findings: Learning in HE needs reconsideration in terms of what kinds of learning are made possible through the discursive and material configuration of the spaces of research and teaching. In particular, the focus to some extent should move away from the management and control of learning toward what enables learning. Practical implications: The literature on organizational learning and the learning organization comprise concepts, methods and tools that play different roles with regard to controlling, shaping and enabling learning. When the focus is on learning in HE, it is important to be aware of the tracks of learning these technologies enable. Social implications: The interest in managing and controlling learning is often problematic in relation to the potential of HE to produce new and innovative forms of learning. Originality/value: This paper introduces the term "spaces of performance," which directs attention toward the material, discursive and relational conditions for learning. It also introduces a space of storytelling as a new principle for learning in HE.