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Understanding the Role of Networks in Collective Learning Processes: The Experiences of Women

Kemmy Business School at the University of Limerick

Claire Armstrong

Department of Personnel and Employment Relations and codirector of the Strategic Healthcare Management Research Group in the University of Limerick

The problem and the solution. Despite the rapid increase of women in both junior and middle management positions in organizations globally, women comprise a very small percentage of senior executives. One explanation for the scarcity of senior women in organizational life is that women tend to lack access to the relevant networks, which are often biased toward male membership.To reach senior executive positions, women need to either bypass or establish a way into these networks.Within these networks, the learning tends to begin as individualized incidental learning, but develops into collective learning, as women form their own networks and learn from each other in an anticipatory fashion.The authors believe that through efforts to provide more direct access to formal female networks, collective learning can take place in a more structured and efficient fashion. Providing such structured opportunities for knowledge sharing among female managers could form the lynchpin of a successful collective learning strategy.

Key Words: collective learning • networks • women

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