1 The Networked Non-profit: How Organizational Learning Occurs in Networks A doctoral thesis presented by Yechiel Hoffman to The School of Education In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the field of Education College of Professional Studies Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts February 2014 2 Abstract In non-profit organizations driven by a crowded marketplace for ideas, resources and information, learning occurs as a process of creating new knowledge and understanding amongst individuals and groups networked throughout an organization. In order to increase opportunities for organizational learning, and its impact on organizations and their ecosystem, non-profits intentionally design and facilitate networks for individuals to connect and learn together. This study explored how organizational learning occurs within intentional networks, impacting the individuals and their relationships with each other. Additionally, this research identified the various ways network dynamics engender learning, according to the perspectives of those within the networks. This qualitative case study utilized Organizational Learning and Network theoretical frameworks to guide the research’s questions, methodology, analysis and findings. The study focused on a single non-profit, the School Network, whose mission was to serve a membership base of schools within a sector of the field of Jewish education. The four study participants represented three of the non-profit’s network groups. At the time of the study, these groups had been in operation for less than one year, and each had been created by the School Network to serve a defined group of school leaders within its network of schools. Findings of the research study concluded that networks formed around small groups of individuals were able to enact organizational learning when the networks addressed the individuals’ needs for connectivity and served their common interests. Participants in the network groups engaged in transactional relationships for their own individual growth and practice. As these network groups functioned as social networks, the knowledge transitioned from individual to organizational knowledge 3 through sharing and collaboration. The commitment levels a non-profit needed to generate commitment from the network’s participants depended on the trust participants had in each other and on the network’s design and facilitation. Keywords: organizational learning, networks, network-learning, professional development, collective learning, social capital, learning process, sharing, best practices, problem solving 4 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to my instructors at Northeastern University and Hebrew College for their guidance and facilitation of my scholarly work and developing efforts to create understanding and application knowledge and research of education to my practice. I want to thank my adviser, Dr. Karen Reiss Medwed, who shepherded me through my doctoral work, from the beginning of my application process, and throughout my coursework and thesis project. I would also appreciate the insight provided by my Northeastern University examiner, Dr. Jane Lohmann. I am deeply indebted to my outside examiner, Dr. Naava Frank, for her thoughtful and informative guidance, ideas and probes into my think, and for the work she has done in the field of Jewish education to blaze a trail for thinking and understanding the role of learning in professional networks. I am honored to experience the collegial support and friendship provided my Jewish Educational Leadership Track colleagues, who participated in the Northeastern University and Hebrew College doctoral program collaboration. Most significantly, I appreciate the time Dr. Jared Matas and Dr. Anna Solomon committed to serving as peer reviewers of my research and analysis. Thank you also to my cohort: Dan Brosgol, Robyn Faintich, Galya Greenberg, Rabbi Micah Lapidus, Sarah Levy, Jennifer Neufeld, Dr. Jared Matas, Dr. Sharon Pollin, Hadas Schroeder, Johannah Sohn and Leah Zigmond, for being partners and pioneers in learning and exploration. Dr. Roger Fuller, Linda Fife and Rabbi Adam Kligfeld provided me the work environments where I could dedicate myself to a doctoral program while still offering me the time and space to experiment in applying my scholarly efforts to my professional practice. Thank you to my partners in creating and facilitating the JEDLAB network, Peter Eckstein, Sara Shapiro-Plevan, Tikvah Weiner, 5 who have collaborated with me to design a model enriched and informed by my doctoral work that already fuels professional growth for many and impacts the field of Jewish education. I want to appreciate Luisa Latham, Phil Liff-Grieff, Dr. Jonathan Woocher and Arnee Winshall, who have over the years modeled for me in their practice, attitude and philosophy for relationship building and openness to learning from others that are the roots for this research. I owe a particularly large amount of gratitude to my JEDLAB co-founder, Ken Gordon, for being an incredible partner, friend and collaborator, whose trust in my work, ideas and ambitions can only be matched by his brilliant skills in crafting, copying and editing the written word that served as constant motivation for my growth as a writer. I owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to my family, especially my children and my wife, Daria Lesnik Hoffman, who have sacrificed so much for me to commit myself to my doctoral studies and research, yet still do so much to inspire and encourage me. I must thank my mother, an educator herself, who came back from her own network learning opportunity with news of a new hybrid-learning doctoral program in Jewish education across the county, and encouraged me to consider being a pioneer in order to continue my growth and professional development. Lastly, I want to thank the leadership at my research site and the participants of this study for their trust, patience and contributions to this research. I hope they, and many others, will continue to expand their efforts in fostering network-learning, and learn from this case study. 6 Table of Contents Abstract...................................................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................... 4 Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter One: Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 8 Statement of the Problem ....................................................................................................................................8 Research Problem.................................................................................................................................................9 Justification for the Research Problem ............................................................................................................10 Significance of Research Problem.....................................................................................................................11 Research Questions ............................................................................................................................................13 Theoretical Framework .....................................................................................................................................14 Chapter Two: Literature Review .......................................................................................................... 33 Elements Of Learning ........................................................................................................................................33 Network-Learning ..............................................................................................................................................43 Summary .............................................................................................................................................................51 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................................52 Chapter Three: Research Design .......................................................................................................... 54 Research Questions ............................................................................................................................................54 Methodology........................................................................................................................................................55 Recruitment and Access.....................................................................................................................................59 Data collection.....................................................................................................................................................63 Data storage ........................................................................................................................................................64 Data Analysis ......................................................................................................................................................65