Nonprofit leaders' experiences in learning at their workplace
Date
2012
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to uncover the perceptions of four nonprofit leaders with regards to their meaning of self-learning in their workplace as well as their perceptions of the meaning oflearning in their workplace for their staff. This study fills a gap in the nonprofit research literature in which its leaders' individual experiences in learning in their workplace is missing and suggests a conceptual understanding for personal reflection on it. In late 2009 four critical incident exercise questionnaires relating to successful and unsuccessful learning workplace experiences were first completed with each of two male and two female nonprofit Executive Directors from Calgary, Alberta. Then, using the interpretative phenomenological method (IP A)(Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2009), two-hour interviews with each of the study participants were conducted, taped, transcribed and interpreted for meaning. Eight Master themes on self-learning and seven Master themes on staff-learning were extracted from the critical incident exercises and interviews providing two Master Tables. An interpretation of the themes reflected three components of self-identity, roles and workplace environment and how they interact with the learning of nonprofit leaders in their workplace. The study suggests that for nonprofit leaders to be continuous and lifelong learners they must first understand their own learning needs, desires, styles and goals. In short, they must 'know oneself first. The dissertation concludes with a description of explanations and implications of the themes for future directions.
Description
Bibliography: p. 152-161
Includes copy of ethics approval. Original copy with original Partial Copyright Licence.
Includes copy of ethics approval. Original copy with original Partial Copyright Licence.
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Citation
Serafino, A. B. (2012). Nonprofit leaders' experiences in learning at their workplace (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/4574