Enriching the Theory of Expansive Learning: Lessons From Journeys Toward Coconfiguration

Yrjö Engeström
2007 Mind, Culture, and Activity  
An intervention study aimed at analyzing and transforming work and learning in three organizations (a bank, a primary health care center, and a hi-tech company) allowed us to investigate forms of coconfiguration work in which there is a focus on the development of products and services that adapt to the changing needs of users. The working hypothesis of our study was that the forms of expansive learning (that is, the processes by which a work organization resolves its internal contradictions in
more » ... order to construct qualitatively new ways of working) required for coconfiguration work have transformative, horizontal, and subterranean features. Based on our three organization case studies, this article argues tentatively (as a stimulus to further theoretical and empirical research) that our working hypothesis has to be enriched by the notion of experiencing, which serves to bridge the design and implementation of organizational transformation. In terms of the role played by tools and technologies in work and learning, the notion of instrumentality is introduced to further enrich our working hypothesis, emphasizing that expansive learning for coconfiguration work involves tools and novel mediational concepts in the form of multilayered, integrated toolkits. This article synthesizes key findings from a 3-year intervention study, New Forms of Expansive Learning at Work: The Landscape of Co Configuration. 1 In this project, we have analyzed and actively facilitated efforts at transforming work and learning in three organizations: a bank, a primary health care center, and a hi-tech company. 2 Each historical type of work generates and requires a certain type of knowledge and learning. At present, the most demanding and promising developments are associated with the emergence of coconfiguration work. A critical prerequisite of coconfiguration is the creation of customerintelligent products and services that adapt to the changing needs of the user (Victor & Boynton, 1998, p. 195). 1 The synthetic nature of this article means that I have to rely on a number of theoretical concepts without elaborating on them here. These theoretical concepts have been presented and discussed in earlier publications to which I refer in appropriate places in the text. Also, the data presented in this article consists of illustrative examples and excerpts that serve as clarification and concretization of theoretical claims. 2 In the facilitation, we used an intervention methodology called the Change Laboratory, described and discussed in Engeström, Virkkunen, Helle, Pihlaja, and Poikela (1996) and Engeström (2007) .
doi:10.1080/10749030701307689 fatcat:euzlevu3a5efnnhmtpln42khfm