24 April 2007

GPPi and WZB hold joint workshop on organizational learning

In collaboration with the Social Science Research Center Berlin   (Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin, WZB), GPPi's "Learning to Build Peace?" project team organized an interdisciplinary workshop on learning in international organizations.

The seminar took place at the WZB on 23 April 2007 and brought together academics from the fields of international relations, public administration, sociology and organization theory. The participants explored the potential of an interdisciplinary research agenda to "open up the black box" of international organizations for a closer analysis of the processes of organizational learning. The researchers present at the workshop reviewed different concepts, methods and empirical findings. In particular, participants discussed differences between business organizations, government bureaucracies and international secretariats with regard to their learning capacity and the interplay of power, knowledge and interests in processes of learning. 

Professor Ariane Berthoin Antal and Dr. Kathrin Böhling of the Research Unit "Innovation and Organization" at the WZB organized and hosted the workshop together with GPPi's Thorsten Benner, Stephan Mergenthaler and Philipp Rotmann. Among the participants were Professor Markus Jachtenfuchs (Hertie School of Governance), Professor Bernd Siebenhüner (University of Oldenburg), Dr. Jeanette Hofmann (WZB), Anna Herrhausen (WZB), Julian Junk (University of Konstanz) and Dr. Thomas Rid (Tapir Fellow at IFRI, Paris).

Generous funding for the workshop was provided by the WZB. Additional funds were provided by the German Foundation for Peace Research through GPPi's project on "Learning to Build Peace? The United Nations, Peacebuilding and Organizational Learning".

Click here to download a summary of the event.

For more information, please contact Thorsten Benner.

 

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