Learning to cross

boundaries:

Clay Spinuzzi, University of Texas at Austinclay.spinuzzi@mail.utexas.edu

Vertical and horizontal learning in interpenetrated organizations

Spinuzzi, Clay. (2008, in press.) Network: Theorizing

knowledge work in telecommunications. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Telecorp> 300 workers20 functional

groupshigh turnover

rapid expansionmultiple fields,

trades

Long-term or lifelong jobs

Steady contacts with other organizations and public

Linear development of expertise

Clearly defined roles

Vertical expertise

Organizational, disciplinary, trade boundaries

Interior vs. exterior

Traditional work

But ...Downsizing

Automation

Flattening of work hierarchies

Proliferating intercompany relationships

Continual reorganization

Breaking down of “silos”/ “stovepipes”

Increase in telecommunications, making it possible to connect any two points in the organization

“Interpenetrated”Anyone can link up with anyone else inside or outside the organization, and consequently any work activities can be intersected.

*

Horizontal expertiseLearning across organizational

boundaries.

<->

coordinativepolycontextual

cross-disciplinaryspliced

transformative

Net work

DimensionLearning

contextTechniques

VerticalWithin functional

groups

Apprenticeship; formal Telecorp

training sessions; trial and error;

stories; documentation

VerticalWithin trades,

disciplines, fields

Computer-based training;

corporate training outside

Telecorp

Horizontal

Across functional

groups

Trial and error, stories,

apprenticeship

Horizontal

Across

organizations

Trial and error, stories,

apprenticeship

•Apprenticeship: participating in an activity, first peripherally, then with increasing responsibility (Lave & Wenger).

•The most frequently mentioned form of training (51 of 84 interviews; 20 of 23 functional areas)

•Contingency based: Shadowing, work reviews.

Apprenticeship: “You never ever do a partial

connection”

•Attempting to complete a task through self-directed exploration.

•Entirely contingency-based.

•“Sink or swim”; “thrown to the wolves.”

•Resulted in limited stable knowledge passed by word of mouth.

Trial-and-Error: “Willing to get your

hands dirty”

•Specific stories about how things went wrong.

•The case of Rex.

•Emphasized contingencies, provided resources to deal with them.

•Oral, ephemeral.

Stories: “There was nothing about a dog

on the ticket.”

A need for formal horizontal learning structures and

practicesbeyond contingency and

reactive stancesconferring stability and

circulation and built into genres and

systems

Implications