Strategy professor presents research on emergence at Harvard event

Published: 17 November 2017

Professor Donald MacLean presented on the topic of emergence at the Learning Innovations Laboratory event on 24-25 October 2017.

Professor Donald MacLean was invited to present at a Learning Innovations Laboratory (LILA) event at Harvard Graduate School of Education on 24-25 October 2017. Professor MacLean gave two presentations on the topic of emergence to the audience of researchers and practitioners.

Professor MacLean’s presentations covered the trajectory of his own research over two decades – from emergent strategy in organisations as something best understood and managed from the perspective of scientific complexity theory, to more recent work on the emergence of meaning and the role of poetics and art in strategic change.

LILA is a consortium of researchers and practitioners who are leaders in the field of organisational learning and change. They meet three times a year at Harvard to explore a theme that connects to current member challenges. The most recent event, entitled ‘Emergence in Organizations: Shaping the future as it unfolds’, featured a variety of learning and teaching formats, including large and small group-conversations and research briefings.

Professor MacLean said: “It was a real privilege to be invited to LILA at Harvard and to work with such a distinguished group of senior practitioners from the USA and beyond. I was made to feel very welcome, and, to be honest, was both surprised and gratified to find a community so in tune, in thinking and practice, with my work on emergence.”


Enquiries: Jenna McCulloch, business-school-research@glasgow.ac.uk

First published: 17 November 2017