Jane McKenzie

Jane has been active within the Henley Forum for Organisational Learning and Knowledge Strategies since 2000, contributing to at least one research project per year. She was Director of the Forum between 2009 and 2016. Her research interests focus on how connections and contradictions affect knowledge work and learning capacity in organisational life. This means she is interested in how organisations develop and how decision makers successfully handle the dilemmas and contradictions that arise in relationships as a result of uncertainty and ambiguity.

Jane believes strongly that academic research in isolation will not solve the intractable management and leadership problems that complex organisations are facing today, with rigourous research always needing to have an eye to its practical use in improving business practice. She spends most of her working life in spaces where academics think together with leaders and managers involved with real world practice. She supervises many DBA students and continues to contribute to Forum research.

She is currently editing a book with Professor Jean Bartunek about working effectively in Academic Practitioner partnerships. She spent half her working life in industry and half at Henley Business School and has written three books and many papers.

Specialisms

• Knowledge
• Organisational Learning
• Individual Learning
• Organisational Change
• Leadership

Papers:

McKenzie, J. and van Winkelen, C. (2011)  Beyond words: Visual metaphors that can demonstrate comprehension of KM as a paradoxical activity system, Systems Research and Behavioral Science 28, p138-149.

McKenzie, Jane; van Winkelen, Christine, Grewal, Sindy (2011) Developing organisational decision-making capability: a knowledge manager's guide, Journal of Knowledge Management, 15, 3 pp. 403 - 421.

McKenzie J. and van Winkelen C. (2011) Knowledge sharing 2.0 and the social media genie. (White paper)

van Winkelen C. and McKenzie J. (2011) An investigation into human capital management and the ambidextrous organisation. (White paper) 

McKenzie J., Woolf N., van Winkelen C. and Morgan C. (2009) Cognition in strategic decision-making: A model of nonconventional thinking capacities for complex situations, Management Decision.

McKenzie, J. and Van Winkelen, C. (2006) Creating Successful Partnerships. The importance of Sharing Knowledge, Journal of General Management, Summer, pp 31-45.

Books:

Van Winkelen, C. and Mckenzie, J. (2011) Knowledge works. The handbook of practical ways to identify and solve common organisational problems for better performance. John Wiley and sons. Chichester.

McKenzie, J and van Winkelen, C. (2004) Understanding the knowledgeable organization: Nurturing knowledge competence. Thomson London.

McKenzie J. and van Winkelen C. (2010) Embracing opposites – Enriching learning by acknowledging and resolving tensions between apparently conflicting business values, IN: Bruining, T. (ed.)  KM for a changing world, ECLO under Common Ground Publishing.

McKenzie, J. and van Winkelen, C. (2010) Knowledge Management (KM) for a Changing World: Challenges for Third Generation Knowledge Practice, IN:  Westover, J. (Ed) Training the Next Generation of Knowledge Workers: Effective Secondary Education and Workplace Learning Practices to Drive Enhanced Workforce Competitive Advantage in a Global Economy, Common Ground Publishing.

Van Winkelen C. and McKenzie, J. (2007) An integrated approach to enabling more effective knowledge flows in an Organization, IN: Kazi, A.S., Wohlfart, L. and Wolf, P. (Eds) Hands on Knowledge Co-creation and Sharing Practical Tools and Techniques.

Herremans I.M.,  Murch R. and McKenzie J. (2006) The realities and challenges of bringing global perspectives into the classroom through technology. IN Cooke,L. Frontiers in Higher Education Vol 2. pp 1-30.

Research supervision:

Trevor Long - PhD The effect of meaningfulness and engagement at work.

Diana Dwamena DBA Exploring E-Learning's Contribution To Organisational Learning.

Leif Iversen DBA A complexity view of organisational change.

Yayoi Hiroshe DBA How Asian cultures adopt western knowledge. Facilitating knowledge absorbtion.

Piotr Gryzwacz DBA Analysing the discourses of change from a complexity perspective