Team learning and service improvements in health care

Purpose - This study aims to propose a typology of team learning processes, based on a study of teams of health care therapists across England who were engaged in improving their services. Design/methodology/approach - Information was gathered from 35 teams of health care therapists, through analysis of reports produced by the teams and by interviews with team leaders. The actions taken to achieve service improvements were analysed through a lens of team learning. Findings - Team learning is an appropriate frame of reference for analysing actions designed to bring about change and improvement. Seven distinct team learning activities are defined. Research limitations/implications - The implication of the study is that it is useful to apply a theoretical framework of organisational learning to service improvements undertaken by work teams. The study indicates learning processes that were important elements in these changes. The study limitation was that information was gathered mainly from the leaders of each team; other team members may have contributed different perceptions. Practical implications - Leaders of organisations and of teams should adopt team learning as a useful perspective for improving services and should consider how to encourage and support team learning. Originality/value - This is one of a small number of empirical studies of team learning processes in work organisations.