From Organizational Learning to the Learning Organization

Abstract

International audienceThis article reviews theories of organizational learning and presents a framework with which to organize the literature. We argue that unit of analysis provides one critical distinction in the organizational learning literature and research objective provides another. The resulting two-by-two matrix contains four categories of research, which we have called: (1) residues (organizations as residues of past learning); (2) communities (organizations as collections of individuals who can learn and develop); (3) participation (organizational improvement gained through intelligent activity of individual members), and (4) accountability (organizational improvement gained through developing individuals' mental models). We also propose a distinction between the terms organizational learning and the learning organization. Our subsequent analysis identifies relationships between disparate parts of the literature and shows that these relationships point to individual mental models as a critical source of leverage for creating learning organizations. A brief discussion of the work of two of the most visible researchers in this field, Peter Senge and Chris Argyris, provides additional support for this type of change strateg

The performance effect of organizational learning and market orientation

“…Organizational ability to decode and respond to a challenging environment has motivated considerable theoretical and practical interest (Edmondson & Moingeon, 1998a). Thus, the literature has recognized the strategic importance of organizational learning as a means to attain sustained competitive advantage for the firm (DeGeus, 1988;Garvin, 1993;McGill, Slocum, & Lei, 1992;Stata, 1989).…”

Emotional intelligence and participation in decision‐making: strategies for promoting organizational learning and change

“…Modern organizations seek change adaptability to improve their competitive position (Druskat and Wolff, 2001;Huy, 1999) and this has led to growing interest in the benefits of emotional intelligence, organizational learning (Chan et al, 2003;Edmondson and Moingeon, 1998;Goleman, 1995;Tischler et al, 2002) and employee involvement strategies, such as participation in decision-making (PDM) (Black and Gregersen, 1997;Daniels and Bailey, 1999; this may be the plethora of conceptualizations given for emotional intelligence (Lam and Kirby, 2002), organizational learning (Chan, 2001) and participation in decision-making (Black and Gregersen, 1997).…”

How can organisations learn: an information systems development perspective

“…This line of reasoning can be developed further when considering what some of the principal objectives of organisational learning are designed to achieve. From some definitions of organisational learning, it is evident that there are those who see organisational learning as being spearheaded by individuals or groups within an organisation (Argyris and Schon 1978;Edmondson and Moingeon 1998) whereas the discipline is also seen as being predominately driven by or focussed upon the organisation itself (McGill et al 1993;Crossan et al 1999). Despite the difference in perspectives regarding who or what organisational learning is intended to benefit there appears to be a common consensus throughout the literature that this learning process is designed to facilitate change or improvement from an individual, group or organisational level (Finger and Brand 1999;Reynolds and Albert 1998).…”