Taking stock of “Organizational Learning”: Looking back and moving forward

Abstract

In what ways are organizational learning a relevant theoretical construct? The article taps into a debate on what is relevance to practitioners versus researchers’ responsibility. The publications on organizational learning are on the rise, but the patterns have changed and points to a bifurcation within the field of organizational learning. On one hand, organizational learning is a means to further organizational performance, a fixed goal to be measured, which sometimes demands unlearning. On the other hand, there is a call for organizational learning to be encompassing contemporary societal challenges like widespread digitalization, sustainable production, and an inclusive labor market. This may appear as a cleavage between immediate relevance to practitioners and researchers’ responsibilities for the development of relevant and critical knowledge. I propose to embrace a pragmatist theory of learning that can help address the unknown and include creative imagination directed toward developing an organizational learning field, which is also ready for the future.

Special issue guest editorial: A Nordic approach to organizational learning and the learning organization

“…Pregmark draws on an understanding and description of the Nordic as a common management traditiona tradition rooted in low-power-distance, flat organizations (Hofstede, 1980), and with a high degree of employee participation. This understanding serves as the backdrop or commonality of the companies in the study.…”

“…Second, is it possible to trace and describe how a Nordic approach influences organizational learning and the learning organization? The four articles each draw on different types of analysis and interpretations of the distinction between organizational learning/the learning organization, thus reflecting a common debate within the fields since its establishment (Elkjaer, 2021; Rupčić, 2020; Tsang, 1997; Örtenblad, 2018). Irgens & Dahl trace the distinction between organizational learning and the learning organization in the way the concepts appear in learning and policy documents aimed at organizational development.…”

“…In studies on how to measure national and organizational culture, Hofstede (1980) and Hofstede, Neuijen, Ohayv, & Sanders (1990) demonstrated the existence of certain cultural traits in the Nordic countries (as well as The Netherlands) that influence how organizations and leadership are structured and practiced. The national cultural traits that Hofstede identified for the Nordic-Dutch cluster included low uncertainty avoidance, low power distance and medium to high individualism, all of which influence how organizations and management are conceptualized and practiced in Nordic enterprises.…”

“…Judging from the ever-increasing number of publications on how to conceptualize and practice learning in organizations, organizational learning and the learning organization have proven to be sustainable and valuable concepts and tools to think with for organization theorists and practitioners (Easterby-Smith, Crossan, & Nicolini, 2000; Easterby-Smith & Lyles, 2011; Elkjaer, 2021; Popova-Nowak & Cseh, 2015; Örtenblad, 2018). Since its birth, the field has been characterized by a wide range of conceptualizations of organizational learning and models for creating a learning organization, with several reviews outlining universal approaches to understanding the content and processes of learning in organizations (Argote, 2011; Bapuji & Crossan, 2004; Easterby-Smith et al , 2000; Elkjaer, 2021; Popova-Nowak & Cseh, 2015; Örtenblad, 2018).…”

Building Collaborative Governance in Times of Uncertainty

“…Participants are, of course, aware of previous unsatisfactory attempts to 'manage change' and consequently treat the positive energy around the programme with respect and care, but most share a sense of excitement that this time, they can make a different sort of difference. Secondly, while action learning is premised on taking action on problems in which "I am part of the problem and the problem is part of me" (Pedler, 2008, p. 11), this is not traditional learning with a focus on individual skills and knowledge, but a shared, collective process of meaning-making which involves contexts, materialities and bodies as well as human minds and motivations (Elkjaer, 2022). Human beings are part of complex 'situations' (Dewey, 1939(Dewey, [1988), so other factors, including power, emotion, other voices, history and economic matters, are equally important for learning (Carroll & Smolović Jones, 2018;Easterby-Smith et al 1999;Vince, 2019;Pedler, 2020).…”