Organizational learning is an area of knowledge within organizational theory that studies models and theories about the way an organization learns and adapts. Organizational Studies (also known as Industrial Organizations, Organizational Behavior and I/O) is a distinct field of academic study which takes as its subject organizations, examining them using the methods of economics, sociology, political science, anthropology, and psychology. ...

In Organizational development (OD), learning is a characteristic of an adaptive organization, i.e., an organization that is able to sense changes in signals from its environment (both internal and external) and adapt accordingly. (see adaptive system). OD specialists endeavor to assist their clients to learn from experience and incorporate the learning as feedback into the planning process. The field of organization development (OD) has had several definitions. ... “Learned” redirects here. ... An adaptive system is a system that is able to adapt its behavior according to changes in its environment or in parts of the system itself. ...

How organizations learn

Several models have been proposed that facilitate understanding of organizational learning:

• Argyris and Schon (1978) distinguish between single-loop and double-loop learning, related to Gregory Bateson's concepts of first and second order learning. In single-loop learning, individuals, groups, or organizations modify their actions according to the difference between expected and obtained outcomes. In double-loop learning, the entities (individuals, groups or organization) question the values, assumptions and policies that led to the actions in the first place; if they are able to view and modify those, then second-order or double-loop learning has taken place. Double loop learning is the learning about single-loop learning.

• March and Olsen (1975) attempt to link up individual and organizational learning. In their model, individual beliefs lead to individual action, which in turn may lead to an organizational action and a response from the environment which may induce improved individual beliefs and the cycle then repeats over and over. Learning occurs as better beliefs produce better actions.

• Kim (1993), as well, in an article titled "The link between individual and organizational learning", integrates Argyris, March and Olsen and another model by Kofman into a single comprehensive model; further, he analyzes all the possible breakdowns in the information flows in the model, leading to failures in organizational learning; for instance, what happens if an individual action is rejected by the organization for political or other reasons and therefore no organizational action takes place?

• Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) developed a four stage spiral model of organizational learning. They started by differentiating Polanyi's concept of "tacit knowledge" from "explicit knowledge" and describe a process of alternating between the two. Tacit knowledge is personal, context specific, subjective knowledge, whereas explicit knowledge is codified, systematic, formal, and easy to communicate. The tacit knowledge of key personnel within the organization can be made explicit, codified in manuals, and incorporated into new products and processes. This process they called "externalization". The reverse process (from explicit to implicit) they call "internalization" because it involves employees internalizing an organization's formal rules, procedures, and other forms of explicit knowledge. They also use the term "socialization" to denote the sharing of tacit knowledge, and the term "combination" to denote the dissemination of codified knowledge. According to this model, knowledge creation and organizational learning take a path of socialization, externalization, combination, internalization, socialization, externalization, combination . . . etc. in an infinite spiral.

• Nick Bontis et al. (2002) empirically tested a model of organizational learning that encompassed both stocks and flows of knowledge across three levels of analysis: individual, team and organization. Results showed a negative and statistically significant relationship between the misalignment of stocks and flows and organizational performance.

• Flood (1999) discusses the concept of organizational learning with Peter Senge and the origins of the theory from Argyris and Schon. The author aims to "re-think" Senge's The Fifth Discipline through systems theory. Where Senge's work has been critiqued as a sort of an organizational guru's self-help book, the author illustrates how advanced the concepts are by integrating them with key theorists such as Bertalanffy. Conceptualizing organizational learning in terms of structure, process, meaning, ideology and knowledge, theory development with the philosophy of science would further the discussion of how the theorists have been influenced by twentieth-century advances from the classical assumptions of science.

Chris Argyris (born July 16, 1923) is more commonly known for seminal work in the area of Learning Organizations which was later developed in the best selling The Fifth Discipline by Peter M. Senge. ... Donald A. Schon (1930-1997) was an influential thinker in developing the theory and practice of reflective professional learning Image:Schon. ... Gregory Bateson (9 May 1904–4 July 1980) was a British anthropologist, social scientist, linguist and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Explicit knowledge is referred to the knowledge which has been articulated, codified and stored in certain mediums. ... Peter M. Senge was the Director of the Center for Organizational Learning at the MIT Sloan School of Management and presently (2005) is on the faculty at MIT and is the founding chair of * SoL, the Society for Organizational Learning. ... Chris Argyris (born July 16, 1923) is more commonly known for seminal work in the area of Learning Organizations which was later developed in the best selling The Fifth Discipline by Peter M. Senge. ... Donald A. Schon (1930-1997) was an influential thinker in developing the theory and practice of reflective professional learning Image:Schon. ... Systems theory is a transdisciplinary/multiperspectual scientific domain that seeks to derive and formulate those principles that are isomorphic to all fields of scientific inquiry. ... Karl Ludwig von Bertalanffy (September 19, 1901, Vienna, Austria - June 12, 1972, USA) was a biologist who was a founder of general systems theory. ... Philosophy of science is the study of assumptions, foundations, and implications of science, especially in the natural sciences and social sciences. ...

Organizational knowledge

What is the nature of knowledge created, traded and used in organizations? Some of this knowledge can be termed technical – knowing the meaning of technical words and phrases, being able to read and make sense of economic data and being able to act on the basis of law-like generalizations. Scientific knowledge is ‘propositional’; it takes the form of generalizations – whenever A, then B. For example, whenever water reaches the temperature of 100 degrees, it boils; whenever it boils, it turns into steam; steam generates pressure when in an enclosed space; pressure drives engines. And so forth.

A large part of the knowledge used by managers, however, does not assume this a form. The complexities of a manager’s task are such that applying A may result in B, C, or Z. A recipe or an idea that solved very well a particular problem, may, in slightly different circumstances backfire and lead to ever more problems. More important than knowing a whole lot of theories, recipes and solutions for a manager is to know which theory, recipe or solution to apply in a specific situation. Sometimes a manager may combine two different recipes or adapt an existing recipe with some important modification to meet a situation at hand.

Managers often use knowledge in the way that a handyman will use his or her skills, the materials and tools that are at hand to meet the demands of a particular situation. Unlike an engineer who will plan carefully and scientifically his or her every action to deliver the desired outcome, such as a steam engine, a handyman is flexible and opportunistic, often using materials in unorthodox or unusual ways, and relies a lot on trial and error. This is what the French call ‘bricolage’, the resourceful and creative deployment skills and materials to meet each challenge in an original way. Rule of thumb, far from being the enemy of management, is what managers throughout the world have relied upon to inform their action.

In contrast to the scientific knowledge that guides the engineer, the physician or the chemist, managers are often informed by a different type of know-how. This is sometimes referred to a ‘narrative knowledge’ or ‘experiential knowledge’, the kind of knowledge that comes from experience and resides in stories and narratives of how real people in the real world dealt with real life problems, successfully or unsuccessfully. Narrative knowledge is what we use in everyday life to deal with awkward situations, as parents, as consumers, as patients and so forth. We seek the stories of people in the same situation as ourselves and try to learn from them. As the Chinese proverb says "A wise man learns from experience; a wiser man learns from the experience of others."

Narrative knowledge usually takes the form of organization stories (see organization story and organizational storytelling). These stories enable partipants to make sense of the difficulties and challenges they face; by listening to stories, members of organizations learn from each other's experiences, adapt the recipes used by others to address their own difficulties and problems. Narrative knowledge is not only the preserve of managers. Most professionals (including doctors, accountants, lawyers, business consultants and academics) rely on narrative knowledge, in addition to their specialist technical knowledge, when dealing with concrete situations as part of their work. More generally, narrative knowledge represents an endlessly mutating reservoir of ideas, recipes and stories that are traded mostly by word or mouth on the internet. They are often apocryphal and may be inaccurate or untrue - yet, they have the power to influence people's sensemaking and actions. An Organization Story is defined as collective storytelling system in which the performance of stories is a key part of members sense-making and a means to allow them to supplement individual memories with institutional memory (Boje, 1991: 106). ... Storytelling has long been a feature of human societies, groups and organizations. ...

Individual vs. Organizational Learning

Learning by individuals in an organizational context is a well understood process. This is the traditional domain of human resources, including activities such as: training, increasing skills, work experience, and formal education. Given that the success of any organization is founded on the knowledge of the people who work for it, these activities will and, indeed, must continue. However, individual learning is only a prerequisite to organizational learning. “Learned” redirects here. ... Personification of knowledge (Greek Επιστημη, Episteme) in Celsus Library in Ephesos, Turkey. ...

Others take it farther with continuous learning. The world is orders of magnitude more dynamic than that of our parents, or even when we were young. Waves of change are crashing on us virtually one on top of another. Change has become the norm rather than the exception. Continuous learning throughout one’s career has become essential to remain relevant in the workplace. Again, necessary but not sufficient to describe organizational learning.

What does it mean to say that an organization learns? Simply summing individual learning is inadequate to model organizational learning. The following definition outlines the essential difference between the two: A learning organization actively creates, captures, transfers, and mobilizes knowledge to enable it to adapt to a changing environment. Thus, the key aspect of organizational learning is the interaction that takes place among individuals.

A learning organization does not rely on passive or ad hoc process in the hope that organizational learning will take place through serendipity or as a by-product of normal work. A learning organization actively promotes, facilitates, and rewards collective learning.

Creating (or acquiring) knowledge can be an individual or group activity. However, this is normally a small-scale, isolated activity steeped in the jargon and methods of knowledge workers. As first stated by Lucilius in the 1st century BC, “Knowledge is not knowledge until someone else knows that one knows.”

Capturing individual learning is the first step to making it useful to an organization. There are many methods for capturing knowledge and experience, such as publications, activity reports, lessons learned, interviews, and presentations. Capturing includes organizing knowledge in ways that people can find it; multiple structures facilitate searches regardless of the user’s perspective (e.g., who, what, when, where, why,and how). Capturing also includes storage in repositories, databases, or libraries to insure that the knowledge will be available when and as needed.

Transferring knowledge requires that it be accessible to everyone when and where they need it. In a digital world, this involves browser-activated search engines to find what one is looking for. A way to retrieve content is also needed, which requires a communication and network infrastructure. Tacit knowledge may be shared through communities of practice or consulting experts. It is also important that knowledge is presented in a way that users can understand it. It must suit the needs of the user to be accepted and internalized. Look up content in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Mobilizing knowledge involves integrating and using relevant knowledge from many, often diverse, sources to solve a problem or address an issue. Integration requires interoperability standards among various repositories. Using knowledge may be through simple reuse of existing solutions that have worked previously. It may also come through adapting old solutions to new problems. Conversely, a learning organization learns from mistakes or recognizes when old solutions no longer apply. Use may also be through synthesis; that is creating a broader meaning or a deeper level of understanding. Clearly, the more rapidly knowledge can be mobilized and used, the more competitive an organization. Interoperability is connecting people, data and diverse systems. ...

An organization must learn so that it can adapt to a changing environment. Historically, the life-cycle of organizations typically spanned stable environments between major socioeconomic changes. Blacksmiths who didn’t become mechanics simply fell by the wayside. More recently, many fortune 500 companies of two decades ago no longer exist. Given the ever-accelerating rate of global-scale change, the more critical learning and adaptation become to organization relevance, success, and ultimate survival.

Organizational learning is a social process, involving interactions among many individuals leading to well-informed decision making. Thus, a culture that learns and adapts as part of everyday working practices is essential. Reuse must equal or exceed reinvent as a desirable behavior. Adapting an idea must be rewarded along with its initial creation. Sharing to empower the organization must supersede controlling to empower an individual.

Clearly, shifting from individual to organizational learning involves a non-linear transformation. Once someone learns something, it is available for their immediate use. In contrast, organizations need to create, capture, transfer, and mobilize knowledge before it can be used. Although technology supports the latter, these are primarily social processes within a cultural environment, and cultural change, however necessary, is a particularly challenging undertaking.

Learning organization

The work in Organizational Learning can be distinguished from the work on a related concept, the learning organization. This later body of work, in general, uses the theoretical findings of organizational learning (and other research in organizational development, system theory, and cognitive science) in order to prescribe specific recommendations about how to create organizations that continuously and effectively learn. This practical approach was championed by Peter Senge in his book The Fifth Discipline. Peter Senge defined a learning organization as human beings cooperating in dynamical systems (as defined in systemics) that are in a state of continuous adaptation and improvement. ... The field of organization development (OD) has had several definitions. ... Yo man This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Cognitive science is usually defined as the scientific study either of mind or of intelligence (e. ... Peter M. Senge was the Director of the Center for Organizational Learning at the MIT Sloan School of Management and presently (2005) is on the faculty at MIT and is the founding chair of * SoL, the Society for Organizational Learning. ...

Diffusion of innovations

Diffusion of innovations theory explores how and why people adopt new ideas, practices and products. It may be seen as a subset of the anthropological concept of diffusion and can help to explain how ideas are spread by individuals, social networks and organizations. The study of the diffusion of innovation is the study of how, why, and at what rate new ideas spread through cultures. ... The diffusion of ideas or artifacts from one culture to another is a well-attested and uncontroversial concept of cultural anthropology. ...

See also

• knowledge capture
• Knowledge Management
• Knowledge organization
• knowledge transfer
• Activity Theory
• community of practice
• learning organization
• organizational memory
• Organizational empowerment
• Organizational engineering
• collaborative learning
• Educational psychology
• Action Learning

Knowledge capture is the electronic capturing of what is known. ... Knowledge Management comprises a range of practices used by organisations to identify, create, represent, and distribute knowledge for reuse, awareness and learning. ... In a knowledge organization, people use systems and processes to generate, transform, manage, use, and transfer knowledge-based products and services to achieve organizational goals. ... Knowledge transfer in the fields of Organizational development and organizational learning, is the practical problem of getting a packet of knowledge from one part of the organization to another (or all other) parts of the organization. ... Activity theory (AT) is a Soviet psychological meta-theory, paradigm, or framework, with its roots in behaviourism. ... The concept of a community of practice (often abbreviated as CoP) refers to the process of social learning that occurs when people who have a common interest in some subject or problem collaborate over an extended period to share ideas, find solutions, and build innovations. ... Peter Senge defined a learning organization as human beings cooperating in dynamical systems (as defined in systemics) that are in a state of continuous adaptation and improvement. ... Organizational memory (OM) Organizational memory (sometimes called institutional or corporate memory) is the body of data, information and knowledge relevant to an individual organization’s existence. ... Organizational empowerment (also referred to as employee empowerment) is a multi-dimensional construct encompassing three organizational perspectives: that of the leader, that of the employee, and that of the organization itself (Page & Czuba, 1999; Honold, 1997, p. ... // Organizational Engineering is a form of Organizational Development created by Gary Salton of Professional Communications, Inc. ... Collaborative learning is an umbrella term for a variety of approaches in education that involve joint intellectual effort by students or students and teachers. ... Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools as organizations. ...

References and further reading

• Amidon, Debra M. (1997) Innovation Strategy for the Knowledge Economy. Butterworth-Heinman, Newton, MA. p19
• Argote, L. (1999). Organizational learning: Creating, retaining and transferring knowledge. Norwell, MA, Kluwer Academic Publishers.
• Argyris, C. and Schon, D. (1978). Organizational Learning: A theory of action perspective, Addison-Wesley, Reading MA, 1978.
• Argyris, C. (1990), Overcoming Organizational Defences: Facilitating Organizational Learning, Allyn & Bacon, Boston.
• Bray, D. (2007). "Literature Review - Knowledge Management Research at the Organizational Level", Social Science Research Network.
• Bontis, Nick, Crossan, M. and J. Hulland. (2002). "Managing an Organizational Learning System by Aligning Stocks and Flows", Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 39, No. 4, pp.437-469.
• Easterby-Smith, M. and M. A. Lyles (editors). (2003). The Blackwell Handbook of Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management, Oxford, Blackwell Publishing.
• Flood, R.L. (1999), Rethinking the Fifth Discipline: Learning within the unknowable, London: Routledge.
• Garvin, D. A. (2000), Learning in Action: A Guide to Putting the Learning Organization to Work, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
• Kim, D. (1993). "The link between individual and organizational learning", Sloan Management Review, Fall 1993, pp. 37-50.
• March, J.G. and Olsen, J.P. (1975). "The uncertainty of the past; organizational ambiguous learning", European Journal of Political Research, vol.3, pp. 147-171.
• May, Paul (2000) The Business of E-Commerce. Cambridge university press, New York. p7
• Nonaka, I. and Takeuchi, H. (1995), The Knowledge Creating Company, Oxford University Press, New York, 1995.
• Senge, P. M. (1992), The Fifth Discipline, Random House, Sydney.

Peter M. Senge was the Director of the Center for Organizational Learning at the MIT Sloan School of Management and presently (2005) is on the faculty at MIT and is the founding chair of * SoL, the Society for Organizational Learning. ... The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization is a book by Peter Senge (a senior lecturer at MIT) focusing on group problem solving using the systems thinking method in order to convert companies into learning organizations. ...

External links

• Learning Inquiry: an academic journal - PDF available
• University of Denver organizational learning page with links to articles