Org.+Learning+Defined



Can organization learn?

" The concept of organisational learning has borrowed and developed from the individual learning process, which is commonly believed to be very sophisticated and involves all aspects of the human nature and the interaction with the environment. "

" organisational learning is not simply the collectivity of individual learning processes, but engages interaction between individuals in the organisation, and interaction between organisations as an entity, and interaction between the organisation and its contexts."

(Catherine L Wang, Pervaiz K Ahmed .(2002), A Review of the Concept of Organizational Learning)

1. organization learning by individuals or through individual learning within organizations on cognitive perspective

(argyris &Schon, 1978; Bolman, 1976; Duncan & Weiss, 1979; Etheredge & Short, 1983; Gahmberg, 1980; Hedberg, 1981; Herriott, Levinthal, & March, 1985; Lant & Mezias, 1990; Levitt & March, 1988; March & Olsen, 1976; Miles & Randolph, 1981; Shrivastava, 1983: Sims & Gioia, 1986; Sitkin, 1992; Weick, 1991; Weiss, 1980)

Trigger factors of OL:


 * An OL model suggests that the impetus for organizational changes is triggered by performance below aspiration level ( Lant and Mezias, 1990, P149)
 * OL is error detection and correction geared to improving the effectiveness of individual behavior in organizations. (Bolman, 1976, Argyris and Schon, 1978)

2. Learning is done by organizations as a whole, not primarily as cognitive entities but as cultural ones. ( this and following are taken from : Cook Noam and Dvora Yanow, 1990)

Organizational learning is the acquiring, sustaining, or changing of intersubjective meanings through the artifactual vehicles of their expression and transmission and the collective actions of the group.
 * __Definition__:**

when a group acquires the know-how associated with its ability to carry out its collective activities, that constitutes OL.

To add on the definition

"Organisational learning is referred to the changes in the state of knowledge (Lyles, 1992, 1988), and involves knowledge acquisition, dissemination, refinement, creation and implementation: the ability to acquire diverse information and to share common understanding so that this knowledge can be exploited (Fiol, 1994 p. 404), and the ability to develop insights, knowledge, and to associate among past and future activities (Fiol & Lyles, 1985 p. 811). "