E-learning in a competitive firm setting

This paper explores the use of e‐learning technologies for organisational learning within a commercial environment. A model has been developed to represent those factors that determine organisational learning. This model has been embedded within a case study based on the use of an e‐learning program that was developed in order to enhance employees’ knowledge and endorse corporate values within a Norwegian company. The results of the study reflect the high performance of the e‐learning program. They also highlight critical issues concerning the successful implementation of e‐learning technologies to achieve the knowledge sharing that is required for organisational learning

Power, control and organisational learning

A review of managerial literature highlights the crucial importance of shared culture and common schemes of interpretation in organisational learning. The interpretative and sensemaking approaches of organisational learning insert themselves deeply in the process of the construction of social uniformity and cognitive homogeneity. Individual learning, culture, beliefs and rationality - the shared mental models - are the targets of confirmation processes. Thus, this specific kind of organisational learning cannot be considered as normatively neutral, but as a political process. A case study of a bank illustrates that organisational learning can be based on a structured social construction of cognitive homogeneity which generates an increase of control and enhances power of the management by reinforcing the legitimacy of decisions. However, this case study also shows that learning and non-learning are the two faces of the same process or, in other words, that organisational learning can produce unawareness and unintentional nonlearning by too much cultural uniformity. -- Eine Durchsicht der Managementliteratur verdeutlicht die zentrale Bedeutung gemeinsamer Kultur und geteilter Deutungsmuster für das Organisationslernen. Die interpretativen und deutungsbezogenen Ansätze des Organisationslernens basieren auf tiefgreifenden Prozessen zur Konstruktion sozialer Einheitlichkeit und kognitiver Homogenität. Die Absicherungsprozesse beziehen sich auf das individuelle Lernen, Kultur, Werthaltungen und Rationalität - die gemeinsamen mentalen Modelle. Insofern kann diese Form des Organisationslernens nicht als wertneutral angesehen werden; es handelt sich vielmehr um einen politischen Prozeß. An einer Fallstudie in einer Bank wird illustriert, daß Organisationslernen auf einer sozial konstruierten kognitiven Homogenität aufgebaut werden kann. Dabei wird Management-Kontrolle erweitert und ihre Macht verstärkt, indem die Legitimität ihrer Entscheidungen abgesichert wird. Allerdings dokumentiert die Fallstudie auch, daß Lernen und Nicht-Lernen zwei Seiten des gleichen Prozesses sind, anders gewendet: Organisationslernen kann zur Ausblendung von Wahrnehmung beitragen und - unbeabsichtigt - Nicht-Lernen generieren, wenn zuvor ein zu hohes Maß an kultureller Homogenität etabliert worden ist.

Organisational Learning And Multinational Strategy

Increasingly, it has been recognised that in their process of internationalisation multinationals may learn. They may take a strategy not only of exploitation, to leverage existing assets, competencies and products, built up in their home countries, but also, and perhaps even primarily, of exploration, to profit from diversity of host countries to develop new products and competencies. The question is how they can manage and integrate resulting diversity. This article analyses that issue, using a theory of organisational learning. It employs a ‘cycle of discovery’ that seeks to resolve the problem of combining exploitation and exploration. That problem arises more widely, apart from internationalisation, and solutions to it may yield solutions for problems of internationalisation.globalization;innovation;organizational learning;international business;multinational corporations

Research methods and methodologies for studying organisational learning

The purpose of this paper is to compare and evaluate the main research methods and methodologies for studying organisational learning (OL), and propose a framework for their selection. It presents a comprehensive review of literature on OL, learning organisation (LO) and research methods and reports evidence on recent developments in research methods for studying OL. The paper highlighted on the purists and pragmatists’ views of research methodologies as basis of the study. The results revealed that the research methods and methodologies for studying OL do not reflect on the differing views of the purists and pragmatists’ debate but rather conform to the convergence ideologies of the two camps. Particularly, the outcomes augment the use of triangulation and suggest that the choice of method(s) should be consistent with research aims and epistemological philosophy of OL. Consequently, the study recommends OL Research Methods Framework as a useful guide for selecting a suitable approach in the area. The paper recommends ethnography for future research consideration

Organisational Memetics?: Organisational Learning as a Selection Process

Companies are not only systems created and controlled by those who manage them but also self-organising entities that evolve through learning. Whereas an organism is a creation of natural replicators, genes, an organisation can be seen as a product of an alternative replicator, the meme or mental model, acting, like a gene, to preserve itself in an Evolutionary Stable System. The result is an organisation which self organises around a set of unspoken and unwritten rules and assumptions. Biological evolution is stimulated by environmental change and reproductive isolation; the process of punctuated equilibrium. Corporate innovation shows the same pattern. Innovations in products and processes occur in groups isolated from prevailing mental norms. Successful organic strains possess a genetic capability for adaptation. Organisations which wish to foster learning can develop an equivalent, mental capability. Unlike their biological counterparts they can exert conscious choice and puncture the memetic codes that seek to keep them stable; the mental models of individuals, and the strategies, paradigms and unwritten rules at the company level

International regulation of work in times of globalisation: the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in the perspective of organisational learning

Contents: 1. Introduction; 2. Tasks and challenges for the international labour organization (ILO) in a historical perspective; 3. The ILO and organisational learning; five basic problems of organisational design; the heuristics of organisational learning; 4. The policy field of child labour; analysis of changes with a view to organisational learning; interpretation; 5. The policy field of international merchant shipping; analysis of changes with a view to organisational learning; interpretation; 6. Preliminary conclusions

Supporting organisational learning: an overview of the ENRICH approach

Traditional training separates learning from the work context in which the newly acquired knowledge is to be applied. This requires the worker themselves to apply imparted theoretical knowledge to knowledge in practice, a process that is grossly inefficient. The ENRICH approach builds on organisational learning theory to intertwine working and learning. The ENRICH methodology incorporates theories of learning at the individual, group and organisational level. Individual level learning is supported through the provision of semantically related resources to support problem reframing and to challenge assumptions. Group learning is supported through the evolution of domain concepts through work documents and representations linked to formal models of group knowledge, and the development of group practices and perspectives through enhanced sharing and collaboration. Organisational learning is supported through exposure to customs and conventions of other groups through shared best practices and knowledge models. The approach is being investigated in a range of industrial settings and applications

The process of organisational learning and its value for organisational performance

Organisational learning has been advocated as a key enabler of organisational performance improvement. However, despite over half a century of research, such claims attributed to organisational learning cannot be adequately verified. To date, the field is fragmented where agreement is not evident on even the fundamental aspects such as the definition or process. It has been proposed that the organisational learning concept may outlive its usefulness unless these anxieties are addressed. To ameliorate these anxieties, it was argued that further empirical research utilising carefully constructed methodologies needs to be conducted to help validate the claims attributed to organisational learning. The following research addresses this need by empirically studying organisational learning and evaluates the concept’s value for organisational performance. A researchable organisational learning model was developed and extended to include a link with organisational performance. The rationale of the developed model proposed that organisational learning, in comparison to individual learning, aids a broader understanding of the business environment and the formation of a shared vision which provides the basis for unified action leading to organisational performance improvement. The proposal was then longitudinally tested in four organisations with senior and departmental managers by utilising a causal cognitive mapping method. The findings suggest that there is value in the organisational learning concept and the process should be fostered within organisations for potentially improved organisational performance. However, the results also advise caution in that barriers to effective organisational learning, such as cognitive inertia, need to be recognised and addressed. The research concludes that organisational learning can be potentially beneficial to an organisation and provides some empirical support for the concept that has been argued to be lacking

Organisational Learning and Change in a Public Sector Context

It is broadly accepted that learning is important in supporting thedelivery of change (Tsang, 1997). Furthermore, during times of publicsector budget cuts there is a growing interest in innovation and change(Pollitt, 2010, Brown and Osborne, 2013). However, it is also generallyaccepted that austere times typically lead to a reduction in training anddevelopment budgets – particularly within the public sector (Jewson etal., 2015).This paper explores the extent to which the assumed link betweenlearning and change is contested during austerity. 51 public sectormanagers from Wales and Scotland participated in the study, over aperiod of 13 months, from a wide range of public sector organisationsacross two devolved parts of the UK. The research explored issuessurrounding motivations for learning, expectations of outcomes andperceptions around the drivers of change.It is found that public sector budget cuts are having a direct impact onlearning and development opportunities across the UK public sector.Whilst budget cuts may lead to change, this is likely to be piecemealrather than strategic. In conclusion this research supports the view thatausterity is a barrier to meaningful change in the public sector and not adriver