Organizational learning and emotion: constructing collective meaning in support of strategic themes

Missing in the organizational learning literature is an integrative framework that reflects the emotional as well as the cognitive dynamics involved. Here, we take a step in this direction by focusing in depth over time (five years) on a selected organization which manufactures electronic equipment for the office industry. Drawing on personal construct theory, we define organizational learning as the collective re-construal of meaning in the direction of strategically significant themes. We suggest that emotions arise as members reflect on progress or lack of progress in achieving organizational learning. Our evidence suggests that invalidation – where organizational learning fails to correspond with expectations – gives rise to anxiety and frustration, while validation – where organizational learning is aligned with or exceeds expectations – evokes comfort or excitement. Our work aims to capture the key emotions involved as organizational learning proceeds

Organizational learning: Where do we stand? Where do we want to go?

The field of organizational learning has developed dynamically but is not ready for closure. This article reviews the cultural contexts in which research on organizational learning has been conducted since the 1960s, and the intellectual traditions that underpin the field. It traces changes in the types of organizations studied and in the range of agents of organizational learning attended to by scholars. The processes and models that have shaped the discussion over the past decades, and changes in the tone or color of the way organizational learning has been treated are also highlighted. Trends in organizational practices are identified as well. On the basis of this broad stocktaking exercise, key challenges for future research on organizational learning and knowledge creation are outlined. --

Stakeholder engagement as a facilitator of organizational learning

This paper examines the relationship between stakeholder engagement and competence building. Following the dual perspective of the firm, which indicated that managers deal with both transactions and competences concurrently, we argue that stakeholder interactions also concern both transaction cost reduction and value creation. Based on a review of the extant literature, we incorporated a micro-macro connection between organizational learning and competence building. Further to this, we developed a conceptual framework by linking stakeholder engagement and organizational learning. This framework demonstrates that stakeholder relations may have significant effects on organizational learning and thus stakeholder engagement can play the role of facilitator in building firm competences

Leadership, Organizational Learning and Performance in Small and Medium Firms

CEO's leadership is an organizational dimension that has not been carefully studied in the literature on small firms. Particularly, as organizational learning is now anchored as an important part of the building and sustaining of the small and medium firm's competitive advantage, how leadership characteristics may moderate the positive link between organizational learning and performance is important for managers and researchers. We could hypothesize that, combined with organizational learning processes, some leaders' characteristics and behaviours are more important than others to lead the development of an organizational climate oriented toward innovation or performance. This paper presents the theoretical framework and hypotheses of this on-going research on the links between organizational learning, leadership and performance in small and medium firms.Learning; Absorptive capacity; Leadership

Organizational learning processes in downsizing

The purpose of this article is to explore organizational learning processes by examining how companies learn to do something new, namely downsize, on the basis of a small sample of companies in Europe. In a first step, the range of possible responses to downsizing, as discussed in the literature, is presented and compared with the responses described in the interviews. Significant gaps between the options described in the literature and the activities undertaken by the sample companies were found. In a second step, models of organizational learning are presented, specifically focusing on knowledge acquisition, information distribution and interpretation, and compared with the learning processes described by the sample companies. The article suggests that had the companies used a broader range of knowledge acquisition strategies, they might have expanded their range of responses to downsizing. A revision of organizational learning models to include a greater variety of perspectives in a problem definition phase before knowledge acquisition is undertaken is recommended. -- Um erfassen zu können, wie europäische Firmen lernen, die für sie neuen Aufgaben des Downsizing zu planen und durchzuführen, wurden zunächst die Erfahrungen in der US-amerikanischen Wirtschaft anhand einer Literaturanalyse und durch Sekundärstudien ausgewählter Untersuchungen ausgewertet. Anschließend wurde eine Primärerhebung durchgeführt. Es wurden Expertengespräche in 13 Unternehmen aus unterschiedlichen Branchen in vier westeuropäischen Ländern (vorrangig in Deutschland) durchgeführt. Die Auswertung der Interviews mit Führungskräften zeigt, daß in Europa die Erfahrungen der USA bisher so gut wie nicht wahrgenommen worden sind. Dieser Beitrag stellt die Lernstrategien der untersuchten Firmen dar und zeigt die Lücken auf, die sowohl für die Praxis wie auch für die Theoriebildung im Bereich Organisationslernen entstehen.

Hot context for organizational learning

The organizational learning, studied in resource-based view, is a strategic resource (Wernerfelt 1984, Prahalad et Hamel 1990, Doz 1990, Teece 1998, Weartherly 2003). Thus, “learning to learn” (Argyris et Schön, 1978), being a learning organization (Senge 1990, Edmondson et Moingeon 1998, Moilanen 1999, Heraty 2005), and encouraging organizational learning become major issues in management sciences. This contribution aims at fixing and explaining hot organizational learning context dimensions. This approach presents a double interest. First, it enables the validation of the dimensions deducted from literature. Second, this analysis suggests a framework for hot context that emphasized managerial leverages.The first part of our contribution synthetizes the organizational learning literature and particulary analyses its context. It reveals three implicit dimensions in literature : cultural, organizational and social dimension.We have backed up our questioning with a qualitative study of two business units of the public company Electricité de France (EDF). This firm is subjected to many changes in its environment : the opening of European and French electricity markets. EDF has to adapt itself to this context by developing learning capabilities, bringing about synergies between departments and creating a hot context for organizational learning. The collection data has been done at two different times during a nine month period and insures data triangulation : 36 interviews, 7 days of observation and many internal documents. The interviews have been recorded and transcribed. In order to facilitate the data processing, the thematic analysis has been done with N*Vivo software. The empirical study validates the three dimensions identified from literature relevance and brings further information. We have drown four dimensions of a hot context : an individual, an organizational, a social and a managerial dimension. The individual one includes the literature cultural dimension but also identity, emotional and fonctionnal aspects. It corresponds to individual self motivation and theory in use that facilitates sharing and cooperation in the firm. The organizational dimension integrates both organizational and specific learning structures such as guild and coaching. It is set apart from the managarial dimension, which is the support and the influence of the managerial staff. Finally, the social dimension is the result of the interaction of the three previous dimensions. In this way, it constitutes a sine qua non condition to the organizational learning process. Beyond our analysis, we suggest a framework to understand hot context, its dimensions, and develop managerial leverages.organizational learning, organizational context

The structuration of organizational learning

management, technological, sciences, design