ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING

Knowledge and Learning

Knowledge is "the capacity for effective action”

(Peter Senge, 1998)

Learning:

Is a process of acquiring knowledge or a skill One must be able to “unlearn to learn" (Nystrom and Starbuck, 1984).

Sharing knowledge:  Is about creating learning processes.

Some Classical Theories

•        Classical Conditioning

A condition stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus. (Ivan Pavlov)

•        Operant Conditioning

Modifying behavior through the use of positive or negative consequences. (Burrhus Frederic Skinner)

·         Reinforcement

·         Punishment

·         Extinction

Social learning theory  (Albert Bandura)

• Explains human behavior in terms of continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioral, and environmental influences. (Learning theories knowledgebase, 2011)

• Task specific self-efficacy

1.      Prior experiences

2.      Behavior models

3.      Persuasion from other people

4.      Assessment of current physical & emotional capabilities

Know-how as an asset

The development of many types of new markets has made know-how increasingly salient as differentiation, and therefore as a source of the competitive advantage of firms. (Teece, 1998)

• •        Importance of property rights
• •        Technological innovation
• •        Organizational structure
• •        Management strategies
• •        Resource allocation

Learning organizations

“Places where people continually expand their capacities to create the results they truly desire” (Senge, 1994)

“An organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights”  (Garvin 1993)

Why Learning organizations?

•        Organizations that experimented with new ways of conduction business in order to survive in turbulent , highly competitive markets. (Senge, 1990)

• •        Uncertainty
• •        Changes in workforce competency
• •        High customers expectations
• •        Technological advancements
• •        Globalization.

“Although many of the older industries can operate for a long time after new technologies appear or consumer attitudes change, they lose their dynamism and their potential to generate adequate returns on investment. As they eventually slow down, they are merged into other companies, are bought out, or stop operating altogether.“(Makridakis, 1991)

To obtain and sustain competitive advantage, organizations must enhance their learning capability and must be able to learn better and faster from their successes and failures, from within and from outside  (Marquardt, 1996)

How can new knowledge be transferred into action or valuable assets inside organizations?

How Organizational Learning works?

1.      Personal mastery

2.      Shared vision

3.      Mental models

4.      Team learning

5.      Systems thinking (Senge, 1990)

• As Competitive Advantage Organizations should have the capacity to collect new information and transfer into action. (Teece, 1998)

• “It occurs through the shared insights, knowledge and mental models of the members of the organization and builds on the past knowledge and experiences” (Marquardt, 1996)

Knowledge creation (Nonaka, 1991)

“Takes place when tacit knowledge is converted into explicit knowledge, disseminated throughout the organization and results in innovation in the form of a new product, services or systems”

QUESTION

What is the relationship between organizational learning and individual satisfaction?

One of the tasks of the organizational learning process is to empower people within and outside the organization in order to learn collectively and transform themselves to better acquire, manage and use knowledge for corporate success. In this sense, there is an important felling of satisfaction of each member within the organization, where each of them is expected to be the sufficient empowered to act. The individual satisfaction is the aim where the employees are being lead, because by this felling they will fill prepare and capable to give the step and walk to the learning process.

REFERENCES

• ·    Makridakis, S (1991) What can we learn from organizational failures, Long Range Planning, 24(4), 115-126.
• ·       Nelson, D.L. & Quick, J.C. (2010) Organizational Behavior: Science, The Real World and You. South-Western College Publication, 7th. Ed.
• ·         Nystrom, PC and WH Starbuck, (1984, Spring). To avoid organizational crisis, unlearn, Organisational Dynamic@, 53-64.
• ·  Shukla, M (1994) CORPORATE FAILURES: Why Organizations Fail To Learn. Productivity, 34(4), 629-639.
• ·       Teece, D. (1998) Capturing value from knowledge assets: The new economy, Markets for know-how, and intangible assets. California Management Review. Vol 40 No 3. Spring1998.