Organisational Learning (OL)

Organisational learning is concerned with how learning takes place in organisations. It focuses on collective learning but takes into account the proposition made by Argyris (1992) that organisations do not perform the actions that produce the learning; it is individual members of the organisation who behave in ways that lead to it, although organisations can create conditions that facilitate such learning.

Organisational learning is concerned with the development of new knowledge or insights that have the potential to influence behaviour. It has been defined by Marsick (1994) as a process of: ‘Coordinated systems change, with mechanisms built in for individuals and groups to access, build and use organisational memory, structure and culture to develop long-term organisational capacity.’ Organisational learning takes place within the wide institutional context of inter-organisational relationships and ‘refers broadly to an organisation’s acquisition of understanding, know-how, techniques and practices of any kind and by any means’ (Argyris and Schon, 1996). Organisational learning theory examines how in this context individual and team learning can be translated into an organisational resource and is therefore linked closely to knowledge management processes.

It is emphasised by Harrison (1997) that organisational learning is not simply the sum of the learning of individuals and groups across the organisation. She comments that: ‘Many studies have confirmed that without effective processes and systems linking individual and organisational learning, the one has no necessary counterpart with the other’ (Argyris and Schon, 1996).


The process of Organisational Learning

Organisational learning can be characterised as an intricate three-stage process consisting of knowledge acquisition, dissemination and shared implementation (Dale, 1994). Knowledge may be acquired from direct experience, the experience of others or organisational memory.

Argyris (1992) suggests that organisational learning occurs under two conditions: first when an organisation achieves what is intended, and second when a mismatch between intentions and outcomes is identified and corrected. He distinguishes between single-loop and double-loop learning. These two types of learning have been described as adaptive or generative learning.

Single-loop or adaptive learning is incremental learning that does no more than correct deviations from the norm by making small changes and improvements without challenging assumptions, beliefs or decisions. As suggested by Argyris (1992), organisations where single-loop learning is the norm, define the ‘governing variables’ ie what they expect to achieve in terms of targets and standards, and then monitor and review achievements and take corrective action as necessary, thus completing the loop.

Double-loop or generative learning involves challenging assumptions, beliefs, norms and decisions rather than accepting them. On this basis, learning through the examination of the root causes of problems so that a new learning loop is established goes far deeper than the traditional learning loop provided by single-loop or instrumental learning. It occurs when the monitoring process initiates action to redefine the ‘governing variables’ to meet the new situation, which may be imposed by the external environment. The organisation has learnt something new about what has to be achieved in the light of changed circumstances and can then decide how this should be done. This learning is converted into action. The process is illustrated in Figure 1.0.

Figure 1.0: Single- and double-loop learning
Source: (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014, p.297)

As Easterby-Smith and Araujo (1999) commented, single-loop learning could be linked to incremental change ‘where an organisation tries out new methods and tactics and attempts to get rapid feedback on their consequences in order to be able to make continuous adjustments and adaptations’. In contrast, double-loop learning is associated ‘with radical change, which might involve a major change in strategic direction, possibly linked to replacement of senior personnel, and wholesale revision of systems’. It is generally assumed that double-loop learning is superior, but there are situations when single-loop learning may be more appropriate.


Outcomes of Organisational Learning

Organisational learning outcomes contribute to the development of a firm’s resource capability. This is in accordance with one of the basic principles of human resource management, namely that it is necessary to invest in people in order to develop the intellectual capital required by the organisation and thus increase its stock of knowledge and skills. As stated by Ehrenberg and Smith (1994), human capital theory indicates that: ‘The knowledge and skills a worker has – which comes from education and training, including the training that experience brings – generate productive capital.’

Pettigrew and Whipp (1991) believe that the focus of organisational learning should be on developing ‘organisational capability’. This means paying attention to the intricate and often unnoticed or hidden learning that takes place and influences what occurs within the organisation. ‘Hidden learning’ is acquired and developed in the normal course of work by people acting as individuals and, importantly, in groups or ‘communities of practice’ (Wenger and Snyder, 2000).



References

Argyris, C (1992) On Organizational Learning, Blackwell, Cambridge, MA

Argyris, C and Schon, D A (1996) Organizational Learning: A theory of action perspective, Addison Wesley, Reading, MA

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., (2014). Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. Kogan Page Limited.

Dale, M (1994) Learning organizations, in (eds) C Mabey and P Iles, Managing Learning, Routledge, London

Easterby-Smith, M and Araujo, J (1999) Organizational learning: current debates and opportunities, in (eds) M Easterby-Smith, J Burgoyne and L Araujo, Organizational Learning and the Learning Organization, Sage, London

Ehrenberg, R G and Smith, R S (1994) Modern Labor Economics, Harper Collins, New York

Harrison, R (1997) Employee Development, IPM, London

Marsick, V J (1994) Trends in managerial invention: creating a learning map, Management Learning, 21 (1) pp 11–33

Pettigrew, A and Whipp, R (1991) Managing Change for Competitive Success, Blackwell, Oxford

Wenger, E and Snyder, W M (2000) Communities of practice: the organizational frontier, Harvard Business Review, January–February, pp 33–41

Comments

  1. Nilushi FernandoMay 6, 2022 at 3:12 PM

    Hi Mohamed. Organizational challenges with regard to learning and creativity and not an agreement but it is or how to best facilitate diverse matters such as psychology, Sociology, business and ecology studying (Huber, 1991).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mohamed ShamranMay 15, 2022 at 5:05 AM

      Thank you, that is why much of the Organisational Learning literature works from the assumption that an organisation is a single and unified entity with the ability to learn. The difficulty here is that learning is clearly a human attribute, whereas the term ‘organisation’ is used to understand a set of activities and processes carried out by people working with other resources. As pointed out by Weick and Westley (1996), organisations cannot be directly perceived, so explaining learning at an organisational level requires the invocation of particular metaphors, which is not equal to direct experience.

      A biological metaphor of the organisation might, for example, suggest that organisations learn very much like humans – hence Dixon (1994) turns Kolb’s learning cycle, an explanation of individual learning, into an OL cycle.

      Delete
  2. Polwattage Dinith Tharushika PereraMay 7, 2022 at 12:17 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Polwattage Dinith Tharushika PereraMay 7, 2022 at 12:20 AM

    Hi Mohamed, Agreed with your post. Through Learning and Development programs, there are opportunities to develop and acquire the new knowledge and skills of the employees, and through these improvements employee performance and job performance also can be enhanced (Bransford, Adams, and Perfetto, 1989).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mohamed ShamranMay 15, 2022 at 5:13 AM

      Thank you for the comment, Agreed and I have addressed this under the subtopic of Introduction in HRD.

      Delete

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