1. Chapter 13 Organizing for Learning

2. Scope of Chapter 13 Strategic importance of organizational learning
Nature of organizational learning
Requirements for organizational learning
Learning through alliances
Implications for practice 1

3. Strategic Importance of Organizational Learning
Firms that can apply superior knowledge can adapt better to changing conditions and take advantage of emerging opportunities
Organizational learning refers to the capacity to acquire, develop and apply new knowledge, for example
to innovate new products and services
to evolve superior operating methods

4. Significance of Organizational Learning
Survival
To survive, an organization’s rate of learning
must be equal to or greater than the rate of
change in its environment and its competitors.
Intellectual Assets
Intangible, knowledge assets are becoming more
important
Rising market-to-book values of firms: S&P 500 firms rose 6 times
Last not least, an organisation’s intellectual capital, its knowledge - is really the wellspring of innovation, the source of renewal: New products, better processes, more efficient structures. It all starts with knowledge.
It has been argued that today, knowledge is more important than capital, labour and land. 7

5. The Tip of the Iceberg Source of renewal Financial,
physical resources:
- visible
- always evaluated
Intellectual
capital and
knowledge:
- invisible
often not
evaluated
Source of renewal 8

6. The Nature of Organizational Learning

7. Defining learning
“Learning refers to both the process of acquiring new knowledge and the outcome.”
“The outcome of learning is the acquisition of a new competence: an ability to apply new knowledge to the better performance of an existing activity or task, or to prepare for new circumstances.”
(Child & Heavens 2001)
These definitions begin with a simple truth: New ideas are essential for learning to take place. But new ideas themselves cannot create a learning organisation - without accompanying behavioural changes. By themselves, new ideas and new knowledge only provide the potential for improvement.
According to Garvin, this is a very stringent test: Many consultancies or universities will not pass it. While they amass vast amounts of information, they are much less successful in applying that knowledge to their own activities.
Implies both cognitive & behavioural changes - if not, “blocked” learning occurs.
Also note that these definitions may be deemed slightly “mechanical” reflecting, perhaps, their underlying schools of thought. Peter Senge, for example, would propose a different definition of learning organisations:
“ a place where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together.”
Schools of thought: contingency theory, psychology, information theory, system dynamics. In general, they complement each other. 2

8. Defining Organizational Learning and a Learning Organization
Organizational Learning refers to the enhancement, through its own efforts, of the knowledge available to an organization and its ability to apply that knowledge
A Learning Organization is one that is skilled at acquiring knowledge, through creating or importing it, and at modifying its behaviour to reflect new knowledge and insights

9. The Organizational Learning Cycle: from Data to Wisdom
Information
Knowledge
Data
Wisdom

11. Tacit and Explicit Knowledge
Tacit Knowledge
Personal, intuitive and context-specific knowledge.
Difficult to verbalize, formalize, and communicate to others
Explicit Knowledge
Specified and codified
Relatively esy to transmit in formal systematic language

12. 10

13. Organizational Learning Loops at Three Levels
[See Figure 13.1, Chapter 13]

14. Requirements for Organizational Learning
[See Figure 13.2, Chapter 13]

16. Requirements for Organizational Learning: Leadership
Required to break the mould of established thinking and practice
Essential for top management to express a clear intention that its organization shall learn
Role of breaking down embedded barriers to learning: ‘frame-breaking’
Role in establishing an organizational culture that supports learning

17. Requirements for Organizational Learning: Organizing for Learning
Three key channels of communication [See Figure 13.3, Chapter 13]
‘Controlled autonomy’
Control directed at monitoring learning achievement and supporting learning through allocation of resources
‘Interactive control’: control combined with a dialogue to encourage learning
Integration across internal boundaries, including use of teams [See also Chapter 4]
Selecting the task given to the team
Ensuring sufficient diversity of knowledge and skills within the team
Managing team integration
Managing external boundaries

18. Requirements for Organizational Learning: Capacity to Learn
Transferability of knowledge into the organization
Receptivity to new knowledge
Competence – ability to assess, assimilate and apply new knowledge
Previous experience – of successful learning and/or of learning through collaboration

19. Requirements for Organizational Learning: Conversion of Knowledge into an Organizational Property
Four modes of knowledge conversion need to take place:
Socialization
Externalization
Combination
Internalization
Source: Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995

20. Learning in and through Alliances
Three processes:
transfer of knowledge by the partners to the alliance and to each other via the alliance
creation of new knowledge by the alliance unit
the harvesting of alliance-generated knowledge by the partner(s)
Intent is defined as an organisation’s aspiration to its goals - as expressed in its strategy. So what I mean by this, is the total long term strategic intention.
But again, in both cases, irrespective of the strategic intent, partners’ can learn in two ways: (1) From the skills, (2) from the process of managing. 18

21. Types of Learning in Alliances
Depends on Partners’ “Strategic Intent”
COLLABORATIVE
Long-term co-existence feasible & desirable
Aim is sustainability of the venture
Win-win situation
COMPETITIVE
Intended asymmetry in knowledge gains
Race between partners: “Who learns first”
Tendency towards instability
Intent is defined as an organisation’s aspiration to its goals - as expressed in its strategy. So what I mean by this, is the total long term strategic intention.
But again, in both cases, irrespective of the strategic intent, partners’ can learn in two ways: (1) From the skills, (2) from the process of managing. 19

22. Barriers to Learning in Alliances
Cognitive:
e.g. strategic priorities do not include learning from partner
Emotional:
e.g. mistrust between partners and their personnel
Organizational:
e.g.control and reward systems not focused on learning; poor communication and knowledge management systems
Inadequate competencies:
e.g. best staff not sent to alliance; lack of training
Definition of control
A purposeful and goal oriented activity that influences the acquisition, interpretation and dissemination of information within an organisation.
- It is a precondition for securing managerial consent/resource allocation into learning
- It is a crucial factor for evaluating the learning, correcting the process if deficiencies are apparent
- Controls must be tailored to the particular learning objective (systemic, high order learning - socialisation vs. technical, low-order, discrete learning - standardised procedures & rules may be sufficient). 21

23. Overcoming the Barriers to Learning: in Alliances and other Organizations
Surmount cognitive & emotional barriers
Generate positive intent, commitment & trust
Reduce organizational barriers
Leadership to provide & promote a clear vision
Control to establish limits & to assess outcomes
Promote open communication to facilitate knowledge migration
Personal facilitation by “knowledge activists”
Use modern ICT
Value of information redundancy 22

24. Implications for Practice
To be successful, organizational learning has to be actively managed:
Top management must recognize the significance of OL
Role of learning project coordinators and team leaders needs to be understood
A balance has to be acheived between the pace of learning and the capacity of an organization to cope with change