Fighting for victory on the learning battlefield

Abstract

PurposeWhile intended as a bridge between the concepts of learning organization and organizational learning, current conceptualizations of organizational learning capability still predominantly lean toward the learning organization side, specifically directed at profit firms. The purpose of this paper is to propose a four-dimensional model of organization learning capability that leans more toward the organizational learning side, specifically directed at non-profit and government organizations in general, and army organizations in particular. This model is applied to the British Army in the Second World War.Design/methodology/approachThe paper entails a secondary analysis of historical and military sources and data.FindingsThis paper proposes a four-dimensional model of organization learning capability that leans more toward the organizational learning side, specifically directed at non-profit and government organizations in general, and army organizations in particular. The study found that the British Army possessed only a moderate learning capability, which can be plausibly, but not exclusively, related to differences in battlefield performance between the British and the German Army in the Second World War.Originality/valueThe paper ranks among the first organizational papers to analyze army operations and functioning from the perspective of organizational learning capability.