Stakeholders and the Learning Organization

Abstract

This chapter examines the relationship between stakeholder theory and research on the learning organization. It begins by describing the history of the stakeholder concept and some of the most important ideas and trends relating to stakeholder theory. Next, the authors discuss some apparent similarities in the principles underlying stakeholder theory and Senge’s (1990) articulation of the learning organization. They also examine the types of stakeholders that received the greatest attention by Senge (1990). The chapter continues with a review of the various ways that subsequent learning organization scholarship has approached stakeholders and stakeholder theory. The authors find that Senge’s The Fifth Discipline had a strong “anchoring” effect on subsequent learning organization research that has tended to direct attention to just a few major stakeholder theory topics and types of stakeholders. The concluding section offers recommendations on how principles relating to stakeholder theory and the learning organization can be further combined in the future.