Context Of Organizational Learning Research Articles

Neuroscience and Organizational Trust: Biological Mechanisms for Enhanced Learning

Individual representations of trust are deeply rooted in individual consciousness and serve as significant cognitive constraints, influenced by neural processes and psychiatric factors. This paper aims to highlight the often overlooked or under-operationalized role of human trust's biological agency within the context of organizational learning. From a psychiatric and neuroscience perspective, the paper proposes that through intentional management practices, the biological agency of trust, mediated by neural mechanisms, can act as a proxy for organizational learning. It suggests that adopting a more scientific approach to management, informed by an understanding of neural and psychiatric underpinnings, can enhance employee trust from a biological standpoint, thereby optimizing human potential. This paper contributes to the literature by exploring the rarely examined intersection of human biology, neuroscience, and organizational learning, offering new insights into their combined impact.

Re-conceptualizing absorptive capacity: The importance of teams as a meso-level context

Absorptive capacity has received considerable scholarly attention due to its ability to explain heterogeneous degrees of learning from complex and dynamic knowledge environments. Extant absorptive capacity frameworks and models unmistakably take firms as the focal unit and level of analysis. Mounting empirical evidence, in contrast, shows the growing importance of teams in acquiring and utilizing external knowledge. Teams are not just scale models of firms; they have unique attributes and function as an active context of organizational learning. However, previous research does not consider such idiosyncrasies when conceptualizing absorptive capacity. We focus on absorptive capacity within the meso-level context of teams and problematize several entrenched assumptions behind existing models. We then propose a re-conceptualization of absorptive capacity with four new dimensions that collectively address these assumptions and pay systematic attention to the distinctive characteristics of teams as active learning contexts.

Stilovi rukovođenja, organizaciono učenje i organizaciona konkurentnost - dokazi iz Republike Severne Makedonije

This study, in the Republic of North Macedonia (NM), identifies the differences between the Leadership Styles (LS) in the given context of Organizational Learning (OL), Situational Leadership (SL), and Organizational Competitiveness (OC). In addition, the study identifies specific factors which make up these constructs. The research was conducted across several industries, organizational hierarchical levels, and various work experiences. A pre-test survey was conducted on a small scale of respondents (n=79) for Organizational learning questionnaire, while the final questionnaire was administered on a larger scale (n=273), both using the convenient sampling. Results prove that there are no statistically significant differences between LS in OC, nor in the OL, while statistically significant differences existed in SL. This study also explored the existing multiple factors in LS, OL, and OC. These findings shed light on possible future research which can integrate these results and dive into further exploratory studies that can dwell into more comprehensive understanding which in effect can increase managerial implications for companies and researchers alike.

A systematic review of gamification in organizational learning

PurposeGamification appears to be one of the most important levers for improving performance and engagement in training programs. Moreover, gamification has been considered as critical to researchers in organizational learning. The main purpose of this study is to provide a general overview of gamification studies in the organizational context.Design/methodology/approachThis systematic literature review has been synthesized by reviewing the majority of literature reviews as well as carefully selected primary research studies published between 2010 and 2020.FindingsThe result of the study revealed that gamification has become a popular technique to improve employee and organizational capabilities. The features of the gamification have been reviewed from three mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics perspectives. Additionally, three primary, middle and optimal affordances and core functions of gamification in organizational learning have been identified and examined.Originality/valueThis paper fills a gap in the literature regarding the gamification field for systematic review results in an organizational learning context.

Organizational learning through training effectiveness: evidence from the hospitality industry in Vietnam

PurposeTo understand the unique context forming organizational learning, the current study aims to investigate the antecedents of training and development (TD) practices as an indicator of effective organizational learning from the Vietnam hospitality sector, which has not been studied rigorously.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative data analysis, including a path analysis partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) based on a sample size of 354 responses and a semi-structured interview of 32 participants to test various paths predicting training effectiveness while exploring contextual differences in the Vietnam hospitality sector.FindingsThe results show that among the variables investigated, extrinsic motivation, team support and job quality were found to be significant to TD, while intrinsic motivation was found to have no significant predictive power. To explore the reasons behind these findings, the interviews indicate that the motivations of employees in the hospitality sector, most of whom are young and have a limited length of service, are highly rooted in the organization’s cultural context.Originality/valueThis study contributes to understanding the complex context of organizational learning through an investigation of an emerging economy from Southeast Asia by adding new insights into the training and motivational theories. It has practical implications for practitioners in the hospitality sector to develop more effective learning organizations during the uncertain period of this unprecedented pandemic.

Contexts of organizational learning in developing countries: the role of training programmes in Egyptian public banks

PurposeLittle research into organizational learning in the public sector in developing countries' is known. In this paper, the authors investigated the context of organizational learning in the public banks in Egypt.Design/methodology/approachAn ethnographic field research was employed by spending a month inside each of two public banks in Egypt. The ethnographic experience was operationalised by using direct observations of learning processes, procedures and practices, semi-structured interviews with learning specialists and focus group discussions with bankers. The authors used thematic analysis to determine the main themes in the previous data collection methods of ethnographic approach.FindingsThe findings confirmed a lack of clear focus for the organizational learning practices employed by the banks, which highlights issues of seriousness in undertaking and/or tackling organizational learning, and increased doubts in relation to the added value of the different forms of formal trainings bankers participate in. To enhance the culture and maintain effective functioning of formal organizational learning, the authors suggest considering the following three categories of barriers: purpose-related barriers, implementation and evaluation barriers.Originality/valueDespite the generalisability caveats associated with the organizations studied, the authors believe that this paper contributes to the existing theory of organizational learning as it provides insights and understanding on the purpose, frame, conduct and results of organizational learning in the public sector. More specifically, the study is unique and is different from previous relevant studies as it relies on ethnographical approach in exploring how organizational leaning practices are perceived in public banks in developing countries.

O desempenho organizacional de uma instituição de ensino superior: uma análise da capacidade absortiva potencial e da inovação

A Capacidade Absortiva Potencial e uma variavel nao observavel importante, tendo em vista que define a influencia das estruturas cognitivas em um contexto de aprendizagem organizacional. Como se trata de uma tematica de estudo muito recente, foi evidente a presenca de inumeras lacunas teoricas com relacao ao historico de publicacoes referentes a esse tema. Com isso, a presente pesquisa teve como objetivo geral analisar o impacto da Capacidade Absortiva Potencial Percebida na Inovacao Percebida e no Desempenho Organizacional Percebido, tendo como foco de analise as percepcoes dos alunos de Administracao acerca da universidade. Para tal, realizou-se uma pesquisa com 150 respondentes mediante uma analise quantitativa utilizando a tecnica multivariada de Modelagem de Equacoes Estruturais em sua abordagem exploratoria (PLS-SEM). Como principais achados da pesquisa, notou-se que a Capacidade Absortiva Potencial Percebida impacta positivamente a Inovacao Percebida e o Desempenho Organizacional Interno e Externo Percebidos. A Inovacao percebida mediou de forma parcial a relacao entre a Capacidade Absortiva Potencial Percebida e o Desempenho Organizacional Interno e Externo Percebidos. A sugestao de um framework com integracao dos construtos analisados, buscando a Inovacao Percebida como variavel mediadora da relacao entre a Capacidade Absortiva Potencial Percebida e o Desempenho Organizacional Percebido pode ser vista como uma contribuicao desse estudo, bem como a validacao de uma escala de medida de desempenho organizacional voltada para instituicoes de ensino superior. Palavras-chave: Capacidade Absortiva Potencial, inovacao, desempenho organizacional, graduandos, percepcao.

Validation of a short form of the Inventory of Organizational Learning Facilitators

Purpose This paper aims to develop a short form of the Inventory of Organizational Learning Facilitators (IOLF) by using the same factors as the long form to test the equivalence between two language versions (English and French) and to explore executives’ attitudes toward organizational learning (OL). Design/methodology/approach The structure of the long-form IOLF is based on five factors found in previous work: knowledge acquisition and transformation; OL culture; learning-focused leadership; OL support; and strategic management of new knowledge and learning. Two surveys of Canadian Federal Government executives assessed their perception of OL facilitators, organizational commitment, cynicism and intention to leave the organization. Correlational pattern analysis, conducted after confirmatory factor analyses, assessed the equivalence of the two language versions. Findings The short-form IOLF replicated the factor structure of previous work and demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency. Correlations showed equivalence between and across languages. Significant correlations with outcome variables, albeit in a cross-sectional design, supported predictive validity. Research limitations/implications This conceptually valid instrument can be adapted to English- and French-speaking populations. It can test hypotheses about the relationship between OL facilitators and individual, collective and organizational outcomes. The findings stem from self-report data in a cross-sectional design and require further research. Practical implications The short-form IOLF can quickly identify areas for improvement and monitor the evolution of an organization’s learning abilities. Originality/value This quick, efficient tool assesses OL context and can indicate factors likely to influence OL. This study offers empirically driven insights into conditions that influence executives’ attitudes.

No Room for Mistakes: The Impact of the Social Unconscious on Organizational Learning in Kazakhstan

The aim of this paper is to add to existing work on the theme of power, emotion, and organizational learning. The study was undertaken in Kazakhstan, where tensions between old and new regimes provide an environment that is rich in emotion and power/politics; and offer an opportunity to study the interplay between emotion and power during individual and organizational attempts to learn. The social unconscious is used as a conceptual frame to identify underlying dynamics that impact on organizational learning. The empirical study illustrates a social fantasy concerning the fear of mistakes and its consequences. This fantasy is sustained through blaming and punishing the people who make mistakes, and through feelings of internalised embarrassment and guilt that are enacted through interpersonal relations of shaming and being ashamed. Our contribution to knowledge arises from employing a concept (social unconscious) that has not been used to study organizational learning within a social and organizational context for organizational learning (Kazakhstan) that has not yet been studied. The practical purpose of this paper is to improve our knowledge of the social and political context of organizational learning in post-Soviet Kazakhstan through understanding unconscious dynamics that both inform and undermine attempts to learn.

Learning to lead: evaluating leadership and organizational learning

PurposeThis paper aims to evaluate leadership diffusion in a federal agency within the context of organizational learning and culture change.Design/methodology/approachUsing an innovative 360 degree survey assessment method, the impact of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Leadership Program (LP) was examined. A series of statistical tests was performed to analyze the role of familiarity and exposure in predicting leadership behavior and to compare the level of leadership behavior among co‐workers based on exposure to the LP.FindingsThe findings indicate that familiarity is a critical predictor of behavior change across all co‐worker subgroups. Increased exposure to the LP results in stronger, more consistent predictive models. Finally, co‐workers with higher exposure to the LP have increased levels of leadership behavior.Research limitations/implicationsThe results in the study suggest that, in order to promote leadership and organizational learning, familiarity with leadership skills is essential. Furthermore, the greater the familiarity with leadership through at‐work interaction, the more likely co‐workers are to learn and apply leadership techniques.Originality/valueThe study is especially unique and valuable due to the advanced 360 degree assessment which acts as a tool to measure the diffusion of leadership principles from LP participants to co‐workers, while also analyzing the role of participant interaction with co‐workers following their participation in a leadership class.

Placing organizational learning in the context of strategic management

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to place organizational learning within the context of strategic management and to explain why it is important that senior managers view training and staff development as being continuous. Practising managers will be able to appraise the way in which their organization undertakes training and staff development, and adapt the current level of thinking within the organization so that a more holistic approach to strategy formulation and implementation is adopted.Design/methodology/approachThe work is based on a review of the literature and a number of case examples are referred to. A conceptual model is outlined and highlights how the organizational learning concept links training and managerial development programs with the development of organizational culture.FindingsBy placing training and staff development within an organizational learning context, it is possible to utilize international project groups and to develop new management practices. Practising managers will be able to use the conceptual model to devise, plan and execute a number of change‐oriented strategies.Practical implicationsThe conceptual model can be used by human resource management specialists to devise continuing professional development programs that are tailored to individual requirements. The objective is to match the organization's requirements with the capability of the staff, and in so doing achieve internal fit.Originality/valueThe conceptual model outlines how organizational learning can be used to increase the organization's knowledge base and a link is made with the deployment of international project groups that can facilitate cross‐cultural decision‐making.

Learning in Small Manufacturing Firms

This article is concerned with investment decision-making processes in small manufacturing enterprises.The study, on which the article is based, used `insider accounts' as an innovative, qualitative methodology, involving in-depth, semi-structured interviews and direct observation, conducted longitudinally in eight case study companies. It is a research method which includes detailed accounts from the actors themselves, incorporating their actual motives and behaviour. Data from two case study firms is presented in the article to demonstrate different types of learning behaviour.The findings suggest that conceptualizing investment decision-making processes in small firms within the context of organizational learning holds promise as an explanatory framework for investment behaviour in small firms.

Reconceptualizing a dynamic model of organizational learning for schools

As a follow‐up to an earlier effort to distinguish schools by stages of development along the context of organizational learning (OL), this paper further targets the OL processes and outcomes to generate a more dynamic and functional framework for sustaining and refining the earlier version of the typology. It is hoped that through such a framework, the conditions that register the developmental characteristics of a school organization can be readily pinpointed. By comparison of schools in different conditions, factors that promote or retard school progress towards attaining the status of a learning organization can also be extracted for organizational restructuring.

Temporal Context of Organizational Learning in New Product Development Projects

Faced with the evolution of the competitive environment, firms have to find the delicate balance between two goals that are sometimes contradictory: accelerate the time spent on product development and leave time to the personnel implicated in these projects to develop collective learning.This research shows that the project ‘time’ has an important influence on the realization of collective learning during new product development projects. The commitment of the project team in activities like experimentation, detection and correction of errors, and research of new combinations which constitute organizational learning depends on the two conceptions of the project ‘time’.If the duration of the project and the time spent by the functional personnel on the project constitute the objective time of the project (first conception of time), the project ‘time’ is also a subjective time which corresponds to the project team’s shared vision of the project’s deadlines (second conception of time).

Organizational Learning and the Case for Knowledge‐Based Systems

AbstractThis chapter discusses organizational learning and the required reassessment and redesign of internal structures and procedures related to the flow of information throughout the organization. It provides a framework for the integration of institutional research within the larger context of organizational learning and the creation and maintenance of a research culture facilitated by knowledge management.

Effects of Organizational Learning and Information-Processing Behaviors on New Product Success

Individual learning constructs were formulated in an organizational learning context and empirically tested for relationships with new product success. Two constructs, information recording-retrieving and information reviewing, were found to be positively related to new product success. The relevance of these constructs to organizational learning theory are discussed, along with the implication that managers should carefully record and review past information to improve future new product success rates.

Evaluation of training in local government

Reports on a study of the evaluation strategies of trainers in London local government made in 1989‐91. The study was unusual in focusing on trainers as policy implementers in a context of organizational learning and bureaucratic behaviour. Trainers′ evaluation practice, their views on evaluation, their reasons for evaluating and their perceptions of the problems and advantages were elicited through survey and interview. The analysis of strategies of evaluation formed the basis for the construction of a typology of trainers. Most trainers undertook only minimal evaluation. The types were: uneasy ritualists, incrementalists, pilot strategists and innovators; but the most significant category of policy achiever was missing. Examines the implications of this typology for trainers, managers and staff, and for the implementation of policy. Finally, advocates the crucial attributes of the policy achiever model.

Technology Transfer between Industry and Higher Education

This article is concerned with a technology transfer system – the Teaching Company Scheme – which has been operating for some years in the UK. The Scheme is intended to foster a two-way flow of advanced technology between higher education and industry. The authors report on a number of case studies of Teaching Company Programmes and draw conclusions about the effectiveness of the Scheme. A complimentary article on the Teaching Company Scheme was published in the March issue of Industry and Higher Education, focusing on the Scheme in the context of organizational learning (Christine Tiler and Michael Gibbons, ‘A case study of organizational learning: The UK Teaching Company Scheme’, Industry and Higher Education, Vol 5, No 1, 1991, pp 47–55).