Organizational Learning Mechanisms Research Articles

The Meaning and Measure of Organizational Learning Mechanisms in Secondary Schools

Purpose: Organizational learning has been conceptualized as a critical component for school effectiveness. This study explored organizational learning in schools through the conceptual framework of “organizational learning mechanisms” (OLMs) and developed a measure of OLMs at the secondary school level. Research Design: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of items were conducted to examine factorial validity. To test the criterion-related validity, the OLM questionnaire was correlated to other constructs—teachers’ sense of collective efficacy and teachers’ organizational commitment, both of which have been used as independent variables to predict school productivity. Findings: A four-factor model of OLMs in secondary schools was the best fit between the empirical results and the conceptual formulation. The four-factor model included the following factors: disseminating, storing, and retrieving information; distributing information among students and parents; analyzing and interpreting information; and usage of online information. Implications: The present study encourages researchers to explore whether OLMs can serve as a mediating variable between the system level and the classroom level. Using this questionnaire, secondary schools can assess their own learning cycle, analyzing their practices of information processing.

The role of professional communities in governing patient safety

Using the example of medication safety, this paper aims to explore the impact of three managerial interventions (adverse incident reporting, ward-level support by pharmacists, and a medication safety subcommittee) on different professional communities situated in the English National Health Service (NHS). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with clinical and managerial staff from two English NHS acute trusts, supplemented with meeting observations and documentary analysis. Attitudes toward managerial intervention differ by professional community (between doctors, nurses and pharmacists) according to their existing norms of safety and perceptions of formal governance processes. The heterogeneity of social norms across different professional communities and medical specialties has implications for the design of organisational learning mechanisms in the field of patient safety. The paper shows that theorisation of professional "resistance" to managerialism privileges the study of doctors' reactions to management with the consequent neglect of the perceptions of other professional communities.

From illusion to reality: schools as learning organizations

PurposeThe notion of organizational learning remains murky and difficult to comprehend, and it is rarely translated into sustained operational structures and processes in school reality. The purpose of this article is to lay out the mystifying concept of organizational learning and, then, to suggest an alternative framework for schools’ development as learning organizations.Design/methodology/approachAfter discussing the profound confusion about what organizational learning is and its feasibility, the article presents the notion of organizational learning mechanisms as a possible framework for analyzing schools as learning organizations.FindingsThe article presents limitations, implications, and avenues for future research regarding organizational learning mechanisms.Originality/valueThe framework of organizational learning mechanisms may help schools develop processes, strategies, and structures that would enable them to learn and react effectively in uncertain and dynamic environments.

Organizational Configurations and Project Capability Development: Lessons from Construction

Project capabilities have been described in the literature as the appropriate knowledge, experience and skills to perform pre-bid, bid and project execution activities. Embedded within the organizational context of the project- based organization (PBO) that possesses them, their development often requires reconfiguring structures, redesigning processes and even renegotiating organizational norms. This paper explores the relationship between the organizational configurations PBOs adopt, and the effectiveness with which they develop their project capabilities. The paper is derived from a qualitative, comparative case study research, undertaken in the tradition of critical realism and within the context of construction. Two multinational engineering-procurement-construction organizations were examined through the analysis of documentary and semi-structured interview data. Their cross- case comparison and discussion of emerging findings in light of the extant literature suggest that the divisionalization inherent in multi-business-unit PBOs influences negatively their effectiveness in developing project capabilities. At the same time however, it emerged that: i) integrating organizational learning mechanisms with reporting routines, ii) the presence of a corporate-wide ‘techno-structure’ with executive authority and iii) standardized processes related to project selection, team formation and project execution, contribute to overcoming the barriers that divisionalization creates. Due to the nature of the organizations studied, the significance of this paper and its findings lie with the fact that they contribute both to our knowledge regarding the management of PBOs, as well as our knowledge regarding the management of multinational corporations (MNCs), widely examined within the field of mainstream strategic management.

A Decade of Learning about Publics, Participation, and Climate Change: Institutionalising Reflexivity?

Building on previous studies of participatory learning amongst individuals within discrete participation processes, the authors examine organisationally situated processes of learning related to public participation in science and environmental governance. Qualitative analysis of documents and semistructured interviews is used to explore frames of participation, publics, and the issue of climate change, both transforming and stable. This illuminates trends of learning in the context of the organisational network around the UK Government-funded body Sciencewise and related organisations, from 2000 to 2010. It is argued that formal organisational learning mechanisms foster instrumental learning, precluding reflective and relational learning which could potentially transform organisational assumptions and routines around participation. However, informal social networks have promoted transformative social learning and reflexivity at particular moments during the decade.

Learning Mechanisms and Creative Climate

A creative climate is the key to the long term success and survival of organizations in many industries. A number of different interventions for organizational development and change attempt to design and enhance an organizational creative climate. Our understanding of some of the organizational mechanisms that can create and enhance such a climate is limited. This paper reports on an organizational development effort, carried out as a collaborative management research project, to explore the most important types of organizational learning mechanisms and the possible relationship between them and a creative climate in an Italian fashion design company. The study analyses four different types of learning mechanisms, and confirms the impact of two of them – structural and procedural – on the creative climate within an organization. The implications for organization development research and practice are then discussed

The role of knowledge and learning in the internationalisation of professional service firms

This paper explores the role of knowledge and learning in the internationalisation process of a small, professional service firm. It investigates the relationship between key dimensions of knowledge, organisational learning, and knowledge leverage mechanisms and internationalisation. Our findings reveal internationalisation appears most influenced by internal, tacit knowledge. The firm's ability to learn via depth and diversity of employee's experience is moderated by the efficiency of the mechanisms that enable application of knowledge to further internationalisation. This is an interactive, iterative process that builds organisational wisdom.

Incentive Life-cycles

In this paper, we study the individual and organizational learning mechanisms leading to the evolution of the division of value between economic actors under a given contractual arrangement. Focusing on the division of value between a firm and its employees, we theorize that following a change in the organizational incentive structure, employees learn, over time and with experience, how to be more productive under the implied objectives of the incentive regime, as well as how to game or exploit it. Results, based on outlet-level data from a Polish commercial bank over a 13-month period, show that the bank outlets’ value creation (sales revenue from primary loans) and value appropriation (the sum of outlet employees’ monthly bonus) both increased, at a decreasing rate, over time as outlet employees gained experience under the new incentive regime. In parallel, the bank’s share (the percentage of value created by outlets retained by the bank) increased at first, then, after reaching a plateau, decreased continuously, indicating that the ability of the incentive regime to induce the intended results evolved, giving rise to an incentive life-cycle. In exploring the underlying micromechanisms, we found strong quantitative and qualitative evidence for the presence and relative paces of productive and adverse learning in bank outlets, as well as for the role of prior experience. This is the first empirical study to show that individual and organizational learning processes can influence the evolution of the division of value between economic actors.

Problem absorption as an organizational learning mechanism in project-based companies: process thinking perspective

Abstract In organizations existing rules and norms are usually used as the basis for solving new problems even when this means stretching those rules. Such absorption of new problems by rules reduces the need to explore and develop new solutions and to encode those solutions into new rules. Furthermore, one way that organizational learning can occur is through problem solving, i.e. learning takes place through identifying and resolving problems that occur in the execution of projects. Thus, finding a viable perspective and approach with which project-based companies can understand how their organizational learning through problem solving activities take place in the course of time is a very important issue. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to explore the potential of process thinking to open up new ways to understand organizational learning – particularly through problem absorption within problem solving – in project-based companies. All in all, with the help of this paper we have sought to offer a brief illustration of how process thinking may help to understand this issue.

Effects of Organizational Learning Mechanisms on Organizational Performance and Shared Mental Models during Planned Change

The study investigated the interrelations among use of organizational learning mechanisms, organizational mental models, and organizational outcomes. It was conducted in a bank, 10 of whose branches were soon to undergo organizational change designed to improve customer service and another 10 were to undergo the same organizational change a few months later. The results demonstrated that customer satisfaction was greater for branches that used organizational learning mechanisms intensively than for branches that used these mechanisms less intensively. The learning branches also showed richer shared knowledge (more constructs and causal links within their cognitive cause maps) and more congruent mental models (cause maps). Furthermore, the content of the learning branches' shared knowledge reflected more closely the messages delivered by organizational management in favor of the structural change. The hypothesis that the use of organizational learning mechanisms moderates the success of an organizational change program was supported by the cause maps data but only partially supported by the customer satisfaction data. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Developing a Visceral Market Learning Capability for New Product Development

As customer needs become more sophisticated, often requiring new elements of psychological satisfaction, this poses the question of how innovation practices can be developed from the rational and mechanistic to take more account of the psychological, social and cultural needs of customers that are captured within successful products. This paper discusses the concept of visceralisation - the ‘gut feel’ and instinct associated with the tacit dimensions of managerial intuition - and develops a model of a visceral market learning capability. This concept draws on related ideas of design thinking and design attitude to improve innovation outcomes. While visceralisation has been discussed from both the consumer and research perspective, little progress has been made in applying the concept for market research and new product innovation purposes. The research methodology utilises an interactive, collaborative approach involving practitioners to assist in the development of the model and an understanding of the visceralisation process. This is further informed by two case studies that support this emerging concept. This paper helps to characterise the concept of visceralisation, and the market and organisational learning mechanisms needed to develop visceral insight, and provides suggestions for market researchers and managers involved in new product development. While further development is required, the paper provides a framework, process and guidelines for the application of this technique in different contexts.

Principals' sense of uncertainty and organizational learning mechanisms

PurposeThe purpose of the present study is to examine the effect of principals' sense of uncertainty on organizational learning mechanisms (OLMs) in schools.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 130 school principals (90 women and 40 men) from both Tel‐Aviv and Central districts in Israel. After computing the correlation between perceived uncertainty and OLMs, hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the effect of principals' sense of uncertainty and the demographic variables on the OLMs' components.FindingsThe results of this study reveal a negative relationship between principals' sense of uncertainty and the extensiveness of OLMs in schools. Hierarchical regression analyses reveal that OLMs are predicted significantly and negatively by the complexity dimension of perceived uncertainty and predicted significantly and positively by seniority in teaching (length of service).Research limitations/implicationsThe findings call for ongoing research on the connection between environmental uncertainty, faculty learning processes, and student outcomes.Originality/valueContrary to the findings of various studies on business management, the paper shows that the complexity dimension of principals' perceived uncertainty, rather than the changeability dimension, predicted the extensiveness of organizational learning mechanisms in schools.

From crisis to success: three case studies in organizational learning

PurposeRadical changes and increasing competition in the global economy and markets lead enterprises to change their business policy and activities. This process demands the creation of effective organizational learning mechanisms. This paper seeks to illustrate how three service organizations designed and utilized organizational learning mechanisms to introduce a successful, new corporate brand.Design/methodology/approachThe research methodology was based on interviews and hard data collection. These techniques were found most appropriate for learning and understanding in‐depth organizational transformation processes.FindingsTwo main research findings can be noted. The first is that there are various mechanisms of learning organizations that can improve organizational performance and reputation. The second is that any organizational learning mechanism should be based on the on‐going active involvement of internal stakeholders (employees) both as individuals and as teams.Originality/valueThis paper provides a unique understanding of three dimensions of organizational learning (cognitive, structural and procedural) and their impact on designing a new corporate brand strategy. The research, conducted in three different service organizations, gives new significance to the notion of collaboration

Problem absorption as an organizational learning mechanism in project-based companies: Process thinking perspective

In organizations existing rules and norms are usually used as the basis for solving new problems even when this means stretching those rules. Such absorption of new problems by rules reduces the need to explore and develop new solutions and to encode those solutions into new rules. Furthermore, one way that organizational learning can occur is through problem solving, i.e. learning takes place through identifying and resolving problems that occur in the execution of projects. Thus, finding a viable perspective and approach with which project-based companies can understand how their organizational learning through problem solving activities take place in the course of time is a very important issue. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to explore the potential of process thinking to open up new ways to understand organizational learning – particularly through problem absorption within problem solving – in project-based companies. All in all, with the help of this paper we have sought to offer a brief illustration of how process thinking may help to understand this issue.

Toward an Organizational Model of Change in Elementary Schools

Purpose: This study explored a theoretical model that links teachers’ perceived uncertainty and teachers’ sense of collective efficacy with organizational learning mechanisms (OLMs) in elementary schools. OLMs serve as a mediator construct. Research Design: For testing the primary theoretical model, 801 teachers from 61 elementary schools (33 urban and 28 suburban) in Israel’s largest district responded to the research instruments. The authors used structural equation modeling to determine whether OLMs mediate between teachers’ perceived uncertainty and their sense of collective efficacy. Findings: A significant model, which included direct and indirect effects of teachers’ perceived uncertainty on teachers’ sense of collective efficacy, emerged for the urban school context. Although OLMs (storing, retrieving, and putting to use of information) served as a prominent mediating variable in the urban school context, OLMs did not play a mediating role in the research model for the suburban school context. Conclusions: This study strengthens the feasibility of the OLMs framework, based on information processing, to provide a concrete description of organizational learning processes in schools. The study provides a deeper understanding of how OLMs can serve as a significant link between the dynamic school environment and teachers’ attitudes, which may ultimately improve teachers’ work and students’ learning.

Safety management by walking around (SMBWA): A safety intervention program based on both peer and manager participation

“Management by walking around” (MBWA) is a practice that has aroused much interest in management science and practice. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate adaptation of this practice to safety management. We describe a three-year long case study that collected empirical data in which a modified MBWA was practiced in order to improve safety in a semiconductor fabrication facility. The main modification involved integrating an information system with the MBWA in order to create a practice that would generate safety leadership development and an organizational safety learning mechanism, while promoting employee safety participation. The results of the case study demonstrate that the SMBWA practice facilitated thousands of tours in which safety leadership behaviors were practiced by managers and by employees (employees performed five times as many tours as managers). The information system collected information about safety behaviors and safety conditions that could not otherwise be obtained. Thus, this study presents a new organizational safety practice SMBWA, and demonstrates the ways in which SMBWA may improve safety in organizations.

Examination of Organizational Learning Mechanisms for Successful Implementation of Quality Programs

Examination of Organizational Learning Mechanisms for Successful Implementation of Quality Programs

Strategic repositioning in a dynamic environment

PurposeThe main purpose of this paper is to discuss the strategic repositioning of an academic library using the dynamic capability framework.Design/methodology/approachThe discussion is based on the re‐organizational process of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library. Three stages are focused, illustrating how the library managed to be dynamically capable, including: sensing the environmental impacts; realigning and reconfiguring its resources; and implementing effective strategies to respond to these challenges.FindingsThe library adopted a multitude of channels and media in sensing environmental challenges. By going through a strategic reorganization, the library has realigned and redeployed its staff resources to better prepare for incoming changes. The reformed organization moved ahead with renewed culture and values, including better internal communication, team spirit, collective learning mechanisms, and effective user communication.Research limitations/implicationsReorganization is complex and can be highly stressful. Participative culture and effective communication seem to be successful mechanisms.Practical implicationsCross‐training on work procedures and routines in other units provided organizational learning mechanisms. This collective learning broadened staff's work knowledge, enlightened their understanding of complex processes, fostered good team spirit, and improved overall effectiveness, as more staff become aware of the overall performance implications of their actions.Originality/valueThe paper shares various reorganization concerns and how they were handled. The benefits of a large‐scale cross‐training program are outlined.

Fighting for Knowledge: Developing Learning Systems in the Australian Army

This article reports on an investigation that contributes to the understanding of social and organizational learning in the military. Data were collected through a series of focus groups with over 150 Army personnel in the Australian Army. Analysis revealed that perceived learning opportunities were shaped, enabled, and constrained by a variety of social, cultural, structural, and process-related imperatives. This was manifested through two learning systems: (1) a formal learning system directly managed by the organization and (2) an informal system that was fostered through strong social networks and driven by the organizational culture. From this investigation, we posit a social theory of learning, which encompasses sharing knowledge and experience through social interaction. This article concludes by arguing that the learning systems approach taken in this article is a useful and practical method of evaluating the organizational learning mechanisms in a military organization.

Organizational learning and performance: Relationship between the dynamic and the operational capabilities of the firm

This paper analyzes the relationship between organizational learning mechanisms, normally regarded as dynamic capabilities, and the operational flexibility of the firm, considered as an operational capability, within the context of the measurement of firm performance. Organizational learning is a dynamic process which enables the firm to adapt to changing environments, so making it easier for it to change established behaviour patterns and routines. This dynamic capability is therefore directly related to organizational routines and the operational processes that underlie these routines, and the objective of this study is to analyze this relationship and its effect on firm performance. To this end, we carried out an empirical study to test the relationships proposed in our model. Our most important findings were firstly that there is a link between the dynamic and the operational capabilities of the firm, and secondly that the development of dynamic capabilities will result in improved firm performance.