Role Of Organizational Learning Research Articles

The role of organisational learning in creating an agile workforce in Dubai

Today's business environment, particularly in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is better described as being volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. The present study adopts a qualitative multiple-case study design by interviewing seven HR managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across different industries in Dubai, namely, maintenance, digital services, security, retail, insurance, and technology. Workforce agility characteristics have been analysed against eight indicators conceptualised across the western context. This paper contributes to the current literature by testing organisational learning (OL) and understanding the concept of OL in particular in the UAE. Furthermore, organisational learning practices and their role in workforce agility development have been investigated. The study reveals a significant consistency between the western standards of agile attributes and those required among Dubai SMEs. Also, the findings show that SMEs in Dubai incorporate learning interventions without a targeted focus on agile attribute developments.

The role of organisational learning in creating an agile workforce in Dubai

The role of organisational learning in creating an agile workforce in Dubai

Knowing What We Know: Uncovering Tacit Knowledge for Improved Organizational Performance

Tacit knowledge has emerged as an important construct in the scholarly literature dealing with teamwork, knowledge management, and organizational learning. In this article, we review our evolvingunderstanding of tacit knowledge as well as its role in organizational learning, and we describe advances in the assessment of tacit knowledge. Based on this analysis, we seek to leverage and apply tacit knowledge to improve teamwork, coordination among organizational units, and organizational performance. We conclude with a brief case example showing how various research strategies can be integrated through effective knowledge management to provide an organization with elements of competitive advantage.

Organizational Learning: The Means of Organizational Excellence

Purpose: This paper attempts to highlight the significant role of Organizational Learning (OL) in improving Organizational Excellence (OE). OL is widely acknowledged as a critical factor for OE at the Telecommunications sector in Egypt. Research Design/Methodology: To assess positive OL (OL questionnaire American Society for Training and Development, 2002) and OE (OE survey Kandula, 2002; Hesseblin & Gohanston, 2002) are used. The data of the study was collected from 315 employees at the Telecommunications sector in Egypt. Out of the 290 questionnaires that were distributed to employees at the Telecommunications sector in Egypt, 260 usable questionnaires were returned, a response rate of 89%. Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA) was used to confirm the research hypotheses. Findings: There is a statistically significant relationship between the dimensions of OL (the dynamics of learning, conversion of the organization, employee empowerment, knowledge management, and the application of technology) and OE at the Telecommunications sector in Egypt. Practical implications: This research contributes to the need for organizations to practice OL in order to be able to meet contemporary intense competition, as this trend is to play an important role in enhancing OE. The study suggests that the Telecommunications sector in Egypt can increase OE by influencing its OL. The study provided that it is necessary to pay more attention to the dimensions of OL as a key source for organizations to enhance the competitive advantage which is of prime significance for OE. Originality/value: The study observes that there is a critical shortage in OL and that a greater understanding of the factors that influence the OE is of great importance. Therefore, this study is to examine the relationship between OL and OE. This research dealt with OL in terms of its concept and dimensions, in addition to dealing with the role of OL in promoting OE. Accordingly, the study provided a set of recommendations including the necessity to pay more attention to OL as a key source for OE at the Telecommunications sector in Egypt.

Role of organizational learning and knowledge management

AbstractThis research is based on Electrocell, a US battery manufacturing company, which was facing problems in its marketing and sales departments as evidenced by its low performance. Following a short introduction to the firm, literature reviews the two recently emerged and widely debated topics, that is, organizational learning and knowledge management. It is followed by the reasons for Electrocell’s declination and revival before and after acquisition by Restart, a US cosmetic manufacturing company. Then, Knowledge Sharing Model, General Hierarchical Model of Organizational Commitment, Knowledge Management, and Learning Organization Capacity, and Three Dimensional Model are described and critically analyzed. At the end, Knowledge Management System Conceptual Model is applied on the case study thoroughly and critically analyzed followed by summary. The research contributes to the literature and offers important implications for academics, managers and strategists that why learning is important and how does it matter to an organization.

A Meta-Analysis of Organizational Learning and IT Assimilation

Researchers often apply organizational learning concepts and theories to study what factors affect organizational IT assimilation. Although this body of work has substantially improved our understanding of the relationship between organizational learning and IT assimilation, to date there is no rigorous analysis of the empirical research that gives us an accurate assessment of what we truly know in this area. We meta-analyze 33 studies of organizational learning-based IT assimilation. While results show that an organization's level of related knowledge and knowledge diversity are both positively related to IT assimilation, moderator tests show that the consistency in these links varies depending upon the type of IT innovation studied and the way in which assimilation was conceptualized and measured. By narrowing the gap between what we know and what we need to know about the role of organizational learning during IT assimilation, this study contributes to our understanding of whether, when, and how organizations assimilate IT innovations.

The role of organizational learning in soft regulation of workplace gender equality

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explain progress, or the lack of it, in achieving workplace gender equality goals prescribed by affirmative action regulation by using concepts from soft regulation and organizational learning.Design/methodology/approachThe research design is a longitudinal study (2002-2012) of a critical case, that of a single large organization in the male-dominated steel manufacturing, distribution and mining industries. The case focusses on the evidence about organizational learning to be found in that organization’s reports to government on its activities to promote workplace gender equality.FindingsWhile other factors play a role, the apparent failure of the soft regulation to generate a significant shift in gender equality outcomes may also be attributed to ineffective organizational learning, demonstrated by the absence of systematic reflection within the organization on how to improve workplace gender equality, and the lack of firm targets and external benchmarking.Research limitations/implicationsSelf-reported data may be overstated or incomplete. More research is needed to confirm the nature of the specific learning processes occurring within organizations.Practical implicationsAbsent the advent of hard sanctions in workplace gender equality regulation, the responsible government agencies may find it valuable to focus on ways to encourage target organizations to develop competence in organizational learning.Social implicationsMore effective gender equality regulation may change organizational policy and practice and improve work opportunities for women.Originality/valueRather than concluding that the only alternative, when soft regulation is unsuccessful, is hard regulation, this paper shifts the focus to ways that soft regulatory processes might be improved to strengthen their effect.

Impact of top management leadership styles on ERP assimilation and the role of organizational learning

We developed a theoretical model of how leadership style and organizational learning culture impact ERP assimilation and tested this model with data collected from organizations that have used ERP systems for at least 1year. We found that the influence of transformational leadership on organizational learning was strong but mediated by the learning culture and that of transactional leadership on organizational learning was weak but direct. These results offer new perspectives on ERP assimilation theory and provide guidance for top management to exercise specific leadership behavior to achieve ERP assimilation and long-term ERP success.

Street-level bureaucrats as strategy shapers in social and health service delivery: Empirical evidence from six countries

In this research article, we discuss the social construction of public services within the conceptual and theoretical framework provided by Lipsky. We are interested in what it means if/when street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) have an active role in the construction of a service system. We argue that there are multiple realities in terms of the construction of public services and we approach the question by deploying Lipsky’s notion on SLBs by empirically analysing middle managers’ views on how SLBs act and their role in this construction process. This paper is based on empirical interviews (N=100) collated in 2012 from Barcelona, Den Bosch, Glasgow, Melbourne, Toronto, Vancouver, the Greater London area, and the US state of Vermont. The research collation strategy was to include reform-oriented cities and countries in terms of developing and delivering public services. We found that SLBs have three different kinds of strategies in the construction process: policy-making, working practices, and professionalism. We found that there are no conflicts arising from SLBs’ beliefs, organisational demands, and rules and regulations. Instead, SLBs try to solve conflicts or bridge gaps between policy-making and practical work in the boundaries between SLBs and service users. Based on this research, the role of SLBs and the built-in flexibility and agility of public service leadership and organisations must be addressed and developed further. The role of organisational learning and changing organisational cultures must also be scrutinized in the context of public service systems. The analysis of professional resilience in the context of public services planning needs more theoretical and empirical attention. The resilience of organisations and the capacities of SLBs need to be researched more. Finally, there is the need for better cultivation of the role of the SLBs and service users with regard to accountability aspects (horizontal and vertical).

Impact of Emotional Intelligence and Knowledge Management on Organizational Performance: Mediating Role of Organizational Learning

Due to globalization and uncertainty in business environment, organizations need to adapt and update their knowledge to remain competitive and innovative and to enhance their productive level. Moreover, Emotional intelligence is vital and accountable factor that determine the victory in life. Such factor plays a significant part in workplace by influencing the collaboration between managers and employees. However, present study is undertaken to scrutinize the influence emotional intelligence, knowledge management on the performance level of organization with mediating role of organizational learning. Current study is descriptive and cross-sectional. Sample size is 150 and simple random sampling method is used. Questionnaire survey method has used. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) used to support and prove the hypothesis statistically. Results of study enlightened that there is significant positive relationship between emotional intelligence, and organizational performance. Moreover, knowledge management also significantly associated with organizational performance. Furthermore, findings revealed that organizational learning significantly and partially mediates the relationship between emotional intelligence and performance as well as knowledge management and organizational performance. Therefore, Emotional Intelligence and Knowledge are important inputs and organizational learning is the key practice, which enhances the performance and output of any organization.

How organizational learning is associated with patient rights: a qualitative content analysis

BackgroundNowadays, patient rights, particularly receiving favorable health care based on modern knowledge, informed consent, and privacy, are important issues in health care delivery systems. Organizational learning is considered an important factor influencing health care quality and patient rights. However, there is little evidence regarding this issue.ObjectiveThe present study was conducted to explore the role of organizational learning in patient rights from clinical nurses’ viewpoint.DesignThis qualitative study was conducted through conventional content analysis. In total, 18 nurses who met the inclusion criteria participated in this study through purposive sampling with maximum variation. Data were gathered through 20 in-depth, semi-structured interviews, which continued until data saturation was achieved. Data collection also included constant and simultaneous comparative analyses.ResultsData analysis led to four major themes: conservation of patient safety, providing favorable care, being the patient's advocate, and informing the patients. All the participants believed that organizational learning could play a vital role in respecting patient rights and interests.ConclusionsParticipants believed that their efforts to conduct organizational learning, tried to improve respecting the patient rights via conservation of patient safety, trying to improve quality of care, being an advocate, and informing the patient. It would be appreciable if nursing managers honored the commitment of the nurses for learning, highlight their role as defenders of patient rights, and encourage them to initiate organizational learning.

The Effect of Perceived High-performance Human Resource Practices on Business Performance: Role of Organizational Learning

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the effect of perceived high-performance human resource (HR) practices, that is, extensive training, performance management, performance appraisal, performance-based compensation, empowerment and competency development, on business performance of employees in telecommunication sector. Further, the role of the organizational learning as a mediator between high-performance HR practices and business performance has also been explored. Census method has been used for data collection from employees working in telecommunication sector in Jammu and Kashmir (North India). Reliability and validity have been proved with the help of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Structural equation modelling (SEM) has been used for hypotheses testing. Results indicate that high-performance HR practices positively affect business performance. Further, organizational learning act as a mediating variable between high-performance HR practices and business performance. The managerial implications have also been discussed.

The Role of Organizational Learning on ISO 14000 EMS Implementation and Corporate Sustainability

Public concerns for environmental issues has led increasing number of organizations to adopt and implement environmental management system. However, little attention has been devoted particularly among manufacturing industries in Malaysia. The existence of relevant organizational learning, will reduce the cost of ISO 14000 adoption and implementation and facilitate the successful implementation. This study highlights the impact of effective implementation of ISO 14000 EMS by proposing a theoretical model to explore the effect of organizational learning on effective implementation towards corporate sustainability. This study is expected to benefit Malaysian Manufacturing industries by establishing the influence of organizational learning on implementation leading to sustainability.

One Style does not fit all! Examining Strategic Leadership Behaviors for Innovation across Cultures

Understanding how firms can foster innovation has attracted considerable interest among researchers. Although extensive research has emphasized that strategic leadership behaviors are crucial for innovation, empirical studies have generated inconclusive results and the mechanisms through which leaders influence innovation remain unclear. Building on upper echelon theory and by integrating insights from cross-cultural research, we examine the moderating role of national cultural on the relationship between different leadership styles and innovation. Moreover, by incorporating findings from the knowledge-based view, we examine the mediating role of organizational learning on the strategic leadership-innovation links. Using meta-analysis combined with regression analysis and structural equation modeling, we integrate results from 135 studies, covering over 20 years of research and 32 countries. Our findings reveal that transformational leadership is more effective in low uncertainty and low power distance cu...

MODELLING THE TRILOGY OF INNOVATION, LEARNING AND PERFORMANCE

Recently, organizations are looking the ways to enhance their performance through innovation and learning. Most organizations are enhancing innovation to increase performance and to get a competitive advantage. However, very few studies are focused to investigate the role of organizational learning in the context of organizational innovation and performance. Current study aimed to investigate the mediating role of organizational learning between the relationship of the organizational innovation and performance. A random sample of 212 employees of the banking sector was selected to collect data. Results indicated that organizational learning significantly mediates the relationship of the organizational innovation and performance. Thus, a study was conducted to assess the presence of organizational learning can enhance the organizational performance in the presence of organizational innovation.

Enacting international opportunities: The role of organizational learning in knowledge-intensive business services

This paper examines how organizational learning processes affect the enactment of international opportunities. Building on the internationalization process theory, we explore the relationship between learning and international resource commitment decision. Based on in-depth interviews with owner-managers of small knowledge-intensive business services firms, results show that (1) knowledge acquisition for international opportunity enactment comes from various sources and means; (2) knowledge institutionalization can follow four different paths, but sometimes lapses; (3) learning outcomes are not always positive; and (4) as firms grow, knowledge management and diffusion processes increase in complexity. Managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.

The role of organizational learning in stakeholder marketing

As the roles of customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, regulators, and communities become more significant in today’s business environment, a precise understanding of the organization’s internal drivers in delivering value to its stakeholders is critical. To this end, this study integrates stakeholder theory and the organizational learning literature to propose that stakeholder-focused organizational learning drives organizations to respond to their stakeholders. Using a sample of 349 organizations, we introduce three stakeholder-focused knowledge acquisition mechanisms (experiential, vicarious, and contact) and, along with the other organizational learning processes (information distribution, information interpretation, and organizational memory), examine their influence on the behavioral actions of stakeholder-focused responsiveness, innovation, and imitation. Subsequently, we assess the impact of these behavioral actions on organizational performance. Overall, the results show that stakeholder-focused organizational learning is positively associated with responsiveness. More uniquely, the propensity to employ innovative or imitative stakeholder practices is found to be influenced by the way the organization acquires information about stakeholders. Lastly, the findings suggest that simply responding to stakeholders does not guarantee superior performance, but the manner in which the organization responds matters just as much.

Organizational Learning: A Case Study of an International Non-profit Organization

From the late 1990’s onwards, the concepts and domains of organizational learning (OL) within an organizational setting and management practice have become the most debated topics among both management researchers and practitioners. At the same time, non-profit organizations endure a rapid organizational growth and re-structuring which provoke significant organizational changes in return, making the way how they learn and what they do with gained knowledge crucial for their development. However, up until now, OL remains a research area where theoretical and operational definitions fluctuate, and it is, generally, insufficiently empirically explored by both private and non-profit sectors. The role of OL in non-profits remains vague in particular, and it is yet to be fully discovered what the main barriers to OL are, or how exactly OL practices impact capacity building, performance and other important organizational areas. By using a case study approach and by focusing on working environment and operations in a single international non-profit organization, this study provides a holistic picture of OL processes by considering and integrating various important dimensions: sector to which an organization belongs, an organizational context and influence of various organizational factors. The goal is to assess the employees’ awareness of the OL concept, to explore the social context and the system levels within which the learning occurs in the subject organization, and to identify the main OL challenges.

A theoretical model of transformational leadership and organizational identification of employees : The role of organizational learning , organizational justice and psychological empowerment

Transformational leaders inspire and motivate their followers to achieve extraordinary outcomes and in the process, improve their own leadership capacity. Transformational leadership is known to have a positive effect on followers work outcomes such as productivity, commitment, job satisfaction and so on. The attrition rate in organisations reduces with the increase in employees loyalty, job satisfaction and commitment to their work. The more the employees identify with the organisation, the more they are likely to continue their jobs for a longer period of time. It is imperative to know, from the management point of view, as to what contributes to the employee identification with the organisation, so that sustainability in productivity can be achieved. The rationale of the proposed study is to understand the underlying organizational mechanisms through which transformational leadership determine employees organizational identification. Different transformational leader behaviours involve different influence processes. Research evidences show that Transformational Leadership influences both organizational learning and organizational justice. The constructs of organizational learning and organisational justice are important in determining work related attitudes and emotions respectively. The objective of the present study is to develop a theoretical model to examine how the constructs of transformational leadership, organizational learning, and organizational justice relate to the employees psychological empowerment and organisational identification of the employees.The article is concluded with a discussion on the implications of the model and the possible limitations in the model.

Factors Hindering Organizational Learning: Perspectives of Iranian Nurses

Background: Nurses can play a fundamental role in organizational learning being the largest group providing healthcare services; however, factors affecting their organizational learning are yet to be identified. Aims: To explore factors hindering organizational learning from the perspective of Iranian nurses. Study Design: Qualitative content analysis on in depth semi-structured interview texts. Place and Duration of Study: Kerman University of medical sciences hospitals, between February and December 2014. Methodology: We recruited 16 nurses (5 men, 11 women; with a mean age of 36.4 years) working in clinical wards of hospitals affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences. All interviews were transcribed verbatim immediately after they were conducted. Data were analyzed subsequently. Original Research Article Ravari et al.; BJMMR, 9(9): 1-12, 2015; Article no.BJMMR.19367 2 Results: The data analysis from 16 nurses included in the study, revealed 5 main themes, including undirected training, role ambiguity, unfavorable work conditions, inadequate professional capabilities and feelings of subordination. Conclusion: Identifying factors hindering organizational learning from the perspective of nurses allows healthcare managers and policymakers to promote the quality of their nursing services and achieve patient and personnel satisfaction while facilitating organizational learning through designing need-based training courses for nurses, redefining nurses’ job description, revising nursing students' selection processes and trusting in nurses' capabilities.