Organisational Learning I - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

1 / 24
About This Presentation
Title:

Organisational Learning I

Description:

'the detection and correction of error' (Agyris and Sch n, ... (Daft and Weick, 1984, p.285) Information Distribution: Issues Arising in Organisations (cont d) ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:90
Avg rating:3.0/5.0
Slides: 25
Provided by: informati6
Category:

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: Organisational Learning I


1
Organisational Learning I
  • The Acquisition of ExpertiseA Primer to
    Learning in Organisations

2
Lecture Agenda
  • Session 9 (Morning)
  • Theoretical foundations to learning in
    organisations
  • Session 10 (Afternoon)
  • Learning in Indian companies

3
What is Organisational Learning?
  • "the detection and correction of error" (Agyris
    and Schön, 1978 2).
  • "the process of improving actions through better
    knowledge and understanding" (Fiol and Lyles,
    1985 803).
  • "the way firms build, supplement, and organize
    knowledge and routines around their activities
    and within their cultures and adapt and develop
    organizational efficiency by improving the use of
    the broad skills of their workforces" (Dodgson,
    1993 377).
  • "if through its processing of information, the
    range of its organization's potential behaviors
    is changed" (Huber, 1991 89).

A "learning organization" is a firm that
purposefully constructs structures and strategies
so as to enhance and maximize organizational
learning
4
Why is Organisational Learning needed?
  • To increase competitive advantage, innovation and
    effectiveness
  • To become more adaptable to change
  • Important for the growth and development of
    organisations
  • Learning increases information sharing,
    communication, understanding, and the quality of
    decisions made in organisations
  • The greater the uncertainty in the environment
    the greater the need for learning

5
What does Organisational Learning comprise?
  • Learning form the bulk of an organisation but
    organisational learning is more than the sum of
    the parts
  • Individuals form the bulk of the organisation
    they must establish the necessary forms and
    processes to enable organisational learning
  • Learning systems not only influence immediate
    members but also future members due to the
    accumulation of histories, experiences, norms,
    and stories

Managing Organisational Learning comprises
striking a balance between the exploration and
the exploitation of knowledge
6
How Individuals LearnIndividual Learning
Capabilities/Types of Knowledge
  • Verbal or declarative knowledge e.g. facts and
    organised information
  • Intellectual skills e.g. the ability to apply
    rules to specific instances
  • Cognitive strategies e.g. practices of
    retrieving and thinking
  • Attitudes e.g. factors influencing personal
    decisions towards knowledge assets
  • Motor skills e.g. muscular movements enabling
    the precise execution of procedures

Source Dodgson, 1993
7
How Organisations LearnTypes of Organisational
Learning I
  • Single-Loop Learning
  • Occurs when errors are detected and corrected and
    firms carry on with their present policies and
    goals
  • Activities that add to the knowledge-base or
    firm-specific competencies or routines without
    altering the fundamental nature of the
    organisation's activities

Source Argyris Schön, 1978
8
How Organisations LearnTypes of Organisational
Learning II
  • Double-Loop Learning
  • Occurs when, in addition to detection and
    correction of errors, the organization is
    involved in the questioning and modification of
    existing norms, procedures, policies, and
    objectives
  • Involves changing the organization's
    knowledge-base or firm-specific competencies or
    routines

Source Argyris Schön, 1978
9
How Organisations LearnTypes of Organisational
Learning III
  • Deutero Learning
  • Occurs when organizations learn how to carry out
    single-loop and double-loop learning
  • The first two forms of learning will not occur if
    the organizations are not aware that learning
    must occur
  • Awareness of ignorance motivates learning - this
    means identifying the learning orientations or
    styles, and the processes and structures
    (facilitating factors) required to promote
    learning.

Source Argyris Schön, 1978
10
How Organisations LearnTypes of Organisational
Learning IV
  • Double-loop and deutero learning are concerned
    with the why and how to change the organization
  • Single-loop learning is concerned with accepting
    change without questioning underlying assumptions
    and core beliefs
  • The type of organizational learning also depends
    on where in the organization learning occurs
  • Learning can occur in different functions of the
    organization such as research, development,
    design, engineering, manufacturing, marketing,
    administration, and sales

Source Argyris Schön, 1978
11
Organisational Learning Process
Knowledge Acquisition
Information Distribution
Information Interpretation
Organisational Memory
Source Huber, 1991
12
Knowledge Acquisition Collective Learning
  • Congenital learning the knowledge brought into
    an organisation at its conception and foundation
  • Experimental learningthe knowledge accumulated
    through experience and / or experiments
  • Vicarious learningthe knowledge acquired through
    second hand experience
  • Graftingthe knowledge brought into an
    organisation through hiring new employees or even
    taking over complete companies
  • Searching and Noticingknowledge developed
    through screening the external and internal
    context and sensing actual problems

Source Huber, 1991
13
Knowledge AcquisitionExperiential Learning
  • Organisational Experiments
  • Organisational Self-Appraisal
  • Experimenting Organisations
  • Unintentional or unsystematic learning
  • Experience-based learning curves

Source Huber, 1991
14
Knowledge AcquisitionSearching and Noticing
  • Scanning
  • Focused Search
  • Performance Monitoring

Source Huber, 1991
15
Organisational Learning Process
Knowledge Acquisition
Information Distribution
Information Interpretation
Organisational Memory
Source Huber, 1991
16
Information DistributionIssues Arising in
Organisations
  • Organisations often do not know what they know
  • Except for systems that store hard information,
    organisations tend to have weak systems to
    retrieve soft (tacit) knowledge within the
    organisation
  • The more widely such information is distributed
    within an organisation
  • More likely to be retrievable
  • More likely that organisation learns

The distinct feature of organisational level
information activity is sharing (Daft and
Weick, 1984, p.285)
Source Huber, 1991
17
Information DistributionIssues Arising in
Organisations (contd)
  • Combining information from different subunits
    leads not only to new information but also to new
    understanding
  • Information distribution is a precursor to
    aspects of organisational learning that involves
    information interpretation

Source Huber, 1991
18
Organisational Learning Process
Knowledge Acquisition
Information Distribution
Information Interpretation
Organisational Memory
Source Huber, 1991
19
Information Interpretation
  • Cognitive Maps and Framing
  • Cognitive maps (or belief structure/mental
    representation/frame of reference) will shape a
    persons interpretation of information
  • How an information is framed or labeled affects
    its interpretation
  • Media Richness
  • Determinant of the extent to which information is
    given common meaning by the sender and receiver
    of a message
  • Information Overload
  • Overload of information distracts from effective
    interpretation
  • Unlearning
  • Process through which learners discard obsolete
    and misleading knowledge

Source Huber, 1991
20
Organisational Learning Process
Knowledge Acquisition
Information Distribution
Information Interpretation
Organisational Memory
Source Huber, 1991
21
Organisational Memory
  • Storing and Retriving Information
  • Standard operating procedures define how a large
    part of the organisational knowledge is stored
  • Knowledge sharing barriers through
    specialisation, differentiation and
    departmentalisation -gt Management Information
    Systems
  • Computer-Based Organisational Memory
  • Case-by-case foresight, smart indexing or
    artificial intelligence can facilitate retrival
    of information
  • Automatic capturing and sophisticated retrieval
    of such information result in computer-resident
    organisational memories which can be superior to
    human components of the organisational memory

Source Huber, 1991
22
Organisational Learning and its Context
Strategy
Environment
Structure
OrganisationalLearning
Technology
Culture
23
Influences on Organisational Learning
  • Strategy
  • Structure
  • Centralised, machanistic structures tend to
    reinforce past behaviours and singe-loop learning
  • Decentralised structures promotes double-loop
    learning
  • Environment
  • For learning to occur, organisations must align
    themselves with the environment as to remain
    competitive and innovative
  • Learning can occur only when there is a balance
    between change (the new) and stability (the old)
  • Technology
  • Culture

24
Readings
  • Dodgson, M. (1993). Organizational Learning A
    Review of Some Literatures, Organization
    Studies, 14 (3), pp.375-394.
  • Huber, G.P. (1991). Organizational Learning The
    Contribution Process and the Literatures,
    Organization Science, 2 (1), pp.88-115.
  • March, J.G. (1991). Exploration and Exploitation
    in Organizational Learning, Organization
    Science, 2 (1), pp.71-87.
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com