...School Management Research Centre __________________________________________________________________________________________________ A Review of the Concept of Organisational Learning By Catherine L Wang & Pervaiz K Ahmed Working Paper Series 2002 Number ISSN Number Catherine L Wang WP004/02 ISSN 1363-6839 Research Assistant University of Wolverhampton, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1902 321651 Email: C.Wang@wlv.ac.uk Professor Pervaiz K Ahmed Chair in Management University of Wolverhampton, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1902 323921 Email: pkahmed@wlv.ac.uk © University of Wolverhampton 2002 - All rights reserved A Review of the Concept of Organisational Learning _________________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright © University of Wolverhampton 2002 All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, photocopied, recorded, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright holder. The Management Research Centre is the co-ordinating centre for research activity within Wolverhampton Business School. This working paper series provides a forum for dissemination and discussion of research in progress within the School. For further information contact: Management Research Centre Wolverhampton Business School Telford, Shropshire TF2 9NT !01902 321772 Fax 01902 321777 2 Management Research Centre 2002 A Review of the Concept of Organisational Learning...
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...Learning Organisations Moving towards a learning organization is something done BY people, not something done TO people or FOR people by someone else. So, the role of HR has to be in encouraging, facilitating, and supporting a move towards learning organizations. HR can never accomplish this themselves. Then, if executives want to move towards a learning organization, they should direct their operating units to do so, and direct HR to move into a supportive role. If it's the other way around, where HR gets the responsibility, it never works. Knowledge management (KM) "any practice or process of creating, acquiring, capturing, sharing and using knowledge, wherever it resides, to enhance learning and performance in organisations (Scarborough 1999). Knowledge management involves converting knowledge sources by classifying related information then circulating to make the information to take place. Not all information is knowledge or all knowledge is important. According to Blackler (1995), "knowledge is multifaceted and complex, implicit and explicit, physical and mental, verbal and encoded". He also categorises knowledge in four as: embedded (technological - collective), enculturel (Values, beliefs - collective), embodied (practical knowledge - individual), and embraced (theoretical understanding - individual). Contrast on Blackler, Nonaka (1991) proposes that knowledge could be either individual or collective, cannot be both. Yet another argument comes from Scarborough and Carter...
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...BUS378 Knowledge and Organisational Learning Unit Information and Learning Guide 2016 This information should be read in conjunction with the online learning materials which can be found on your MyUnits page. Unit coordinator Dr Amy Huang (A.Huang@murdoch.edu.au) © Published by Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, 2016 This publication is copyright. Except as permitted by the Copyright Act no part of it may in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or any other means be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or be broadcast or transmitted without the prior written permission of the publisher. BUS378 Knowledge and Organisational Learning Murdo 2 ch University Contents Unit information Information about the unit 3 Contact details 5 How to study this unit 8 Resources for the unit 10 Study schedule 11 Assessment 13 Appendix 1 Essay marking guide 17 Appendix 2 Presentation marking guide 18 Murdoch University BUS378 Knowledge and Organisational Learning 3 Information about the unit Welcome to: BUS378 Knowledge and Organisational Learning Unit description The management of information and knowledge and its role in organisations are widely recognised as important elements contributing to international competitiveness in the digital (knowledge based) economy. This unit examines how the concepts of information and knowledge assist in the understanding of organisational processes, organisational learning and strategy...
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... This can be seen with so many theories regarding organisational learning being conceived. This paper discusses how individual learning theories and organisational learning theories are related as well as the roles of organisation leaders in facilitating organisational learning. One of the most fundamental theory to help us understand organisational learning is the concept of single-loop learning and double-loop learning developed by Argyris and Schon (1978). Single-loop learning is associated with the detection and correction of error without amendment made to the master program, which is the guide for daily operations in an organisation. It is only suitable for repetitive job tasks where minor problems can be solved immediately. Restricted to only making small changes, single-loop learning is not learning (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). Thus, the double-loop learning, in order to solve more complex issues. Double-loop learning happens when the underlying values of the master program are changed. This would involve challenging norms rather than blindly accepting them. While single-loop learning and double-loop learning theory focuses on outcomes, Kolb (1984) proposes another type of learning which focuses on process, which is the experiential learning theory. It is a theory that merges experience, cognition, behaviour and perception. One of the models of experiential learning theory is the Lewinian Experiential Learning Model. The model emphasises a four-stage cycle, it...
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...agreed upon. True False Collective entities are called organisations only when their members have complete agreement on the goals they want to achieve. True False Evidence indicates that applying organisational behaviour knowledge tends to improve the organisation's financial performance. True False Globalisation may have both positive and negative implications for people working in organisations. True False Reduced job security and increased work intensification in Australia are partly caused by globalisation. True False 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Education is a primary category of surface-level diversity. True False Australian employees are more diverse today than a few decades ago on many deep-level categories but have actually reduced their diversity on most surface categories. True False 10. Research indicates that baby boomers and Generation-X employees bring the same values and expectations to the workplace. True False 11. Workforce diversity potentially improves decision making and team performance on complex tasks. True False 12. Surveys indicate that most Australian employees do not experience conflicting work–life balance. True False 13. Generation X and Generation Y expectations are causing employers to reduce hierarchy and commandand-control management. True False 14. Teams with diverse employees usually take longer to perform effectively. If this is so, explain why and the reasons for still using them....
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...Challenges in Human Resource Development Practitioner Preparation Organisational learning and skill formation initiatives are increasingly being seen as contributing to the achievement of organisational competitiveness in the contemporary economy. As a result, the development of employees has become a more prominent organisational practice. Since Human Resource Development (HRD) practitioners are primarily responsible for employee development there is a need for them to become more highly skilled to ensure that their practice meets the changing needs of organisations. Formal educational programs in the practice of HRD provide a way of assisting practitioners to acquire the skills they now need for effective practice. The design of such programs, however, is problematic given the emergent and cross-disciplinary nature of the ® eld. This paper surfaces some of the challenges associated with program design for the development of HRD practitioners, drawing from discussions in, and pro® ling research from, the HRD literature. The ® nal section of the paper proposes several key areas that need to be addressed in preparatory programs for HRD practitioners. edged, for the purposes of this paper those working in organisations with positional labels including enterprise trainer, training of® cer, trainer and developer, learning strategist or consultant, performance developer, organisational developer and staff development of® cer are being collapsed into one occupational category...
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...Link between Strategic management and leadership A leadership is the bridge between strategic management and their target. It’s because of a leadership that organisation gets their desired tasks and targets. Management is responsible for people and resources in a unit according to the rules or values that have already been set while the leadership set a direction to the people in the group. The aspect of leadership assumes importance in this age of cut throat competition as effective leadership paves the way by which an organisation achieves its various objectives. In this regard roles of the leader are important as they seek to exhort the employees to increase their participation in the management and effective evaluation of strategies in regards to the organisational goals (Barney and Barney, 2009). We can understand the link between strategic management and leadership by this example that good leadership and effective management are always the of success in any organisation so both of these are the skills which going side by side without management a good leadership can only satisfy for the time being not in a long term same as an effective management is nothing without the good leadership. When great leadership is jointed with effective management, you are able to set a direction and be able to allocate the resources the way you want. Not only that, you will achieve your goal the way you have thought and the way you want to achieve. When seen in the context of Qualbank...
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...ThreeLeads a professional area acting as a consultant or partner, addresses key HR challenges at an organisational level for the medium and long-term. | | Band FourLeads and manages a professional area(s) and/or the organisation. Responsible for developing and delivering organisational and HR strategy. | | Professional Areas | The three areas of most interest and value to me are (for definition see over page): | I have this interest because… | I will develop my knowledge in this area in the following ways: | 1 | | | 2 | | | 3 | | | Professional Area | | MSc HRM Modules | 1 | Contemporary Issues in Human Resource ManagementThe aim of this module is to introduce the student to the theory and practice of human resource management and to critically examine contemporary local, national and international issues that impact on the changing role and function of human resource management. | 2 | Managing Change and Organisational LearningThe module aims to develop knowledge and skills with regard to organisational change and the design, delivery and evaluation of learning and development. | 3 | Recruiting and Retaining EmployeesThis module explores recruitment, selection and retention of employees. As such it explores policies, procedures and benefits that promote employee satisfaction and commitment including flexible work strategies, diversity management, induction, and...
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...1. Introduction ‘Knowledge is power’, an old saying from Francis Bacon, which is considered as a true statement that has been recognised for a long time (Greco, 1993; Nielsen and Rasmussen, 2011). Especially, in recent 20 years, the interest and importance of knowledge in organisations has been increased remarkably in both theoretically and practically (Cheema, 2010; Knight and Howes, 2003; Rasmussen and Nielsen, 2011). The reason is revealed by Migdadi (2009) and Politis (2005), in the new economy, the intangible resource, knowledge has become the foundation of organisational competitiveness compared to tangible assets. In other words, the traditional driving factors of production, including, land, labour and capital have turned into the secondary resources as knowledge become the primary source of power in production within the contemporary economy. The work of Rasmussen and Nielsen (2011) reveal that intangible resource is regarded as a typical feature of knowledge, which can build capabilities for both organisations and individuals, consequently, in this new economy, also can be called knowledge-based economy made knowledge become strategically important to provide sustain competitive advantage for enterprises, especially in high technology and bioengineering sectors (Niu, 2010). Knowledge therefore has emerged as a main source of power as well as core competency in today’s emerging economies. However, new possibilities and threads are constantly taken place to challenge...
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...…………….…………………………………….3 2. Definition of Organisation……………………………………..………………………….3 3. Organisational Behavoiur…………………………………………….......……………….4 4. Definitions of Learning……………………………………………………………...…….4 1. Classical Conditioning Theory………………………………...………………….5 2. Operant Conditioning Theory……………………………….…………………….5 3. Social Learning Theory………………………………….………………………..6 4. Cognitive Theory……………………………………...…………………………..6 5. Organisational Learning…………………………………………………………………..6 1. Organisational Learning contribution from Educational Psychology………….....7 2. Organisational Learning contribution from Sociology…………………………....7 3. Organisational Learning contribution from Economics…………………………..7 4. Organisational Learning contribution from Anthropology………….…………….8 5. Organisational Learning contribution from Political Science…………...………..8 6. Organisational Learning contribution from Management Science………….…….8 6. Learning Organisation…………………………………………………………………….9 1. Team Learning……………………………………………………….……………9 2. Shared Visions…………………………………………………………………….9 3. Mental Models…………………………………………………….………………9 4. Personal Mastery……………………………………………………...………….10 7. Executive Summary on Organisational Behaviour within Kyambogo University……....10 1. Manifestation of Organisational Behavoiur Learning issues in the Kyambogo Case Study……………………………………………………………………….11 2. Recommendations………………………………………………...
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...IMPACT OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT ON ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE jeLena RašULa1 vesna BosiLj vUkšić2 Mojca inDiHaR šteMBeRGeR3 a B st R ac t: Knowledge management is a process that transforms individual knowledge into organisational knowledge. The aim of this paper is to show that through creating, accumulating, organising and utilising knowledge, organisations can enhance organisa- tional performance. The impact of knowledge management practices on performance was empirically tested through structural equation modelling. The sample included 329 com- panies both in Slovenia and Croatia with more than 50 employees. The results show that knowledge management practices measured through. information technology, organisa- tion and knowledge positively affect organisational performance. ke ywords: knowledge management maturity, information technology, organisational performance, structural equation modelling, survey research. 1. intRoDUction For many companies, the time of rapid technological change is also the time of incessant struggle for maintaining a competitive advantage. It is obvious that knowledge is slowly becoming the most important factor of production, next to labour, land and capital [39]. Even though some forms of intellectual capital are transferable, internal knowledge is not easily copied. This means that the knowledge anchored in employees’ minds can get lost if they decide to leave the organisation. Therefore, the key objective of management is to improve...
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...facing a crisis brought on in part by their Organisational Structure and the inherent detriments of being an organisation that is naturally project centric rather than info-centric as it should be. The other large factor contributing to this rift in the foundations of the organisation is the separation and non connectedness of each individual project team, contractor, sector and additionally the gap between management and lower level employees. In this way there can be two distinct faults in the organisational structure that prevents GSFC from managing its knowledge effectively, retaining said knowledge and creating an environment that is conducive to learning and innovating. Within the topic of organisational structure there is also another consideration to mention and that is due to the funding structure (i.e per project) the organisation became focused on achieving deadlines and justifying costs. This issue is of the utmost importance because it forces the structure of the organisation to change and it has more than enough potential to shape the future of the company. Why then is it important that Organisational Structure is a major point of analysis in GSFC’s quest for better Knowledge Management practices? It is crucial because the way that an organisation is crafted and built lays down the channels, the avenues and the roads for change in the future. Planning the organisational structure of GSFC with best knowledge management practices should have been in the forefront...
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...probably struggle to encourage organisational learning. Critically evaluate this statement in relation to the Mechanistic and Learning perspectives. Brocka and Brocka (1992, pg.2) suggests that organisations are “revolutionary compared to the strict, hierarchical, authoritarian organisations that existed in the past”. Mechanistic and bureaucratic organisations follow the same traits where the structure is needed for “efficiency, conformity and compliance” (Spencer, 1994, pg.448). The revolutionary aspect to organisations is shown by introducing learning into the organisation promoting the development for “searching for information, assimilating, developing and creating new knowledge on product, processes, and services” Wang and Ellinger (2011, pg.512). According to Sun and Scott (2003 pg.202) “the terminologies organizational learning and learning organization were once used interchangeably. However, in the mid-1990s there was a bifurcation into two streams” for the purpose of this assignment the terms learning organisation and organisational learning will be used on an interchangeable purpose. This assignment will show a clear definition of mechanistic, bureaucratic and organisational learning structures of organisations. By using my personal experience, examples and the use of case studies, then linking to relevant theories an argument will be made whether mechanistic and bureaucratic organisations struggle to encourage organisational learning. A traditional structure...
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...A Theory-Based Approach to the Relationship between Social Capital and Communities of Practice El-Sayed Abou-Zeid John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada el-sayed@jmsb.concordia.ca Abstract: There is almost a consensus that tacit component of organisational knowledge is of critical strategic importance because, unlike explicit knowledge, it is both inimitable and appropriable. Because of its characteristics, organisational tacit knowledge is usually created and shared through highly interactive conversation and shared experience, i.e., through a socialisation process. At the firm’s level, the effectiveness of the socialisation process depends on the firm’s social capital. At group level, it has been argued that communities of practice form the basis of a firm's ability to create and share tacit knowledge. Therefore, investigating the relationship between social capital, communities of practice and individual human action is crucial in understanding the dynamic of cross level knowledge creation and utilisation and in understanding organisational learning process. In order to study this relationship Giddens’ theory of structuration is used as it provides an integrating meta-theory that recognises social reality as constituted by both subjective human actors and by objective institutional properties and attempts to articulate a process-oriented approach that relates the realm of human action and institutional realm. Based on Giddens’ theory a model...
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...htm EJTD 36,1 Employability and talent management: challenges for HRD practices Staffan Nilsson Centre for Policy Studies in Higher Education and Training, Department of Educational Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and HELIX VINN Excellence Centre, ¨ Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linkoping University, ¨ Linkoping, Sweden, and 26 Received 14 May 2011 Revised 15 August 2011 Accepted 16 September 2011 ¨ Per-Erik Ellstrom HELIX VINN Excellence Centre, ¨ Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linkoping University, ¨ Linkoping, Sweden Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this conceptual paper is to illuminate the problems that are associated with defining and identifying talent and to discuss the development of talent as a contributor to employability. Design/methodology/approach – The world of work is characterised by new and rapidly changing demands. Talent management has recently been the target of increasing interest and is considered to be a method by which organisations can meet the demands that are associated with increased complexity. Previous studies have often focused on the management of talent, but the issue of what exactly should be managed has generally been neglected. In this paper, the authors focus on discussing the substance of talent and the problems associated with identifying talent by using the following closely related concepts: employability, knowledge, and competence. Findings – Employability...
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