Books:
- ‘Managing in organisations that learn’, Steven A. Cavaleri and David S. Fearon (eds), Blackwell Business, Oxford, 1996
This book aims to provide
a comprehensive treatment of the challenges that exist in relation to
processes, leadeship and organisational features in the new flat,
team-oriented organisations that have committed resources and
strategies towards learning. The book provides a good combination of
academic insight together with interviews revealing business practices
on how to become a ‘Learning Organisation’.
- ‘Leveraging knowledge: the 17 day program for a Learning Organisation’, Patrick J. Thurbin, FT Pitman Publishing, London, 1995
The book aims to provide
a practical, business-oriented approach on how to transform a company
into a Learning Organisation. Within a time frame of 17 days, companies
are coached so as to be able to identify critical know-how which they
can capture, share and leverage for competitive advantage.
- ‘The
learning company: a strategy for sustainable development’ , Mike
Pedler, John Burgoyne, Tom Boydell, McGraw Hill, London 1997 (second
edition)
The book aims to
complement the first edition (1991) by adding research experience
coming from empirical research within organisations such as NHS, Marks
and Spencer, Rover, Nissan and Express Foods. The writers aim at
providing the practical tools for designing and creating an
organisation that is capable of adapting, learning and developing,
which are ideas and tools for developing dialogue, systems and IT
networks for organisational learning.
- ‘How organisations learn’, ed. Ken Starkey, International Thomson Business Press, London, 1996
The book, which consists
of a collection of articles, is looking at the link between leadership
and learning and the impact that organisational structure and
management strategies have upon the learning process.
The book focuses on the developing of management skills for adapting to the post-entrepreneurial corporate environment.
- ‘Managing organisational learning: from rhetoric to reality’, Field, L, and Ford, B., Longman Australia Pty Ltd
The book is focusing on
improving learning in an organisation. Emphasis is given on employee
relations, work organisation, skills and training, IT management.
Negative learning is discussed, as well as how the lack of choice, lack
of trust and unequal status can affect the learning process.
- ‘Collaborative technologies and organisational learning’, Robert Neilson, National Defense University, 1996
The use of Lotus Notes
was targeted to leveraging the intellectual capital existing in
organisations as studied in a longitudinal study of a public sector
organisation
7. ‘Organisational
learning and technological change’, NATO series Special Programme on
advanced educational technology, NATO ASI series F: Computer and
Systems Sciences, vol. 141
As innovative
organisations are characterised those that respond to and generate
technological change by acting as learning systems. Innovation is
reached at high levels, when these organisations are structured to take
advantage of the social, distributed, participative and situated
learning processes developed by their members.
- ‘Organisational learning and competitive advantage’, Moingeon, B, and Edmondson, A., ‘Harvard University Press, 1996
Theories of strategic
management and organisational behaviour are explored so as to establish
a link between learning processes and competitive advantage, within a
multiplicity of organisational settings.
Publications 1996-1999:
- Michael, Donald, N., ‘On learning to plan- and Planning to Learn’, Jossey-Bass, San Fransisco CA, 1973
Second edition, with a new Forward by the author, Miles River Press, Alexandria VA, 1997
- Dodgson,
Mark, ‘The management of technological learning: lessons from a
biotechnological company’, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1991
- Mayo,
A., and Lank, E., ‘The power of learning- a guide to gaining
competitive advantage’, Institute of Personnel and Development, 1996
- Scott, A., ‘Learning Centres’, Kogan Page, London 1997
- Morris, S., Meed, J., and Svensen, N., ‘The knowledge manager’, Pitman Publishing, 1996
- Reece, B and Brandt, R., ‘Effective human relations in organisations’, Houghton Mittlin Co., Boston, 1996
- Biney,
G., Williams, C., and Brealey, N., ‘Leaning into the future; changing
the way people change in organisations’, Nicholas Brealey Publishing,
London, 1995
- Belbin, M.R., ‘The coming shape of organisation’, Butterworth, Heinemann, Oxford, 1996
- Lassey, P., ‘Developing a learning organisation’, Kogan Page, London, 1998
- Leonard, D., ‘Wellsprings of knowledge: building and sustaining the sources of innovation’, Harvard Business School Press, 1998
- Allee, V., ‘The knowledge evolution: expanding organisational intelligence’, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1997
12. Fruin, M.,
‘Knowledge works: managing intellectual capital at Toshiba’, Japan
Business and Economics Series, Oxford University Press, 1997
- Jaworski, J., ‘Synchronicity: the inner path of leadership’, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Fransisco, 1996, 1998
Papers:
a) Concepts, definitions, aims and processes of organisational learning:
- ‘Organisational learning: the contributing
processes and the literatures’, George P. Huber, Organization Science,
vol 2, no 1, February 1991, pp 88-115
The paper
examines four constructs related to organisational learning (knowledge
acquisition, information distribution, information interpretation,
organisational memory) and comments on the relevant literatures that
serve as a background to understand the processes involved.
- ‘Learning
to change: an information perspective on learning in the organisation’,
Stuart Macdonald, Organizational Science, vol 6, no 5,
September-October 1995
The paper places stress
on the external aspects of the change process towards creating the
‘Learning Organisation’, which have for most of the time been
disregarded. The information perspective indicates that organisational
change is largely dependent on the information activities of individual
employees acting both on their own account as much as that of the
organisation.
- ‘The
situated nature of adaptive learning in organisations’, Marcie J. Tyre
and Eric von Hippel, Organization Science, vol 8, no 1,
January-February 1997
Through examining problem
solving involving new production equipment during early factory use,
the paper places learning as occurring through people interacting in
context. People are brought together, moving around to confront
different kinds of data, clues and tools so as to experience different
points of view with relation to the problem.
- ‘Organisational Learning-the key to management innovation’, Ray Stata, Sloan Management Review, spring 1989, pp 63-74
The author discusses the
lack of focus on innovation, and proposes planning as learning, quality
improvements and systems thinking as ways to overcome the problem,
leading to organisational learning.
- ‘Building a learning organisation’, David A. Garvin, Harvard Business Review, July-August, 1993, pp 78-91
The author of the paper
focus on issues of meaning, measurement and management regarding the
Learning Organisation, through research in Xerox and Boeing for
illustrating his points
- ‘The
application of organisational learning theory to Japanese and American
Management’, Jeremiah J. Sullivan and Ikujiro Nonaka, Journal of
International Business Studies, vol 17, Fall 1986, pp 127-148
The paper discusses the
theory of action put forward by Karl Weick, and how such a theory can
be described in terms of variety amplification by senior managers and
variety reduction by junior managers in America and Japan. Implications
for strategy-setting behaviour in both cultures are discussed.
- ‘Organisational Learning: a review of some literatures’, Mark Dodgson, Organisation Studies, 1993, 14/3, pp 375-393
The paper seeks to
clarify the concept of organisational learning by looking through a
wide range of literatures, coming from the fields of organisation
theory, industrial economics, economic history, business, management
and innovation studies. The paper is structured around goals, processes
and facilitation/hindrances to organisational learning
- ‘The factory as a Learning Laboratory’, Dorothy Leonard-Barton, Sloan Management Review, Fall 1992
The paper present and
analyses the case study of Chapparal Steel in Texas, where the ‘next
step’ of manufacturing is presented through seeing a factory as a
‘learning laboratory’, a complex organisational ecosystem that
integrates problem solving, internal knowledge, innovation,
experimentation, and external information.
- ‘Organisational
Learning’ , Donald Schon, in Morgan, G. (1983), ‘Beyond method:
strategies for social research’, Sage Publications, London
The paper begins at an
organisational theory of action perspective so as to address issues on
the organisational learning research agenda to be taken further, so as
to understand the different organisational leaning perspectives
- ‘The
non-traditional quality of organisational learning’. Karl E. Weick,
Organization Science, vol 2, no1, February 1991, pp 116-123
The paper proposes two
directions for research strategies: organisational learning being an
infrequent event, or occurring frequently but taking non-traditional
forms. Learning is thus seen with relation to that, as a shift in
performance when the stimulus situation remains essentially the same
and implies a set of conditions that occur rarely in organisations.
- ‘Understanding Organisations as Learning
Systems’, Edwin C. Nevis, Anthony J. DiBella, Janet M. Gould, Sloan
Management Review, Winter 1995, pp 73-85
The paper
seeks to understand what it takes for a learning organisation to be
created; a framework for examining a company is provided, aimed on a
set of critical dimensions to organisational learning, and a set of
processes that affect how easy or hard it is for learning to occur.
These issues are taken further by being illustrated through case
studies in Motorola, Fiat and Electricite de France.
- ‘Consensus,
diversity and learning in organisations’, C. Marlene Fiol, Organization
Science, vol 5, no 3, August 1994, pp 403-419
The paper focuses on the
idea of consensus around diverse interpretations for organised action.
The challenge for anyone wishing to encourage learning as a community,
as an important managerial decision: encouraging development and
holding together conflicting views
- ‘How
organisations learn and unlearn’, Bo Hedberg, in Handbook of
Organisational Design, Nystrom, Paul, C. and William H. Starbuck (eds),
vol 1, Adapting organisations to their environments, Oxford University
Press, 1981, pp 3-27
The article discusses how
organisations continue to learn as they interact with different
problems. Organisations increase their understanding of reality by
observing the results of their acts.
- ‘Organisational
Learning and communities- of- practice: toward a unified view of
working, learning and innovation’, John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid,
Organization Science, vol 2, no 1, February 1991, pp 40-57
The paper indicates that
there are learning environments created through work in
communities-of-practice; these are temporary groupings of people who
work in different combinations amongst them , despite those described
in job descriptions.
- ‘Organisational
adaptation and environmental selection-interrelated processes of
change’, Daniel A. Levinthal, Organization Science, vol 2, no 1,
February 1991, pp 140-145
The paper discusses the
idea of domain of appropriateness with reference to empirical issues of
organisational change and learning.
- ‘Individual
learning and organisational routine: emerging connections’, Michael D.
Cohen, Organization Science, vol 2, no 1, February 1991, pp 135-139
The paper discusses
common ground between organisational learning and psychology especially
regarding memory and skilled performance. Stress is placed on
skill-learning and memory to enrich organisational theorizing and
observation
- ‘Bounded
rationality and organisational learning’, Herbert A. Simon,
Organization Science, vol 2, no 1, February 1991, pp 125-135
The paper discusses
issues of organisational learning in the context of roles, innovation,
organisational memory, R&D in manufacturing and the representation
issues involved.
- ‘The
Learning Organisation: adult learning and organisational
transformation’, Alan M.Jones and Chris Hendry, British Journal of
Management, vol 5, pp 153-162 (1994)
The paper proposes to
refine a definition of organisational learning and focus on the ways
that adults learn. Understanding and facilitating adult learning in
organisations fails to connect with an individual’s other experiences
and needs, purpose and value in organisations.
- ‘The
social construction of organisational learning: conceptual and
practical issues in the field’, Davide Nicolini and Martin B. Meznar,
Human Relations, vol 48, no 7, 1995, pp 727-746
The paper proposes a
wider conceptualisation of organisational learning integrative of the
various existing approaches. Organisational learning is conceptualised
so as to take account of the continuous ongoing change of
organisational cognitive structures. Then, organisational learning is
interpreted as a social construction which transforms acquired
cognition into accountable abstract knowledge.
- ‘Double loop learning in organisations’, Chris Argyris, Harvard Business Review, September-October 1977, pp 115-125
The paper introduces how
the concept of double loop learning works in practice. The inability to
uncover errors arises according to the author form faulty
organisational learning.
- ‘How
can organisations learn faster? The challenge of entering the green
room’, Edgar H. Schein, Sloan Management Review, Winter 1993, pp 85-92
The article tries to
highlight the key psychological elements that inhibit or promote change
in an organisational setting. Organisations should be helped not only
to change, but to be able to change faster, according to the rapidly
shifting environment.
22. ‘Ugly duckling no
more: pasts and futures of organisational learning research’, Anne
Miller and Stephen Mezias, Organization Science, vol 7, no 1,
January-February 1996, pp 88-100
The paper stresses the
need for more empirical work in order to enhance the debates on
organisational learning and to inform the existing basis of the subject
that follows an increased popularity of organisational learning models
amongst practitioners.
- ‘The relationship between control and
partner learning in learning-related joint ventures’, Makhija, M., and
Ganesh, U., Organization Science, vol 8, no 5, September-October 1997,
pp 508-527
The paper
presents and discusses a process model for joint ventures that are
primarily motivated by the learning needs of at least one partner.
According to the model, firms forming learning-related Joint Ventures
match with partners in line with their differences in capability and
other requirements, where appropriate controls are essential for
learning to take place.
- ‘A model of work-based learning’, Raelin, J., Organization Science, vol 8, no 6, November-December 1997, pp 563-578
A comprehensive model of
work-based learning is illustrated, combining explicit and tacit forms
of knowing and theory in both the individual and the collective levels.
- ‘Knowledge-based
approaches to the theory of the firm: some critical comments’, Foss,
N.J., Organization Science, vol 7, no 5, September-October 1996, pp
470-476
The paper illustrates how
to properly interpret knowledge-based theories which may help to shed
light on issues relating to the boundaries and the internal
organisation of the firm.
- ‘Responding
to hypercompetition: the structure and processes of a regional learning
network organisation’, Hanssen-Bauer, J., and Snow, C., Organization
Science, vol 7, no 4, July-August 1996, pp 413-427 - The
authors present a model of the learning process in a regional network
organisation, Nordvest Forum, formed to help its member companies learn
how to develop and apply knowledge about management and organisational
change, across 46 companies participating in the network - ‘Perspective
making and perspective taking in communities of knowledge’, Boland, R.,
and Tenkasi, R.V., Organization Science, vol 6, no 4, July-August 1995,
pp 350-371
Knowledge-intensive
firms, composed of multiple communities with specialised expertise are
often characterised by lateral rather than hierarchical organisational
forms, so as to produce the knowledge to create innovative products and
processes within such firms. Proposed communication systems based on
shared narratives help perspective taking between communities.
- ‘What
firms do? Coordination, identity and learning’, Kogut, B., and Zander,
U., Organization Science, vol 7, no 5, September-October 1996, pp
502-517
Knowledge resides in the
network of interacting firms. The paper puts forward the challenge of
stating an alternative view on the theory of the firm. Social knowledge
should in this context support coordination and communication.
- ‘More
critical comments on knowledge-based theories of the firm’, Foss, N.J.,
Organization Science, vol 7, no 5, September-October 1996, pp 519-523
The paper attempts to clarify and explain firm organisation in a non-economic mode.
- ‘The
situated nature of adaptive learning in organisations’, Tyre, M.J., and
Von Hippel, E., Organization Science, vol 8, no 1, January-February
1997, pp 71-81
The paper discusses the
nature of adaptive learning in organisations. Decontextualised theories
of adaptive learning and collaboration used in the traditional sense
could be improved by taking into account that learning occurs through
people interacting in context.
31. ‘Organisational
learning: early days in a change process’, Cope M., ‘British
Telecommunications engineering’, vol 15, pt. 4, 356-362, January 1997
The article describes
organisational learning within a BT department, focusing around
reflection, innovation and adaptation processes. The focus of the
company is around helping individuals change and learn.
- Knowledge management, organisational memory and cognition in organisations
- ‘Improving
knowledge work processes’, Thomas Davenport, Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa,
Michael C. Beers, Sloan Management Review, Summer 1996, pp 53-65
The paper provides a
survey of improvement methods for knowledge work that allow
professionals to design and execute their own work. An approach
reflecting knowledge work, the organisation culture and the project’s
business requirements is proposed.
- ‘Successful
knowledge management projects’, Thomas H. Davenport, David W. De Long
and Michael C. Beers, Sloan Management Review, Winter 1998, pp 43-57
The paper attempts an
evaluation of on-going knowledge management projects, identifying eight
key factors that can help a company create, share and use knowledge in
an effective manner
- ‘A dynamic theory of organisational knowledge creation’, Ikujiro Nonaka, Organisation Science, vol 5, no 1, Feb 1994
The paper proposes a
paradigm for managing the dynamic aspects of the organisational
knowledge creating processes. Organisational knowledge is created
through a continuous dialogue between tacit and explicit knowledge.
- ‘Managerial
and organisational cognition: notes from a trip down memory lane’,
James P. Walsh, Organisation Scince, vol 6, no 3, May-June 1995, pp
280-309
The study of cognition in
organisations has increased in recent years. Top-down information
processing theory suggests that individuals create knowledge structures
to help them process information and make decisions.
- ‘Toward
a model of organisations as interpretation systems’, Richard L. Daft
and Karl E. Weick, Academy of Management Review, vol 9, no 2, 1984, pp
284-295
The paper proposes a
comparative model of organisations as interpretation systems. Four
interpretation modes are proposed: enacting, discovering, undirected
viewing and conditioned viewing.
- ‘A
model of knowledge management and the N-form organisation’, Gunnar
Hedlund, Strategic Management Journal, vol 15, pp 73-90, (1994)
The paper aims to provide
a model of knowledge management. The alternative N-form of the
organisation is characterised as appropriate, with a combination of
knowledge rather that division, the temporary constellations of people,
the importance of personnel at ‘lower levels’, the lateral
communication, and strategies for learning
- ‘Organisational
memory: review of concepts and recommendations for management’, E.W.
Stein, International Journal of Information Management, vol 15, no 2,
pp 17-32, 1995
The paper reviews the
concept of organisational memory from various perspectives, such as
Information systems, management science, economics, systems theory,
political theory, organisational behaviour and communication theory.
The contents of organisational memory are seen as including knowledge
acquisition, retention, maintenance and retrieval.
- ‘Measuring and managing technological knowledge’, Roger E. Bohn, Sloan Management Review, Fall 1994, pp 61-73
The paper addresses the
impact of organisational knowledge on performance. Technological
knowledge is defined and given a framework for mapping and evaluating
levels of knowledge. Automation without the adequate knowledge is shown
to lead to disaster, and knowledge management is placed centrally in a
world of continuous organisational learning.
- ‘Actualising
organisational memory with Information Systems’, Eric W. Stein and
Vladimir Zwass, Information systems research, 6:2, June 1995, pp 85-117
The paper places emphasis
on organisational memory as a key to competitiveness. The development
and wide availability of advanced information technologies have become
a vital part of organisational memory. Factors for success or failure
of organisational memory are presented
- ‘Cognition
within and between organisations: five key questions’, James R.Meindl,
Charles Stubbart, Joseph F. Porac, Organisation Science, vol 5, no 3,
August 1994
The introductory paper to
a volume that is dedicated to managerial and organisational cognition
is identifying five key questions about managerial and organisational
sensemaking, ranging from appropriate structures to appropriate
relations for managing the cognitive process successfully.
- ‘The coming of the knowledge-based business’, Davis, S., and Botkin, J., Harvard Business Review, September-October 1994
The next wave of economic
growth is seen to be coming from knowledge-based businesses that create
smart products. Such products are interactive, they become smarter the
more the user uses them and can be customised. Consumers thus become
learners when using these smart products.
12. ‘Understanding the
process of knowledge transfer to achieve successful technological
innovation’, Myrna Gilbert and Martyn Cordey-Hayes, Technovation,
16(6), (1996), pp 301-312
The paper is concerned
with the ability of the organisations to innovate and achieve
technological and organisational change. A conceptual model is offered
for understanding the process of knowledge transfer.
13. ‘Successful knowledge management projects’, Davenport, T., De Long, D., and Beers, M., Sloan Management Review, Winter 1998
The article
addresses practical realities of knowledge management by focusing on
analysing knowledge management projects. These are performed through
structuring the people, technology and knowledge content.
- Organisational learning and Information Systems
- ‘A cybernetic approach to information
systems and organisational learning’, J.D.R. de Raadt, Kybernetes, vol
20, no1, 1991, pp 29-48
The paper
tries to examine, from a cybernetic point of view, the process by which
a social system may learn through its interaction with its environment
and the use of its information systems.
- ‘Organisational
learning and management information systems’, Chris Argyris,
Accounting, Organisation and Society, vol 2, no 2, pp 113-123, Pergamon
Press, 1977, UK
The paper tries to
discuss in the light of organisational learning the crisis regarding
the implementation of Management Information Systems. This concerns
especially the detection and correction of errors in MIS.
- ‘The
link between organisational learning and the business value of
information technology’, Judy E. Scott, Proceedings of the ICIS
Doctoral Consortium, 15th ICIS, Vancouver, December 1994 (ed Galliers et al)
The paper aims to find
empirical support for a process oriented explanation for the payoff
from the use of IT or lack of it. Attention is paid to two
organisational factors, organisational learning and organisational
commitment. Operational performance of advanced manufacturing
technology, which is a proxy for business value, is determined by the
interaction of the technology with organisational learning.
- ‘Computer-mediated collaborative learning: an empirical evaluation’, Alavi, M., MIS Quarterly, June 1994
Proposals for certain
pedagogies for students based on the new possibilities built on the
recent developments in information and communication technologies are
put forward in this paper. The use of a group decision-support system
is investigated as a collaborative learning process enhancing classroom
experience.
