The Paradox of Learning

2007 ◽  
pp. 70-81
Author(s):  
Luca Iandoli ◽  
Giuseppe Zollo
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Collective Memory ◽  
Organizational Memory ◽  
Time Structure

In this chapter we show that the nature of organizational learning is intrinsically paradoxical. According to the model of organizational memory proposed in the previous chapter, organizational learning is produced, and at the same time, inhibited by existing artifacts and culture. How can organizations enhance learning, and at the same time, structure collective action in order to ensure regularity and predictability? In this chapter we argue that organizations can manage this tradeoff if they allow for a certain degree of “openness” when building their collective memory and, in particular, when constructing their artifacts.

Collective Memory

2007 ◽  
pp. 56-69
Author(s):  
Luca Iandoli ◽  
Giuseppe Zollo
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Collective Memory ◽  
Organizational Memory ◽  
Fundamental Component ◽  
Individual Memory

In the previous chapter we focused on the concept of collective action. In the same spirit, this chapter investigates another fundamental component of learning, i.e., memory, and attempts to reformulate this concept at the collective level. Do organizations remember? In which sense it is possible to talk about collective memory? What is the nature of such a memory? The chapter presents a model of organizational memory which can not be reduced to a metaphor, nor to a mere extension or generalization of individual memory.

scholarly journals “Reinventing the wheel over and over again”. Organizational learning, memory and forgetting in doing diversity work

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marieke van den Brink
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Collective Memory ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
Organizational Memory ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Longitudinal Case Study ◽  
Linear Processes ◽  
Content Type

PurposeOne of the urgent questions in the field of diversity is the knowledge about effective diversity practices. This paper aims to advance our knowledge on organizational change toward diversity by combining concepts from diversity studies and organizational learning.Design/methodology/approachBy employing a social practice approach to organizational learning, the author will be able to go beyond individual learning experiences of diversity practices but see how members negotiate the diversity knowledge and how they integrate their new knowledge in their day-to-day organizational norms and practices. The analysis draws on data collected during a longitudinal case study in a financial service organization in the Netherlands.FindingsThis study showed how collective learning practices took place but were insufficiently anchored in a collective memory. Change agents have the task to build “new” memory on diversity policies and gender inequality as well as to use organizational memory to enable diversity policies and practices to be implemented. The inability to create a community of practice impeded the change agenda.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research could expand our knowledge on collective memory of knowledge on diversity further and focus on the way employees make use of this memory while doing diversity.Practical implicationsThe current literature often tends to analyze the effectiveness of diversity practices as linear processes, which is insufficient to capture the complexity of a change process characterized with layers of negotiated and politicized forms of access to resources. The author would argue for more future work on nonlinear and process-based perspectives on organizational change.Originality/valueThe contribution is to the literature on diversity practices by showing how the lack of collective memory to “store” individual learning in the organization has proven to be a major problem in the management of diversity.

What is Knowledge Management?

2011 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murray E. Jennex
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Organizational Effectiveness ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Organizational Memory ◽  
Relational Model

This chapter defines knowledge and knowledge management (KM) and establishes its roots KM is not a brand new topic; organizational learning and organizational memory are related topics that have been fields of research for many years. This chapter relates these concepts to a relational model that shows that the three topics are related and influence organizational effectiveness. Additionally, this chapter explains that KM has become a research area due to a confluence of trends that have made KM necessary and technically useful.

Organizations and Learning Process

2009 ◽  
pp. 236-253
Author(s):  
Weiling Ke ◽  
Kwok Kee Wei
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Organizational Factors ◽  
Organizational Memory ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Implementation Outcomes ◽  
Acquisition Information ◽  
Implementation Context ◽  
Information Interpretation

This chapter uses organizational learning as a lens to study how firms implement the enterprise system. The core research questions are: What are the critical organizational factors affecting organizational learning in ES implementation? How do these elements shape the learning process and thereby influence ES implementation outcomes? To address these questions, we conducted comparative case study with two organizations that have recently adopted ES and achieved significantly different results. Based on the empirical findings, we propose a framework that describes how organizational factors affect the four constructs of organizational learning in ES implementation context — knowledge acquisition, information distribution, information interpretation and organizational memory.

Organizational learning goes virtual?

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 289-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kung Wong Lau
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Training Program ◽  
Service Management ◽  
Management Training ◽  
Virtual Learning Environment ◽  
Organizational Memory ◽  
Learning Achievement ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Significant Difference

Purpose – This study aims to deepen understanding of the use of stereoscopic 3D technology (stereo3D) in facilitating organizational learning. The emergence of advanced virtual technologies, in particular to the stereo3D virtual reality, has fundamentally changed the ways in which organizations train their employees. However, in academic or professional studies, there is hitherto, very limited research has been found in understanding the framework of distributed organizational learning in stereo3D virtual reality. Design/methodology/approach – The aim of this research is to investigate the employees’ learning achievement in both the conventional in-house training program and distributed organizational learning approach in a designed stereo3D virtual reality to deepen our understanding of this undiscovered framework. In all, 76 employees from local fashion and apparel organizations were recruited in this empirical study. The quasi-experimental method was adopted to compare the experimental and control groups. The criterion-referenced assessment scale was applied as a post-test to assess employees’ learning achievement in a customer service management training course. A tailor-made stereo3D virtual learning environment was established to conduct the virtual training program. Findings – Surprisingly, the results of this research found no significant difference in both the groups, which indicates that, nowadays, the two completely different learning formats have become similar in organizational learning practices. Originality/value – This research, therefore, suggests a new organizational learning framework with three components: a blended in-house training, a distributed enhancement program in stereo3D virtual reality and an organizational memory system.

Autobiographical Memory and Identities in Organizations

2020 ◽  
pp. 373-390
Author(s):  
Roy Suddaby ◽  
Majken Schultz ◽  
Trevor Israelsen
Keyword(s):  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Collective Memory ◽  
Organizational Memory ◽  
The Self ◽  
Life Narrative ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ongoing Effort ◽  
Narrative Constructions ◽  
Autonoetic Consciousness ◽  
Over Time

Current theories of identity in organizations assume and valorize stability of identity over time. In this chapter the authors challenge this assumption by introducing contemporary understandings of the fluidity of time in the construction of autobiographical memory. They argue that, both in individual and organizational memory, narrative constructions of the self fluidly incorporate episodes from the past, present, and future in an ongoing effort to create a coherent autobiography. They elaborate the construct of autobiographical memory as constituted by autonoetic consciousness, life narrative, and collective memory and discuss the implications for identities in organizations.

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