Organizational Learning

The issue of whether learning is something that can be done by organisations as well as individuals is questionable. Some academics have questioned whether or not organisations have the ability to learn, they argued that learning can be done by people within organisations, but not the organisations themselves. A variety of arguments had been developed throughout the years, for instances, how does an organisation learn? How does individual learning can relate to organisational learning? Why is it important for organisations to learn? Although learning is a given (people learn things all the time). It is not a given that organizations can create their future by learning (Webber, 2000). In consequence, this assignment will explode …show more content…
Learning is “a purposeful activity aimed at the acquisition and development of skills and knowledge and their application” (Dale, 1994:24). It can be divided into 2 categories: individual and organisational; which both are interrelated to each other. Individuals are expected to act as “agents” for organisational learning (Friedman, 2001). Meanwhile, learning can be held in anywhere, anytime; either explicit or tacit. For examples, it could be through watching a movie, attending a class, reading a book or even walking on the street(by observation). Individual learning can be seen as behaviour. Behaviourism is a theory that explains human behaviour in terms of its pleasurable or painful consequences (Skinner, 1953, 1971). In responding to the learn stimulus-response model, we learn to approaches in a pleasant way for a particular situation to look for an ideal result. After knowing what we are called upon to react, our behaviour will be internalized within us so that it is done naturally without …show more content…
Argyris argues that organisational learning as the process of “detection and correction of errors” (1999). Most people search for solutions upon the detection of errors; this is single-loop learning. It means developing a norm, and performs to it, but never question or rethink. Meanwhile, double-loop learning questions the norms, beliefs, assumptions, routines each time. Argyris argues that double loop learning is necessary if practitioners and organisations are to make informed decisions in rapidly changing and often uncertain contexts (1974). Nevertheless, organisations should apply both learning methods in their practice. Therefore organisations can apply for relevant action strategy as well as knowing governing