Adaptation to creation: Progress of organizational learning and increasing complexity of learning systems

Abstract

A brief survey of organizational learning literature shows that understanding of how organizations learn has proceeded along two streams: one based on progress function or learning / experience curve effect, and the other as a process facilitating organizational adaptation and growth, and development and sustenance of competitiveness. This latter stream presents three phases of evolution: initially it considered learning as adaptation through search and problem solving, followed by attempts at conceptualization of learning as an organization-wide, holistic phenomenon and finally focusing on development of systems, processes, training tools, capabilities, etc., for building learning orgainizations. Learning is now understood as the development of organizational generative capabilities with a wide response range. The article identifies that the understanding of organizational learning from learning as adaptation to information processing and knowledge creation systems capable of generati...