Introduction
Organizational learning has gained momentum in its definition, application and execution. It has a purpose of knowledge creation, transfer leading to behavior change organizational learning as a process does not happen once, but it has continuity.
It has been given another point of view that organizational learning involves a learning organization. On the contrary, any process that has a goal in it is a setting with associated barriers to its implementation or practicability. Consequently, there must be a significant consideration with respect factors that may impede Organizational learning as a process.
Journal dimension of organizational learning
Schilling and Kluge, (2009), give an explicit approach to organizational learning listing individual or group-based means as a vehicle to learning in an organization. The learning involves a relatively permanent change in knowledge which is a direct result of accumulated experience. The two authors assert that the learning process of an organization is related to the improvement of organization performance.
The dimension which has been given as much weight as organizational learning is the way of diffusion of knowledge in the organizational routines, processes and structures, and how the future learning activities of an organization’s members (Jacobson & Robertson, 2011).
Learning may be possible in an organization, yet a good learning activity must include permanent ways of retaining that knowledge in an organization so that the knowledge gained can be used for future learning needs. The suggested methods are creating the documents, and/or adopting it into the routines or structures of an organization.
Comparison of the barriers approaches
There is a meshing of the methods employed by Dierkes et al, (2003. Pp, 879), and Schilling & Kluge, (2009). In the first place, the two sources create a lead to future researchers in the field of organizational learning about the barriers to organizational learning.
Categories given in the two sources are centered to organizational culture as a major barrier to learning in an institution. This led to the categorization of barriers into three main divisions as discussed below.
Actual-personal barriers-it is asserted that these barriers are characterized by individual thinking, attitudes and behaviors. This occurs at an individual level particularly to an employee in an organization.
An individual may have an innovative idea which may create knowledge, individual postulates pertaining to rewards, coming from individual effort that led to the creation of knowledge. This hinders intuiting as a process developing insights from experience to create knowledge.
Structural-organizational barriers: – these are anchored in the organization’s strategies, technological, cultural and formal regulations. This part borrows so much from Dierkes et al, (2003. Pp, 879), as relates to organizational culture. This is an inhibitor to organizational learning and has, in fact, lethal impacts.
With respect to formal regulations and organizational culture, knew knowledge is not created but over-exploitation of existing knowledge. To back up this, I worked with a micro-finance company in Kenya, called Faulu (K), Ltd, as a field credit officer.
I knew so much of the market’s competitors thus leading to us, and my team members presented a proposal containing favorable strategies for recruitment and retention of clients (Easterby-Smith & Lyles, 2003). To our surprise, all we received was a reprimand that our job description did not involve business development but credit. Eventually, our client base was captured by competitors leading to heavy business losses.
Another barrier was classified as societal-environmental factors- this covers customers, competitors, social political environment and technological advancements outside the boundaries of an organization. The relationship of an organization and its external environment is a direct factor information flow, inside or outside that organization.
Changes in the external environmental acts as a stepping stone to learning about market trends, competitor’s new technological advances or strategies (Chung, 2005). This is a pool of new ideas and innovations in response to developments in the external environment. The lack of knowledge in the external environment fatally impedes knowledge transfer and/or acquisition for behavioral change.
Conclusion
In conclusion, barriers to organizational learning as given in the journal approach are centered in a three-fold system of an individual, organization as an entity and the external environment. The barriers at each level should be given a particular treatment in order to mitigate impacts to organizational learning and improve the process of learning.
Reference list
Chung, C., (2005). Technology transfer and competition: The Mobile Handset Industry in post-WTO. Hamburg: Springer Business media. Retrieved
Dierkes, et al., (2003). Handbook of Organizational Learning & Knowledge. NY: Oxford Publishers. Retrieved
Easterby-Smith, M. & Lyles,.M (2003). The Blackwell Handbook of organizational learning and knowledge management. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. Retrieved
Jacobson, D & Robertson, L, (2011) Knowledge transfer and technology diffusion. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing limited. Retrieved
Schilling, J. & Kluge, A. (2009). Barriers to organizational learning: integration of theory and research. International Journal of Management Review. Vol.3: pp.337-357. Retrieved