Introduction
In the face of escalating global competition, convergence of technology, and an exponential explosion of knowledge, organizations endeavoring to sustain their competitive advantage in the marketplace must strengthen their capacity to position and exploit their tangible and intangible assets to the fullest (Yeung et al, 2010).
Increasingly, the capability of an organization to achieve and maintain a competitive edge inarguably depends on its commitment and success in managing such intangible resources as manpower skills, organizational adaptability, flexibility, propensity to experiment, knowledge bases, and many other strengths that are unique to the organization, and which other competitors cannot provide (Argyris, 2004).
Many business analysts and other theorists are firm on the assertion that in the knowledge-based economy witnessed in the 21st century, organizational learning, ability to adapt to change, and innovation are the most fundamental intangible assets that any organization needs to obtain and exploit to attain maximum organizational performance, effectiveness, and growth (Chiva & Alegre, 2009).
By critically comparing and contrasting the concepts of organizational learning and learning organizations, this essay aims to bring out the strong points in each concept that can effectively be used by organizations to achieve their goals.
Defining ‘Organizational Learning’ and ‘Learning Organizations’
It is imperative to look at what the process of learning actually entails before attempting to define the concepts. According to Wilhelm (2009), learning is basically the acquisition of knowledge, behaviors, value systems and skills through an active process of synthesizing diverse types of information.
As such, organizational learning is an increasingly popular area of knowledge within organizational theory that concerns itself with studying and evaluating different models and theoretical perspectives about the way an organization learns and adapts to change (Wilhelm, 2010).
In organizational development, learning is incorporated as a distinguishing feature of an adaptive organization in terms of creating an enabling environment for the organization to sense changes in indicators from internal as well as external environment and adapt accordingly. Organizational learning can be defined from either the technical or social perspective.
According to Marshall & Smith (2009), “…the technical view assumes that organizational learning is about the effective processing, interpretation of, and response to, information both inside and outside the organization” (para. 7). However, the social view on organizational learning takes a deep interest on how individuals make sense of their daily experiences at work. These experiences, according to the author, often derive from unambiguous sources or from implicit sources.
On the other hand, learning organization as a concept of organizational development employs theoretical and conceptual findings of organizational learning and other objective sources of information in order to stipulate concrete and tailor-made recommendations about how to come up with organizations that have the capacity to effectively and efficiently learn (Kline & Saunders, 1997).
As such, a learning organization is the expression given to an organization that actively facilitates the learning of its employees for purposes of continuously transforming itself towards the attainment of its goals and objectives.
The notion of the learning organization was mainly conceptualized from the systems thinking theory – a framework that permits individuals to evaluate businesses as bounded entities rather than separate and individualized objects (Madsen & Desai, 2010). Indeed, the concept of learning organizations measure and evaluate the performance of the entity as a whole although various mechanisms have also been developed to measure the performance of various components.
Comparing and Contrasting the Concepts
The above concepts can be compared in terms of their related objectives. Available literature reveals that both the concepts of organizational learning and learning organization have a primary role of enhancing the performance of organizations, thus maintaining their competitive advantage.
Indeed, Yeung et al (2010) is of the opinion that organizations cannot afford to shut down their major avenues of learning how to do new things based upon the existing social and economic conditions and in line with the best practices of the industry as this will guarantee their survival in the tumultuous economic environment of the 21st century.
The concept of learning organization offers the backbone through which organizations can implement the learnt experiences to enhance performance improvement (Marshall & Smith, 2009).
Both concepts are aimed at assisting organizations to, among other things: Maintain levels on innovation, productivity, and competitiveness; effectively respond to internal and external pressures; have adequate knowledge to link available resources to customer needs; enhance the quality of outputs at all levels; enhance corporate image by becoming more focused on the needs of people; and enhance the pace of change occurring within the organization (Marshall & Smith, 2009; Yeung et al, 2010; Wilhelm, 2010).
Another similarity close to what has been discussed above is that both concepts – organizational learning and learning organization – have developed as a direct result of the pressures facing contemporary organizations.
The literature on how the business environment started to drastically change towards the end of the 20th century has been well documented, with many analysts arguing that businesses had to find mechanisms to learn and understand the ever shifting economic environment and rapid technological advancements that presented new ways of conducting business (Kline & Saunders, 1997; Madsen & Desai, 2010).
According to Argyris (2004), the development of organizational learning by organizations was a well-calculated move aimed at steering them from stability traps that surfaced during this time. Shifting economic trends and difficulties occasioned by these and other influences also occasioned the development and formalization of learning organizations.
The concepts, however, can be compared and evaluated differentially in terms of process versus structure. According to Malhotra (1996), organization learning can be perceived as the process through which organizations put in place mechanisms and frameworks aimed at gaining insight and understanding from their varied experiences through adaptation, experimentation, examination, and an active desire to evaluate what is working for the organizations and what is likely to lead to failure.
Learning organizations, on the other hand, must have a comprehensive structure in place to ensure the stipulated and recommended measures learnt from both the external and internal environment of the organization are effectively implemented to ensure continuous performance, thus enhancing the competitive edge of the organization.
As such, organizational learning becomes an individualized and organization-wide process that aims to progress the achievement of goals and objectives of the organization.
However, for this to happen, the entity must have a structure for integrating the recommendations and measures for the desired changes to take place. According to Marshall and Smith, (2009) organizational learning should be evaluated in terms of existing processes used by the organization to attain performance improvement, while learning organization is an ideal structure of an organization.
The concepts can also be contrasted in terms of roles played by individuals. While the available literature on organizational learning seems to agree that learning can take place both at the organizational and individual level, the concept of learning organization seems to take a holistic view that all evaluations must be undertaken at the organizational level rather than the individual level (Marshall & Smith, 2009).
This is line with the systems thinking theory. This kind of thinking have occasioned questions from some scholars and critics, who are yet to be convinced that organizations can learn by themselves distinct from the individuals who manages the functions of such organizations.
Harvard professors Argyris and Schon offered a credible response to the critics by arguing “…that although the social organization does not have a physical body as the human body does, it has a collective brain that is made possible by the communicative exchange between and among the brains of the individual organizational members” (Xin-An, n.d., para. 7).
Other advocates of the learning organization perspective believe that an organization must never be seen as a collection of distinct individuals; rather, it is a collection of mutually dependent and intermingled individuals.
According to Xian-An (n.d.), the concepts of organizational learning and learning organization can further be differenced in terms of scope. The author firmly maintains that “…an organization that manifests learning is not necessarily a learning organization; just like a person who can play some music is not necessarily a musician” (para. 44).
Consequently, the author argues that an organization must exhibit so much learning in addition to deeply entrenching the learning process as a ubiquitous thread in its organizational framework in order to qualify to be called a ‘learning organization.’ The basic premise that reinforces this assertion is that the functioning and scope of a learning organization is holistically dependent on an integrated system rather than piecemeal procedures and practices as is the case in organizational learning (Xian-An, n.d.; Marshall & Smith, 2009).
As such many reputable organizations have often used the organizational learning concept to create and share knowledge, hence enhancing their competitive advantage, but few organizations can be said to be fully-fledged learning organizations since the scope of learning organizations is much deeper than mere creation and sharing of knowledge for performance improvement (Yeung et al., 2010).
Differences exist between the two concepts in terms of their theoretical backing and orientation. While it evidently known that the ‘learning organization’ concept greatly utilizes the systems thinking theory in its approach, the ‘organizational learning’ has utilized many organizational and behavioral theories in attempting to understand how individuals learn, and how the knowledge learnt by the individual can be transferred to the organization to assist in performance improvement and maintenance of a competitive advantage (Madsen & Desai, 2010).
It is, however, imperative to note that although the theoretical orientations of the concepts may be different, their objectives are more or less the same as discussed elsewhere in this paper.
Conclusion
This paper has critically compared and contrasted the concepts of organizational learning and learning organizations. It has been demonstrated that although many formal organizations make use of organizational learning in an attempt to remain competitive and improve profitability through acquisition and sharing of knowledge, few are yet to conceptualize the dynamics of a learning organization (Marshall & Smith, 2009).
A detailed evaluation of the concepts revealed some similarities and differences in key areas of process and structure, objectives, precedents of the concepts; roles played by individuals, scope of concepts, and theoretical orientation. Although these concepts are relatively new in the organizational arena, they are destined to shape the performance and resilience of organizations in a long time to come.
List of References
Argyris, C. (2004). On Organizational Learning. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Chiva, R., & Alegre, J (2009). Organizational Learning Capability and Job Satisfaction: an Empirical Assessment in the Ceramic Tile Industry. British Journal of Management, Vol. 20, Issue 1, pp 20.1 323-340.
Kline, P., & Saunders, B (1997) Ten Steps to a Learning Organization, 2nd Ed. London: Great Ocean Publishers.
Madsen, P.M., Desai, Y (2010). Failing to Learn? The Effects of Failure and Success on Organizational Learning in the global Orbital Launch Vehicle Industry. Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 53, Issue 3, pp 451-476.
Malhotra, T. (1996) Organizational Learning and Learning Organizations: An Overview. Web.
Marshall, J., & Smith, S (2009) Learning Organizations and Organizational Learning: What have we Learnt? Management Services, Vol. 53, Issue 3, pp14-19. Viewed <Business Source Premier Database.
Wilhelm, W. (2010). Sustaining Organizational Learning. T+D, Vol. 64, Issue 5, pp 52-56. Viewed <Business Source Premier Database.
Xin-An, L. Surveying the Concepts of the Learning Organization. Web.
Yeung, A.C.L., Lai, K., & Yee, R.W.Y (2010). Organizational Learning, Innovativeness, and Organizational Performance: A Qualitative Approach. International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 45, Issue 11, pp 2459-2477.