Introduction
This article is a contribution of both Scott Cook and Dvora Yanow, two university professors from California’s San Hose and California State Universities. The article is written in essay form and it mainly explores theories of organizational culture. According to the authors, the most popular approach to organizational learning is to consider the topic from two points of view: organizational and individualistic. It is also common for organizational learning to focus on the cognitive abilities of individuals and not their organizations. In this essay, the authors propose a new approach to organizational learning by cultivating an understanding of organizational culture. The study of organizational learning and culture is a popular research topic for scholars who are interested in understanding how organizations function. This essay is a critique of the article “Culture and Organizational Learning” by Cook and Yanow.
Critique of subject matter
The subject matter in this article is presented in the context of public administration. For instance, the essay was first presented in the “Second Annual Symposium of the Public Administration Theory Network” (Cook & Yanow, 1993). This essay makes substantial contributions to Public Administration’s theoretical research. For example, at the beginning of the article, the authors promise to answer two pertinent questions: whether an organization can learn and the nature of learning that pertains to organizations. These are important considerations because they seek to personify the nature of an organization about public administration. The authors lay out pointers that solidify their hypothesis that an organizational learning culture can be cultivated. Nevertheless, there is a possibility that the premises of cultural organizations versus cognitive organizations are not explored satisfactorily. The authors of this article have mostly described the aspects of culture and learning as parallel concepts, as opposed to them being interdependent factors in a single organization.
Outstanding coverage by the article
One of the issues that stand out in this article is the analogy of flute craftsmanship. According to the authors, the analogy of the three flute makers is used to exemplify organizational learning. Organizational learning is outlined by how “each company has developed a distinctly recognizable product, transcending individual variations among flutes and design changes over time” (Cook & Yanow, 1993, p. 381). This is an effective method of communicating the nature of organizational learning to readers. Therefore, readers can understand organizational learning as a process through which knowledge becomes part of an organization as opposed to being contained in individuals. The three flute-makers analogy is an effective method of communicating the practical nature of organizational learning.
Recommendation and conclusion
The organization of this essay is subject to interpretation. On one hand, it can be argued that the information in this article is arranged in a manner that makes it too random. On the other hand, the use of too many subtitles in the article can be interpreted to mean that the authors are thorough in their coverage of the subject matter. Nevertheless, the article provides ample information to individuals who might be practitioners of organizational learning. On the other hand, the structure of the article might be confusing to individuals who only want to understand a singular concept. There is a lot of information in this article but within this information, the concept of organizational learning is covered adequately. The authors use any tool that is available to them when they explore their hypothesis. The effectiveness of this article lies in the author’s command of the subject matter.
Reference
Cook, S. D., & Yanow, D. (1993). Culture and organizational learning. Journal of Management Inquiry, 2(4), 373-390.