A learning organization is one in which employees share knowledge, allowing deeper understanding and a more thorough approach to problem-solving. As a result, the organization is able to grow and change in keeping with its environment.
Managing in a learning organization requires that both supervisors and subordinates be open to suggestions, be able to admit mistakes without fear of reprisal, and be willing to make changes in their routines. Although learning organizations have been described in many articles and books, advice on how to create one has been lacking.
In Learning in Action: A Guide to Putting the Learning Organization to Work, David Garvin provides managers with much-needed practical guidelines for recreating an organization's culture to engender learning. Garvin, who is a management professor at the Harvard Business School, has consulted with many companies around the world. He is deeply committed to learning organizations. As he says: "Learning is the key to longtime survival and growth [because] organizational effectiveness is so intimately linked to adaptability and flexibility."