The Processes and Models of Organizational Learning
The in which organizational learning has way been conceptualized and modeled has under- gone significant change over the past decades. Early conceptions of organizational learning were based behavioral approaches, with on cognitive processes and evolutionary concepts receiving a certain amount of recognition. Some of these models have been criticized for being too mechanistic or too passive (see, for example, Stopford, Ch. i). Gradually, insights from cognitive learning theories and research on organizational culture enriched conceptualizations of organizational learning. Models came to include the role of interpretation and sense-making processes, leading recently to an awareness of political processes that are en- tailed in competing multiple interpretations and contested learning (Child and Heavens Ch. 13). Research on perceptual filters revealed that they enable certain information to be seen at the expense of other signals. Starbuck and Hedberg (Ch. 14) analyze how perceptual filters also influence how information is interpreted or misinterpreted) and can thereby influence originally, are embedded in social contexts. treated as either organizational learning was into an outcome of behavior and engrained organizational memory through rules, routines, and repertoires, or its relation to work processes was not made clear. However, several authors in this handbook argue for a revision that places learning more squarely in its con- texts. They indicate how those contexts can be delineated in terms of the participating groups and their cultures as well as in terms of task systems, organizational structures, and environmental forces. Gherardi and Nicolini (Ch. 2) propose using the expression 'learning-in- organizing to capture this significant shift in the way learning is conceptualized. Such a term recognizes that learning is not a separate activity but rather one that is embedded in processes of working and of organizing. This ap- proach resonates with the findings in the chapter by Hedberg and Wolff (Ch. 24), who trace the similarities in the way conceptualiza- tions of strategy, learning, and organizations have developed over the past few decades. They note that emphasis on process has in- creased in each of these areas, a shift that makes organizing a more useful concept than organization, and strategizing more appropriate than strategy.