Organizational Learning – Key Definitions and Key Concepts

 

It's been observed that companies emanates value rather than 'things' from knowledge , know-how, intellectual assets and competencies and that these capabilities are vested within individuals (Hamel, 2005). Resultantly, a company must concentrate on retaining and developing its organizational expertise (skills set, tacit and explicit knowledge, capabilities and core competences) and how to engage staff in the process in order to create an enduring competitive advantage (Porter, 2004; French, Rayner, Rees & Rumbles, 2008).

Within organizations, there appear to be two contrasting learning philosophies: a basic, primarily educational approach focused on remedial action to correct mistakes or omissions; and a more comprehensive lifelong learning that recognizes the fundamental importance of employees to business, thus adopting a more developmental approach (seeing people as assets) (Beardwell & Thompson, 2014).

Training is a planned and systematic method of enhancing the knowledge , skills and attitudes of an individual so that they might perform their present role more efficiently and effectively, while development is the process of preparing a person to take on more onerous responsibilities or equipping them to face higher levels of future organizational challenges (Malone, 2003: 76). Learning is the process that causes behavior to change continuously through the acquisition of increased skills to deal effectively with the operating environment through the acquisition of knowledge , skills and attitudes required (French et al , 2008: 123).

While learning focuses on acquiring the skills and competencies needed to perform effectively, this must be linked to performance, i.e. incorporating this essential learning mostly with desire to engage in a way that needs to be applied it in a way that produces enhanced or improved outcomes (Bratton & Gold, 2007). Such an learning (as well as its implementation) can actually occur within a company at different levels, such as on an individual or team / group basis, but this paper will focus on aspects of organizational learning (French et al, 2008).

 

Key Definitions and Concepts

Organizational learning could be seen as the way in which an organization can create a collaborative or shared knowledge base and develop mechanisms to obtain and transmit such a information (Hora & Hunter, 2014). It was built on the presumption that it is able to generate / create a store of institutional knowledge as an organization grows and adapts, which provides a collective business benefit exceeding that which could be expected to be provided by individually operating employees (Hagen, 2010). The collective learning that takes place generates organizational knowledge as a company develops over time-the shared intelligence specific to that company accumulated through both formal systems and the shared experiences of individuals in the organization (Cole & Kelly, 2011; Johnson, Whittington & Scholes, 2011).

Therefore, organizational learning requires an entity capable of continual regeneration by applying knowledge, experience and skills through the creation of a society that promotes conundrum and evaluation (Johnson et al , 2011). The conventional, restrictive, hierarchical structures that ensure people's central command are no longer conducive to competing or generating organizational learning in more dynamic environments (Henry, 2011). As a result , organizational learning refers to a company's ability to learn how to do what it does, where what it learns is possessed not by individual members but by the group-when the group acquires the know-how associated with its ability to carry out its collective activities, organizational learning has taken place (Cohen & Sproull, 1996).

Organizational learning offers a mechanism for addressing the essential nature of knowledge (Thompson & McHugh, 2009), throughout that there have been major differences between explicit knowledge (which can be formally expressed and communicated by language) and tacit knowledge (which is difficult to formalize or communicate as it is embodied, personal and rooted in action / context) (Nonaka, 1994). In order to build a sustainable competitive advantage, a business requires the efficient application of tacit knowledge developed from a more intimate appreciation of its operations and environment (Henry, 2011; Porter, 2004). This tacit knowledge can be viewed as corporate knowledge and, despite the difficulties associated with its transfer and dissemination, organizational learning strategies can be used to effectively capture it in order to create, innovate and maintain the necessary competitive advantage (Mullins & Christie, 2013).

A company needs skills in the person (entrenched within in the person and it can be formed via education , training and experience), skills in the job (meeting role requirements) and skills in the environment (an comprehension and appreciation of the company's shared / collective interests and organizational culture) in terms of individual employee capabilities (Johnson et al, 2011). Therefore, effective organizational learning strategies should aim to maximize the collective return of the application and sharing of tacit knowledge and the skills that can be acquired and developed through the working environment and culture (Hatch & Cunliffe, 2006), as these have real business utility because competitors cannot easily replicate them (Barney , 1986).

Workers in the Agrochemical, Plantations and Agricultural enterprises such as ours are aware of the need for learning and growth, which makes it much easier for Companies such as ours to enable employee’s investment in these processes. Regardless of staff's knowledge of development, the organizational characteristics of agricultural undertakings that impact staff development need to be taken into account while developing their business skills and capacity to prepare and conduct productive and productivity-enhancing investments.

 

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