Content area
Full Text
Keywords Learning organizations, Workplace learning, Learning
Abstract This article presents an integrated model of the learning organization. It is based on empirical research of the learning organization literature, as well as on practitioners' understandings of the concept where learning organizations were often described in terms of four distinct individual aspects - no more and no less. This article argues these aspects cannot be treated as separate, and that the four aspects have to be combined in order to create a true learning organization. The four aspects are: learning at work; organizational learning; developing a learning climate; and creating learning structures. The article suggests that only those organizations that have implemented all of the aspects should be called "learning organizations", and those organizations that have implemented only one aspect should be called "partial learning organizations".
Introduction
The concept of the learning organization has, since it was first coined (probably by Garratt, 1987) been quite ambiguous. I am certainly not the only one who has been confused when studying texts on the learning organization. Through the years, many authors have brought up the difficulty of understanding the concept and have asked for clarity (e.g. Burgoyne, 1999; Garvin, 1993; Jacobs, 1995; Jones and Hendry, 1994; Leitch et al., 1996; Ulrich et al., 1993). If it had been another concept, few would probably have bothered. However, the idea of the learning organization has the capacity to become the idea of tomorrow for many organizations, since it is an answer to a world that is said to undergo rapid and violent change. Terms such as competence, knowledge and learning will probably stay popular indefinitely.
The vagueness (vagueness in this article will be used as a neutral term) can be understood in different ways, for the term vagueness can have a positive and a negative meaning. Further, there is a producer perspective and a consumer perspective. In this article, consumers of the concept of "learning organization" are the main group of interest. With the help of ambiguous language, managers can satisfy different subgroups that have different and, sometimes, even contradicting interests (Astley and Zammuto, 1992). Furthermore, it might be easier to legitimize the organization (e.g. Brunsson and Olsen, 1993; Meyer and Rowan, 1977) with a vague rather than a clear...