Organizational Learning
APLU believes that human and intellectual diversity contribute to academic excellence, and that the Association and its member institutions benefit from the rich diversity of the persons who comprise our staff, faculty and students.
— M. Peter McPherson, President, Association of Public Land Grant Universities, March 24, 2010
What is Organizational Learning?
Organizational learning theory is concerned with how learning takes place in organizations. It focuses on collective learning but takes into account the proposition made by Argyris (1992) that organizations do not perform the actions that produce the learning; it is individual members of the organization who behave in ways that lead to it, although organizations can create conditions that facilitate such learning. The concept of organizational learning recognizes that the way in which this takes place is affected by the context of the organization and its culture. Organizational learning is concerned with the development of new knowledge or insights that have the potential to influence behavior. It has been defined by Marsick (1994) as a process of “Coordinate d systems change, with mechanisms built in for individuals and groups to access, build and use organizational memory, structure and culture to develop long- term organizational capacity.” Organizational learning takes place within the wide institutional context of inter- organizational relationships and “refers broadly to an organization’s acquisition of understanding, know -how, techniques and practices of any kind and by any means.” (Argyris and Schon, 1996).
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