The Learning Organization

by Ronald Mackay and Viviana Galleno (24 January 2007)

The emergence of the learning organization

The term “learning organization” is used to refer to the ideal of an organization, project or program capable of continuous learning that allows it to adapt to changes in its environment and thereby to perform well, serve its clients, meet the expectations of its stakeholders, maintain its relevance, and ensure its longer-term sustainability (Senge, 1994).

In relatively stable times, success could be achieved through a direct-and-control culture. Organizations, projects and programs were able to build and refine their capacities to such a point that they would run effectively on optimized routines, policies and procedures. As the working environment of R4D organizations and indeed organizations in every sector has become less predictable, more challenging and ever-more demanding, they must find ways of adapting and adjusting to changes that are almost continuous while still performing well. Organizational learning – a process in which not only managers but individuals, groups, teams and units at every level of the organization learn and in the process identify, share and bring solutions to problems – is suggested as an essential contribution to success.

Both public organizations (e.g. WHO, World Bank, IFAD, CIDA), and those in the private sector (e.g. Motorola, Monsanto, Hoffmann-LaRoche, Hewlett-Packard, BP Amoco) actively engage in organizational learning and view it as a key initiative that contributes to their successful performance (HRDC, 1997; Bouthillier and Shearer, 2002).