The Learning Organization

I.J. Winfield; M. Kerrin

1994 The Learning Organization

doi: 10.1108/09696479410072763

Describes current research on organizational learning and change being conducted in the Midlands region in the UK, centring on the industrial conurbation of Derby. One of the catalysts for the current upsurge in interest in organizational learning within this region has been the arrival of Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK Ltd and the perceived revitalization of the region′s economy that this investment is seen to have made. Research at Derby University focuses on ascertaining the degree to which Toyota Ltd can be attributed as being a point source of change for firms learning, emulating and adopting what are known as new wave manufacturing strategies and associated human resource management practices. Discusses and theoretically frames empirically derived results.

Brian Robinson

1994 The Learning Organization

doi: 10.1108/09696479410060982

Tests the hypothesis that voluntary groups, generally, are learning organizations. Reviews the literature on non‐profit organizations and concludes that many of the well‐known charities, for example, have now become established hierarchies following an inital period of mission formulation and organizational evolution when they could be considered as learning organizations. Discovers that, once the primary objective has been attained and funds start to flow, the voluntary organization tends to become staffed full‐time with people and the volunteer tends to become an irrelevance. Gives examples from the steam railway preservation movement to suggest that only those voluntary groups with a primary mission incapable of being achieved in the short term and which demand a high level of volunteer input remain as learning organizations.

Chris Esperat; Lynn Godkin

1994 The Learning Organization

doi: 10.1108/09696479410072772

Health care policy and practice are frequently driven by government mandate. What role does organizational learning have in government‐directed organizational change and what kind of organizational learning might we expect from legislated procedure? In 1983, a task force on indigent health care recommended that maternal and child health become a top service priority in the USA in Texas. The Maternal and Infant Health Improvement Act in Texas eventually grew out of the realization of such need. The Texas Department of Health was assigned responsibility for implementation. Focuses this investigation on the implementation of the state′s resulting maternal and infant health policy from an organizational learning perspective.

Carol A. Benoit; Kenneth D. Mackenzie

1994 The Learning Organization

doi: 10.1108/09696479410072781

The ability to think organizationally helps an organization′s members to manage the organization′s environments more effectively and to link results to the strategic direction. Describes the organization level learning (OLL) model and the organizational diagnostic survey (ODS) process developed to support it. Identifies two major categories of organizational problems and integrates the ten‐step ODS process with five stages of organizational problem solving. Effective organizational learning is an organization‐level process which occurs when four key learning processes described in the OLL model are managed with purpose, discipline and persistence. Associates in effective learning organizations think organizationally.

May M.L. Wong

1994 The Learning Organization

doi: 10.1108/09696479410072790

Presents an exploratory study of how a Japanese organization in Hong Kong attempts to enhance employees′ learning capacity through spiritual education. Illustrates the sort of spiritual education being conducted in the training programme and the extent to which the Japanese organization has achieved its target in enhancing employees′ learning capacity. Sees the implications of spiritual education for other Western and Hong Kong organizations as being that it may be an effective means of decreasing a company′s turnover rate.