The document discusses organizational learning theory, tracing its origins to social psychology and organizational theory, notably the works of Weick and Argyris. It outlines key constructs such as knowledge acquisition, information distribution, interpretation, and organizational memory, emphasizing their importance in measuring organizational performance. Additionally, it contrasts organizational learning with absorptive capacity, highlighting their differences in focus and level of analysis.

1. ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
THEORY
Hamideh Iraj
Sahar Najafikhah

2. Delone and McLean IS
Success Model1
Expectation Confirmation
Theory2
Organizational Learning3
4
Evaluation Theories
SERVQUAL

3. A General View on Organizational
Learning Theory
• Originating authors
Weick (1979) The Social Psychology of Organizing
Cyert and March (1963) A Behavioral Theory of the Firm.
• Originating area
Organizational theory; Sociology
• Level of analysis
Levels of analysis may cover one of five levels: unit, group,
company, industry, or society. The usual levels of analysis,
however, are either individual or organization.

4. The Theory
History

5. 1960s
The theory emerged from
organizational theory and social
psychology

6. 1970s
gained in popularity with
management researchers
following the work of Argyris and
Schon(1978)

8. Schematic of the Theory

9. When OL takes place?
when the organization
(1) adds to its knowledge base or pool of potential
alternatives but does not change current
actions/processes,
(2) alters current actions to correct errors, but does so
blindly, without conscious attempts to understand or
modify the action–outcome relationship
(3) may exhibit both characteristics.
learning is a continuum, with most organizations
falling somewhere between the two extremes.

10. Antecedents
The concept of Reference Gap
The need to resolve an error between organizational
expectations and actual outcomes.
Incorrectly Applied Processes
Failure of knowledge due to:
• Inaccurate knowledge
• Unidentified contributing factors
Uncontrollable environmental factors

11. THEORY CONSTRUCTS

12. Theory Constructs
Knowledge Acquisition:
the organization scans both the internal and
external environment and seeks valid data and
processes
Information Distribution:
1. The likelihood that a subgroup needing
information and another subgroup possessing
that information "find each other"
2. The speed with which the match up occurs.

13. Theory Constructs cont.
Interpretation:
when the organization attempts to expand current
knowledge, adapt/alter current processes or detect current
or potential misfits between the organization and
environment
Outcomes:
knowledge outcomes or commercial/performance
outcomes together comprise a measure of organizational
performance.
measured by operational efficiency and performance,
spread of technology or increased competitive knowledge

14. Theory Constructs cont.
Organizational Memory:
The ability of the organization to encode, store and retrieve
information from past experience is created by and helps
create Organizational Learning.

15. RELATIONSHIP TO
OTHER MODELS

16. Comparison of Organizational
Learning and Absorptive Capacity
Both deal with information and learning
● OL tends to focus on environmental characteristics as
moderating known relationships
● ACAP focuses on internal characteristics
★ OL describes how an organization learns
★ ACAP examines how well an organization learns and
why it learns
OL is considered one of the necessary antecedents of
ACAP

17. Comparison of Organizational
Learning and Absorptive Capacity -
cont.
➔ The OL model operates at a macro level -organization
level
➔ The ACAP model operates at a micro level -detailed
explanations of learning process

18. Resources
1. Integrated Series in Information Systems, Volume 29, Information Systems Theory Explaining
and Predicting Our Digital Society, Vol. 2, Springer; 2012 edition
2. http://istheory.byu.edu/wiki/Organizational_learning_theory

19. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION