Exploring the modes of organizational learning: features from the Open Factory event
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7433/s108.2019.11Keywords:
informational learning; interactive learning; entrepreneurship; mentorship; networkAbstract
Purpose of the paper: This paper aims to investigate the modes of organizational learning in some Italian small-medium firms that have participated in Open Factory (OF), the biggest open-doors event of industrial manufacturing culture in Italy.
Methodology: The present research is based on in-depth interviews with seven firms that participated in the OF event during the 2016 and 2017 editions.
Findings: This study highlights that firms, participating in the OF, are led to reflect deeply on their identity, characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. This in-depth reflection leads firms to improve their informational and interactive modes of organizational learning and, subsequently, portray themselves better to stakeholders.
Research limits: The limitations of this research come from the number of firms taking part in this study, choosing a single person in every firm, and carrying out the interviews after the OF event ended.
Practical implications: This study suggests to firms that want to present and portray themselves better to stakeholders to learn how to reflect on their identity and characteristics in terms of, for example, employees’ skills, production technologies and products. In addition, this paper proposes a number of advantages in terms of OL provided to firms by their participation in the OF event.
Originality of the paper: In management studies the modes of organizational learning in firms remain one of the less explored topics in practical terms. This paper provides practical evidence by proposing the Italian case of Open Factory as analysis context.
References
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BAŠKARADA S., CHANDRAN A., SHOKR M., STEWART C. (2016), “Facilitating organizational learning through agent-based modeling and simulation experimentation”, The Learning Organization, vol. 23, n. 6, pp. 429-443.
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HATUM A., PETTIGREW A. (2004), “Adaptation under environmental turmoil: Organizational flexibility in family owned firms”, Family Business Review, vol. 17, n. 3, pp. 237-258.
HUBER G.P. (1991), “Organizational learning: The contributing processes and the literatures”, Organizational Science, vol. 2, n. 1, pp. 88-115.
ISAKSSON R., YAMAMOTO Y., GARVARE R. (2017), “Towards a perfect learning process - where is Sweden?”, Sinergie Italian Journal of Management, vol. 34, n. 100, pp. 57-75.
KIM D.H. (1993), “The link between individual and organizational learning”, Sloan Management Review, vol. 35, n. I, pp. 37-50.
KLAG M., LANGLEY A. (2013), “Approaching the conceptual leap in qualitative research”, International Journal of Management Reviews, vol. 15, pp. 149-166.
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KOLB D.A. (1984), Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
KONDRACKI N.L., WELLMAN N.S. (2002), “Content analysis: Review of methods and their applications in nutrition education”, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, vol. 34, pp. 224-230.
KREISER P.M. (2011), “Entrepreneurial orientation and organizational learning: The impact of network range and network closure”, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, vol. 35, n. 5, pp. 1025-1050.
LAM A. (2000), “Tacit knowledge, organizational learning and societal institutions: An integrated framework”, Organization Studies, vol. 21, n. 3, pp. 487-513.
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LEROY F., RAMANANTSOA B. (1997), “The cognitive and behavioural dimensions of organizational learning in a merger: An empirical study”, Journal of Management Studies, vol. 34, n. 6, pp. 871-894.
LEVITT B., MARCH J.G. (1988), “Organizational learning”, Annual Review of Sociology, vol. 14, pp. 319-338.
LORSCH J.W. (2009), “Regaining lost relevance”, Journal of Management Inquiry, vol. 18, n. 2, pp. 108-117.
MICHAILOVA S., SIDOROVA E. (2010), “Knowledge management in transition economies: Selected key issues and possible research avenues”, Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies, vol. 1, n. 1, pp. 68-81.
MORENO-LUZON M.D., LLORIA M.B. (2008), “The role of non-structural and informal mechanisms of integration and coordination as forces in knowledge creation”, British Journal of Management, vol. 19, pp. 250-276.
NIELSEN J.E. (2015), “Corporate entrepreneurship, organizational learning and knowledge implementation”, Economic Horizons, vol. 17, n. 3, pp. 199-214.
NONAKA I. (1994), “A dynamic theory of knowledge creation”, Organizational Science, vol. 5, n. 1, pp. 14-37.
NONAKA I., TAKEUCHI H. (1995), The knowledge creating company: How Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovations, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
NONAKA I., TOYAMA R. (2005), “The theory of the knowledge-creating firm: Subjectivity, objectivity and synthesis”, Industrial and Corporate Change, vol. 14, n. 3, pp. 419-436.
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SILVERMAN D. (2011), Interpreting qualitative data, Sage Publications, London.
STEMLER S. (2001), “An overview of content analysis”, Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation, vol. 7, n. 17, pp. 1-5.
SWAP W., LEONARD D., SHIELDS M., ABRAMS L. (2001), “Using mentoring and storytelling to transfer knowledge in the workplace”, Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 18, n. 1, pp. 95-114.
TAYLOR S.S., FISHER D., DUFRESNE R.L. (2002), “The aesthetics of management storytelling: A key to organizational learning”, Management Learning, vol. 33, n. 3, pp. 313-330.
VON KROGH G., ICHIJO K., NONAKA I. (2000), Enabling knowledge creation: How to unlock the mastery of tacit knowledge and release the power of innovation, Oxford University Press, New York, NY.
VON KROGH G., ROOS J., SLOCUM K. (1994), “An essay on corporate epistemology”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 15, n. Supplement S2, pp. 53-71.
WALSH J.P., UNGSON G.R. (1991), “Organizational Memory”, Academy of Management Review, vol. 10, pp. 57-91.
WANG C.L., AHMED P.K. (2003), “Organisational learning: A critical review”, The Learning Organization, vol. 10, n. 1, pp. 8-17.
YONGBIN Z., YUAN L., SOO H.L., LONG B.C. (2011), “Entrepreneurial orientation, organizational learning, and performance: Evidence from China”, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, vol. 35, n. 2, pp. 293-317.
ANTONACOPOULOU E.P., SHEAFFER Z. (2014), “Learning in crisis: Rethinking the relationship between organizational learning and crisis management”, Journal of Management Inquiry, vol. 23, n. 1, pp. 5-21.
ARGOTE L. (2013), Organizational learning: Creating, retaining and transferring knowledge, 2nd ed. Springer Science Business Media, New York, NY.
ARGOTE L., MIRON-SPEKTOR E. (2011), “Organizational learning: From experience to knowledge”, Organization Science, vol. 22, n. 5, pp. 1123-1137.
ARGYRIS C., SCHON D. (1978), Organizational learning: A theory of action perspective, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
BARTUNEK J.M., RYNES S.L., IRELAND R.D. (2006), “What makes management research interesting, and why does it matter?”, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 49, n. 1, pp. 9-15.
BAŠKARADA S., CHANDRAN A., SHOKR M., STEWART C. (2016), “Facilitating organizational learning through agent-based modeling and simulation experimentation”, The Learning Organization, vol. 23, n. 6, pp. 429-443.
BEGOÑA LLORIA M., MORENO-LUZON M. (2014), “Organizational learning: Proposal of an integrative scale and research instrument”, Journal of Business Research, vol. 67, pp. 692-697.
BEN-HORIN NAOT Y., LIPSHITZ R., POPPER M. (2004), “Discerning the quality of organizational learning”, Management Learning, vol. 35, n. 4, pp. 451-472.
BRUNETTI F., BONFANTI A., CASTELLANI P., GIARETTA E. (2018), “Open Factory events as triggers of interactive learning in organizations”, Development and learning in Organizations, vol. 32, n. 5, pp. 15-18.
CHANG C.-M., HSU M.H., YEN C. (2012), “Factors affecting knowledge management success. The fit perspective”, Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 16, n. 6, pp. 847-861.
DAVENPORT T.H., PRUSAK L. (1998), Working knowledge: How organizations manage what they know, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
DESS G.G., PINKHAM B.C., YANG H (2011), “Entrepreneurial orientation: Assessing the construct’s validity and addressing some of its implications for research in the areas of family business and organizational learning”, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, vol. 35, n. 5, pp. 1077-1090.
DIMOVSKI V., HERNAUS T., KIMMAN M., ŠKERLAVAJ M. (2008), “Comparative analysis of the organisational learning process in Slovenia, Croatia, and Malaysia”, Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 34, pp. 3063-3070.
DODGSON M. (1993), “Organization learning: A review of some literatures”, Organization Studies, vol. H, n. 3, pp. 375-394.
EISENHARDT K.M., GRAEBNER M.E. (2007), “Theory building from cases: Opportunities and challenges”, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 50, pp. 25-32.
EISENHARDT K.M., GRAEBNER M.E., SONENSHEIN S. (2016), “Grand challenges and inductive methods: Rigor without rigor mortis”, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 59 n. 4, pp. 1113-1123.
FLORÉN H. (2003), “Collaborative approaches to management learning in small firms”, Journal of Workplace Learning, vol. 15, n. 5, pp. 203-216.
FRID R.J. (2000), Infrastructure for knowledge management, Writers Club Press, Lincoln, NE.
GEPHART R.P. (2004), “Qualitative research and the Academy of Management Journal”, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 47, n. 4, pp. 454-462.
GIARETTA E. (2014), “The trust “builders” in the technology transfer relationships: An Italian science park experience”, The Journal of Technology Transfer, vol. 39, n. 5, pp. 675-687.
GIBBERT M., RUIGROK W., WICKI B. (2008), “What passes as a rigorous case study?”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 29, n. 13, pp. 1465-1474.
GIOIA D.A., CORLEY K.G., HAMILTON A.L. (2013), “Seeking qualitative rigor in inductive research: notes on the Gioia Methodology”, Organizational Research Methods, vol. 16, pp. 15-31.
GNYAWALI D.R., STEWART A.C. (2003), “A contingency perspective on organizational learning: Integrating environmental context, organizational learning processes, and types of learning”, Management Learning, vol. 34, n. 1, pp. 63-89.
GROSSAN M.M., LANE H.W., WHITE R.E. (1999), “An organizational learning framework: From intuition to institution”, Academy of Management Review, vol. 24, n. 3, pp. 522-537.
GUMMESSON E. (2001), “Are current research approaches in marketing leading us astray?”, Marketing Theory, vol. 1, n. 1, pp. 27-48.
HATUM A., PETTIGREW A. (2004), “Adaptation under environmental turmoil: Organizational flexibility in family owned firms”, Family Business Review, vol. 17, n. 3, pp. 237-258.
HUBER G.P. (1991), “Organizational learning: The contributing processes and the literatures”, Organizational Science, vol. 2, n. 1, pp. 88-115.
ISAKSSON R., YAMAMOTO Y., GARVARE R. (2017), “Towards a perfect learning process - where is Sweden?”, Sinergie Italian Journal of Management, vol. 34, n. 100, pp. 57-75.
KIM D.H. (1993), “The link between individual and organizational learning”, Sloan Management Review, vol. 35, n. I, pp. 37-50.
KLAG M., LANGLEY A. (2013), “Approaching the conceptual leap in qualitative research”, International Journal of Management Reviews, vol. 15, pp. 149-166.
KOLB A.Y., KOLB D.A. (2005), The Kolb learning style inventory-version 3.1: Technical specifications, Hay Group Transforming Learning, Boston, MA.
KOLB D.A. (1976), “Management and the learning process”, California Management Review, vol. 18, n. 3, pp. 21-31.
KOLB D.A. (1984), Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
KONDRACKI N.L., WELLMAN N.S. (2002), “Content analysis: Review of methods and their applications in nutrition education”, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, vol. 34, pp. 224-230.
KREISER P.M. (2011), “Entrepreneurial orientation and organizational learning: The impact of network range and network closure”, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, vol. 35, n. 5, pp. 1025-1050.
LAM A. (2000), “Tacit knowledge, organizational learning and societal institutions: An integrated framework”, Organization Studies, vol. 21, n. 3, pp. 487-513.
LEONARD D. (1998), Wellsprings of knowledge: Building and sustaining the source of innovation, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
LEONARD D., SENSIPER S. (1998), “The role of tacit knowledge in group innovation”, California Management Review, vol. 40, n. 3, pp. 112-132.
LEROY F., RAMANANTSOA B. (1997), “The cognitive and behavioural dimensions of organizational learning in a merger: An empirical study”, Journal of Management Studies, vol. 34, n. 6, pp. 871-894.
LEVITT B., MARCH J.G. (1988), “Organizational learning”, Annual Review of Sociology, vol. 14, pp. 319-338.
LORSCH J.W. (2009), “Regaining lost relevance”, Journal of Management Inquiry, vol. 18, n. 2, pp. 108-117.
MICHAILOVA S., SIDOROVA E. (2010), “Knowledge management in transition economies: Selected key issues and possible research avenues”, Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies, vol. 1, n. 1, pp. 68-81.
MORENO-LUZON M.D., LLORIA M.B. (2008), “The role of non-structural and informal mechanisms of integration and coordination as forces in knowledge creation”, British Journal of Management, vol. 19, pp. 250-276.
NIELSEN J.E. (2015), “Corporate entrepreneurship, organizational learning and knowledge implementation”, Economic Horizons, vol. 17, n. 3, pp. 199-214.
NONAKA I. (1994), “A dynamic theory of knowledge creation”, Organizational Science, vol. 5, n. 1, pp. 14-37.
NONAKA I., TAKEUCHI H. (1995), The knowledge creating company: How Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovations, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
NONAKA I., TOYAMA R. (2005), “The theory of the knowledge-creating firm: Subjectivity, objectivity and synthesis”, Industrial and Corporate Change, vol. 14, n. 3, pp. 419-436.
OZGEN E., BARON R.A. (2007), “Social sources of information in opportunity recognition: Effects of mentors, industry networks and professional forums”, Journal of Business Venturing, vol. 22, n. 2, pp. 174-192.
OZKALP E., KIREL C., SANGUR Z., OZDEMIR A. (2008), “Mentoring relations in the aircraft industry: A case study in Turkey”, International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, vol. 6, n. 2, pp. 67-77.
PEDLER M., BOYDELL T., BURGOYNE J. (1989), “Towards the learning company”, Management Education and Development, vol. 20, n. 1, pp. 1-8.
PFEFFER J. (2009), “Renaissance and renewal in management studies: Relevance regained”, European Management Review, vol. 6, n. 3, pp. 141-148.
PIAGET J. (1974), La prise de Conscience, PU, Paris.
RUSS T.L. (2012), “The relationship between communication apprehension and learning preferences in an organizational setting”, Journal of Business Communication, vol. 49, n. 4, pp. 312-331.
SALDANA J. (2009), The coding manual for qualitative researchers, Sage, Los Angeles, CA.
SCHIRATO T., WEBB J. (2002), “Bourdieu’s notion of reflexive knowledge”, Social Semiotics, vol. 12, n. 3, pp. 255-268.
SENGE P.M. (1990), The fifth discipline: Art and practice of the learning organizations, Doubleday, New York.
SIGGELKOW N. (2007), “Persuasion with case studies”, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 50, n. 1, p. 20.
SILVERMAN D. (2011), Interpreting qualitative data, Sage Publications, London.
STEMLER S. (2001), “An overview of content analysis”, Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation, vol. 7, n. 17, pp. 1-5.
SWAP W., LEONARD D., SHIELDS M., ABRAMS L. (2001), “Using mentoring and storytelling to transfer knowledge in the workplace”, Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 18, n. 1, pp. 95-114.
TAYLOR S.S., FISHER D., DUFRESNE R.L. (2002), “The aesthetics of management storytelling: A key to organizational learning”, Management Learning, vol. 33, n. 3, pp. 313-330.
VON KROGH G., ICHIJO K., NONAKA I. (2000), Enabling knowledge creation: How to unlock the mastery of tacit knowledge and release the power of innovation, Oxford University Press, New York, NY.
VON KROGH G., ROOS J., SLOCUM K. (1994), “An essay on corporate epistemology”, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 15, n. Supplement S2, pp. 53-71.
WALSH J.P., UNGSON G.R. (1991), “Organizational Memory”, Academy of Management Review, vol. 10, pp. 57-91.
WANG C.L., AHMED P.K. (2003), “Organisational learning: A critical review”, The Learning Organization, vol. 10, n. 1, pp. 8-17.
YONGBIN Z., YUAN L., SOO H.L., LONG B.C. (2011), “Entrepreneurial orientation, organizational learning, and performance: Evidence from China”, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, vol. 35, n. 2, pp. 293-317.
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2019-04-30
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