Organizational Learning is a vital link that connects mission to performance in many organizations. The main aim and focus of organizational Learning are to create, retain and transfer knowledge within the internal environment of the organization. As the company gain experience over time, the level of performance equally increases. The company can be able to create knowledge from the understanding that they gain over time. Some of the examples of experience that the organization might be fostering include increasing their production efficiency or create a behaviour of the investors. The mission statement of an organization stipulates its aims and objectives for the future. The creation of knowledge in the organization is towards the achievement of the aims and objectives as specifies in the mission statement. The operations of the organization should be crafted in a way that that they drive the employee's operations towards the aims and objectives in the mission statement. The mission statement will ensure that the knowledge gained from the process is retained in the organization and is transferred from one employee to another.
Learning should target groups or teams to tap into the benefits of organizational learning. Learning in an organization is specific and targeted. Different employees are working in other sections of the organization. The knowledge that employees in a particular unit of an organization require is not the same to those working in different areas. Thus, organizational LearningLearning is targeted towards specific groups in a company. The management of a company may consider some of the sections that they think there is a need for improvement. The focus of the learning should be towards those areas. However, the outcome of the training will not be beneficial toa specific section of the company or particular individuals. Instead, the performance of the whole organization will increase. They are learning that targets particular groups will be vital to improving the culture of the company. There will be effective communication and the flow of information from the top management to the bottom level through target learning. Before the enhancement of organizational learning, there is a need to consider the problem that affects the company and a possible solution. Learning capabilities in any organization positively mediates the impact on technologies, enabling higher performance at all levels (Tortorella et al., 2020). Thus, the powers of the employees to use the modern technology predominantly affects the outcomes of the organizational learning. Form the problem, it will be possible to know which section to engage the learning process.
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Non-profits could benefit from organizational learning as it would translate to continuous organizational development and capacity building. Capacity building is a non-profitable organization will be possible through three significant gains of organizational Learning. One is through increasing employee level of job satisfaction. Another way is through lowering the rate of employee turnover and lastly is through enhancing adaptability in the entire organization. When an organization dedicates time and the needed resources in the development of their learning culture, they become more competitive. They will foster capacity building that will enable them to quickly respond to any changes in the market conditions (Gomes and Wojahn, 2017). They will be able to increase the skills and knowledge of all their employees and workers in all the organization's structure. The process will create an environment where all the employees are learners and students at the same time. There will be ease of exchange of information, and each person in the company will make a substantial contribution. People in the organization will be able to foster growth in each other through the exchange of information and build on their capacity.
2. Aims and Objectives
Advance the understanding of organizational learning in non-profit organizations by focusing on a specific international entity. The study aims and creating a much better account of the concept of organizational learning by reviewing a global case study. Form the case study, and it will be possible to identify the problem that the company faces and the respective measure put in place to curb the situation. The international entity would give room for understanding if organizational learning were effective or not. The corporate learning process should be continuous and should not stop once a problem has been solved. The process should be within the culture of the organizations. As techniques and levels of operations in the international entity are changing their performance is equally at stake. When there is a continuity in the learning process, the global entity will be able to solve the problem at the moment and in future. The aim focuses on the creation of a contingency plan that the international entity or any other organization can use in future to improve their efficiency and effectiveness of operations. Identify organizational learning challenges. Organizational learning is not a smooth process as there are challenges in anticipation. The main challenge that is expected is resistance to change by the employees. Some of the employees might have been occupying their post for a long time and are accustomed to the ways that they are not willing to learn new ways of carrying out their operations. The resistance to change is not something that only occurs to the tenured employees. Instead, the mentality of using the old ways of operations can take place in anyone who does not want to get out of their comfort zone. Since there are advancements in the company change is inevitable and organizational learning is the best strategy to foster the growth. Another possible challenge identifiable is lack of leadership training. The development of leadership is crucial to organizational learning. There is a need for communication, change in management, and support skills that will guide organizational learning. Inadequate supervision will be a challenge to organizational learning as there will be poorly run teams and dispute at the time of change. For a significant outcome incorporate education, employees need to be accountable for their actions. Baxter, Colledge, and Turner (2017) suggest the existence of both negative and positive effects on different organizational learning systems. Employees who are accountable to hierarchy are not preventing learning but are instead promoting effective education.
3. Research Questions
a) How is knowledge created and used in the organization under study?
The creation of knowledge in the organization is form the experience of the employees. Through the experience they go through in their daily operations that face challenges. They identify the challenges and create relevant solutions which act as the learning process. The knowledge created is used to bring a change through solving the problems that the company is facing.
b) What are the main challenges associated with organizational learning?
The main challenge to organizational learning is resistance to change. Some employees are referred to as laggards. Unless they see the change being successful to other people, they will not be willing to take a step and bring change. Another challenge will be on the culture of the company. Organizational learning brings about change, and that means a difference in the corporate culture with might be difficult considering it has been in existence for a much longer time.
4. Literature Review
4.1 Organizational Learning
Organizational learning refers to a change in people’s behaviour and knowledge in a bid to achieve corporate objectives. Saadat and Saadat (2016) state that experience is power, and businesses are advised to apply the theory of organizational learning as their strategic tool of learning the competitive nature of business. For many years, organizational learning has been essential in the development of an organization. The main contribution of organizational understanding is towards improving the overall performance of the company. Organizational learning takes place as a function of experience, and the organization can be able to remain competitive in a changing environment. An individual is usually seen as a functional tool in the creation of the needed knowledge through experience. There is a positive linkage that connects organizational learning competence to business performance (Pham and Hoang, 2019). Knowledge is the leading indicator of organizational learning. When there is a change in the background within an organization that organizational learning would have taken place and will be considered successful. Thus, in the learning process, there is the use of explicit knowledge which is easier to transfer than the tactic knowledge. For instance, there is the use of instructions, documents and definitions.
There are different definitions of organizational learning due to varied perspectives. Different perspectives have created a wide range of purpose of organizational learning. To the managers, organizational learning is the creation of cognition and behaviour that is closely related to the changes taking place in the company. Others define organizational learning as the dynamic process that involves the design, gaining and assimilation of information for the gain of the company. Three main theories can be relevant in explaining the concept of organizational learning. One is the system theory which stipulates that organizational learning is all about changing the system of operation of a company to much greater heights. The other approach is the cognition/knowledge. The theory is of the idea that organizational learning is the transfer of information from one individual to another. There is a need for collaboration for a much adequate flow of information. The last theory is on action-learning. The idea suggests that organizational learning is a continuous process as there is something new to learn each day. Thus, after a successful implementation of the corporate learning outcomes, there is a need to continue with the process to solve other challenges in the organization.
4.2. Organizational Learning Factors
The main factors that affect organizational learning are organizational structure, leadership, and corporate culture. From the corporate culture, it is possible to create a foster tactic and explicit knowledge which will be shared among the employees without resistance. Communication and collaboration are the main elements of corporate culture that will affect organizational learning. With effective communication and cooperation, there is a flow of information, and the employees will be able to learn from each other. The leaders of the company are the coaches that will foster the transition in change and growth from organizational learning. The leaders need to provide the right amount of employee autonomy for organizational learning to be a success. Independence will give the employees the required trust and empowerment that they need through the teaching. Park and Kim (2018) suggests that transformational leadership has a significant impact on organizational learning as well as interpersonal trust. Organizational structure impacts the implementation of the change. The change needs to be holistic, and all stakeholder in the different hierarchy of the organizational structure needs to be incorporated. The absence of a single stakeholder affects the wholeness of the process, and the adoption of the corporate learning outcomes will be a challenge.
Flatter organizational structures improve organizational learning. In a flatter organizational structure, there is no hierarchy or chains of command. The main aim of the system is to open up the lines of communication and enhance the flow of information. There is more collaboration in a flatter organizational structure. Design games usually create a collaborative environment that allows the collection and sharing of information (Hannula and Harviainen, 2018). The employees will operate as one entity, and that will make the organizational learning process easy. The employees will have more responsibilities and obligations and will be a crucial part of most of the corporate conversations. A flat organizational structure enhances transparency, and there are limitations to bureaucracy. There are fewer levels of management, and more resources are towards the administrative learning process. Also, with fewer levels of government, there is a simplification of internal communication, and that provides room for faster decision making. There will be no middle management, and there is an equal distribution of power in the entire organization. Since there is no superiority in the direction, the contribution of each employee is considered vital, and that makes the organizational learning a success. Every employee will take the responsibility of ensuring there is success in corporate education upon themselves.
4.3 Organizational Learning Barriers
There are three categories of barriers: societal-environmental, structural-organizational, and actional-personal. The actional personal border entails the lack of motivation among the employee for growth and change. Most of the employees in a company do not want to take action for the various operations. Most people have the excuse “that’s not my job.” Not all of the organizational learning programs are mandatory even though they might add value to the employees. Thus, the personal motivation of the employees to learn and change will be a crucial determinant to whether or not they will be participants. The societal-environmental factors include the disregard for the success of the team. There are times when it is difficult to know how organizational learning programs fit within the internal environment of the company. Learning is a universal process and will have to include elements of society and the external environment. Thus, for successful organizational learning, there is a need to focus on the societal contributions equally. According to Antunes and Pinheiro (2020), there is a strong connection between knowledge management, organizational learning, and memory. Hence, there is need to have significant management structures and learners that are ready and willing to learn. Structural-organizational factor includes the contribution of the leaders and managers in the different hierarchy that affects the communication channels.
4.4 Research Gap
There is limited evidence on how organizational learning occurs in the non-profit sector. The focus of most studies is on the organizational learning that takes place in the profit organizations. There is insufficient information on how organizational learning takes place in a non-profit organization. Inadequate information has created a gap in understanding the level of operations in non-profit organizations. The policies and standards of functions between the profit and non-profit organizations may be different. Still, there is a need to understand how organizational learning takes place in the two entities. Through the administrative learning process, it will be possible to know and understand how the non-profitable organization conducts its operations and some of the challenges that they face. Andjelkovic and Boolaky (2015) stipulate that the employees are aware of organizational learning, and they are highly willing to learn and share more knowledge as they grow. The employees in a non-profit organization might be having a variation in their culture, but organizational learning will similarly affect their operations. The gap created between the profit and non-profit organizations creates a variation in corporate learning, and there is a need to understand the functioning in both.
Most of the organizational concepts have not been tested empirically. Most of the investigations focusing on organizational learning are theoretical, and there is no empirical investigation on the same. Several studies have established the impact that organizational structure, policies and leadership has on organizational learning. The outcomes of the research are universally accepted. However, there is a lack of studies that establish the effects that corporate learning has on the level of performance of a non-profit organization. The empirical investigation will provide a clear picture and overview of the outcomes of an organization and the organizational learning inputs (Hanaysha, 2016). There is a need to include the contributions of the stakeholders to the learning process. The focus should not only be on the internal factors or the company that will affect the process but also the contribution that external factors have on the learning process. The culture of the company might be at greater risk due to the idea of outsourcing employees. Outsourcing is more likely to affect the culture and in turn, the organizational learning taking place in the company.
5. Research Design and Methodology
The research will be on a single case study of a non-profit organization. NGOX is the organization that the investigation will take. The reason for selecting the organization is because it is enormous, and it will provide the needed information for the study. Triangulation will assist in the provision of valid data and improve the outcomes of the course. In triangulation, there is the use of more than a single set of data, and that enhances the assurance of the information collected. The primary purpose of triangulation is not for cross-reference. Instead, the focus will be or gathering information on the subject from different dimensions. Thus, the study will entail the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis and collection. The participant of the investigation was in determination through the use of random sampling strategy. The design of the study predominantly affects the method of data analysis. All the participants were anonymous, and the investigation lasted for four weeks. Data collection from the participants was later organized to create a meaningful outcome.
There will be the use of interviews and questionnaires to collect data. The questionnaire entailed cross-ended questions. Close-ended questions have checkboxes and multiple-choice questions. The questionnaires were divided into four sections and had a total of thirty questions. The first section was on the concepts and levels of organizational learning. The second section of the questionnaire was on the organizational structure and policies. The third section was on the hindrances to understanding, and the last quarter was on general information. There was the use of a Linkert scale in the interview to gauge the level of experience of the participant with the learning process. The participants were from three different levels of the organization. The classes include the top management, the administrative level and the field operations level. The aim of forming a participant from all the three groups is to have an overview of how people from the different organizational level perceive organizational learning. The interview equally consisted of open-end questions, and the participant would have an open discussion of what they think of the subject of debate.
References
Andjelkovic, O. & Boolaky, M. (2015). Organizational learning: A case study of an international non-profit organization. International Journal of Business Administration, 6 (2), 124-137. doi: https://doi.org/10.5430/ijba.v6n2p124
Antunes, H. D. J. G., & Pinheiro, P. G. (2020). Linking knowledge management, organizational learning and memory. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 5 (2), 140-149.
Baxter, D., Colledge, T., & Turner, N. (2017). A study of accountability in two organizational learning frameworks: Why accountability for learning is critical. European Management Review, 14 (3), 319-332.
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Hannula, O., & Harviainen, J. T. (2018, July). User perceptions of design games as settings for organizational learning: Case Topaasia. Politecnico di Milano . https://ep.liu.se/ecp/150/034/ecp18150034.pdf
Park, S., & Kim, E. J. (2018). Fostering organizational learning through leadership and knowledge sharing. Journal of Knowledge Management, 22 (6), 1408-1423. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-10-2017-0467.
Pham, L. T., & Hoang, H. V. (2019). The relationship between organizational learning capability and business performance. Journal of Economics and Development, 21 (2), 259-269.
Saadat, V., & Saadat, Z. (2016). Organizational learning as a key role of organizational success. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 230 , 219-225.
Tortorella, G. L., Vergara, A. M. C., Garza-Reyes, J. A., & Sawhney, R. (2020). Organizational learning paths based upon industry 4.0 adoption: An empirical study with Brazilian manufacturers. International Journal of Production Economics, 219 , 284-294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2019.06.023
