In the past decade, more and more researchers and practitioners have begun to acknowledge the potential synergies and interrelationships between knowledge and learning. This is particularly evident in the convergence of the concepts of the learning organization (LO) and knowledge management (KM). Senge (1990/2006) first introduced the concept of the learning organization as a set of core learning capabilities that enable an organization to innovate (i.e., to create new knowledge) and create sustainable advantage. In 1999, Senge shared that he saw KM addressing “the same critical issues [that the Society of Organizational Learning] members have been struggling with—the sustainable creation, transfer, and dissipation of organizational knowledge” (Karlenzig as cited in McElroy, 2003). In studying the areas of organizational forgetting, organizational memory, and how knowledge transfer is a key to creating organizational learning, Argote (2005/1999) posits that “patterns of knowledge creation, retention, and transfer contribute to differences in the rates at which organizations learn” (p. 203). Loermans (2002) defines the relationship between KM and LO by stating that the LO focuses on the learning process and generating new knowledge while KM “takes the output from the LO, manages it and ensures that an appropriate environment to perpetuate the generation and management of knowledge capital is being properly maintained” (p. 292). Loermans (2002) also cites the research of Brown and Woodland, Wikstrom and Norman, and Allee, observing that organizational learning claims “that learning is the process of acquiring knowledge” while KM claims “that each aspect of knowledge has a corresponding learning activity that supports it” (p. 290). McElroy (2003) argues that “second-generation KM [is] a management discipline that focuses on enhancing organizational learning…[and that] KM is an implementation strategy for organizational learning” (p. 19). Mason (2005) also argues that “learning and knowledge have a symbiotic relationship; they depend upon each other” (p. 321).
So what are the implications of this convergence between knowledge and learning for practitioners? Loermans (2002) recommends that “a corporate architecture [be created] to facilitate learning at the organization level and to create knowledge sharing and dissemination mechanisms across the organization” (p. 290). Mason (2005) recommends considering the use of e-learning as important “knowledge scaffolding” and that “much of the infrastructure development that supports e-learning [is] convergent with systems developed to support knowledge management” (p. 321) —for example, enterprise knowledge portals and Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS). Furthermore, while “content may have been king at the peak of the dot-com boom, [we now know] that context will always shape its usage” (Mason, 2005, p. 322)—and learning is where context and meaning are formed. In addition, any KM, OL, and e-learning initiative must be “designed with...[an] understanding of [how to] sustain online culture…[and an] appreciation that “e” also stands for engagement” (Mason, 2005, p. 322). Thus people, cultural, and infrastructure considerations must always come first for the success of any KM, OL, and e-learning initiative.
In closing, practitioners should consider this final piece of advice from Loermans (2002):
If the discipline of KM operates in such a way as to improve an organization’s learning capability, it therefore improves the capacity for the organization to generate new knowledge and thus systematically expand the knowledge base of the organization. For this cycle to operate effectively, organizational learning and knowledge generation need to be fully integrated into every mission critical business process that the organization is involved in. This is more a cultural than a technological challenge. (p. 292) [Therefore], organizations should focus on the total inter-organization learning process (i.e., the creation of new corporate knowledge from the total environment within which the organization operates) and the nurturing of the cultural environment that supports it and ensures its continuing development. (p. 293)
References
Argote, L. (2005/1999). Organizational learning: Creating, retaining, and transferring knowledge. New York: Springer.
Loermans, J. (2002). Synergizing the learning organization and knowledge management. Journal of Knowledge Management, 6(3), 285-294.
Mason, J. (2005). From e-learning to e-knowledge. In M. Rao (Ed.), Knowledge management tools and techniques (pp. 320-328). Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.
McElroy, M. (2003). The new knowledge management. Burlington, MA: Butterworht-Heinemann.
Senge, P. M. (1990/2006). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Doubleday.
- Robin
Copyright Robin Donnan 2008. All Rights Reserved.
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