Leadership Strategy and Performance

Lecture 6 270220
Organisational learning

Dr Pauline Jas
School of Sociology and Social Policy
University of Nottingham
Room B28, Law and Social Sciences Building
0115 95 15 425
pauline.jas@nottingham.ac.uk
The University of Nottingham
Concepts and perspectives of
organisaitonal learning (Easterby-Smith et al., 2004)

Single and double loop learning

Espoused theory and theory-in-practice
Socio-cultural perspective
Learning across boundaries
Knowledge learning and competitiveness

The University of Nottingham

Improvement by example
(Rashman & Hartley, 2002; Radnor, 2009)

Excellence in specific theme + overall excellence (leadership,

performance management, community participation)
Learning opportunities – roadshows, open days, dissemination
Application process prompts introspection – outsourcing
negates this
Focus on service better than finance and PI
Winning awards good for staff morale, BUT . .
‘badge-collection’ could be sign of insecurity and can mask
underlying problems

The University of Nottingham

Turnaround strategies from private
sector (Boyne, 2004)

Retrenchment – downsizing – efficiency

complete withdrawal from market not always necessary, but
outsourcing frequent
Repositioning – entrepreneurial
diversifying within services sometimes possible; innovation
of service delivery more likely
Reorganisation – change in management and structures
replacing of executives part of normal practice; agency of
public sector execs limited; l’ship often political, not just
managerial

The University of Nottingham

Adopting LEAN from the private sector
(Radnor, 2010; Osborne & Radnor, 2013)

Challenging waste – standardising best practice – removing non-

value adding activity
(Womack & Jones, 1996 taken from Radnor, 2010, p 412)

Pressure to achieve targets at the expense of customer service

Daily meetings focusing on non-achieved targets
Limited connection of central and local experts

Main emphasis on reduction of waste; standardisation not

applicable in public sector; not customers but end-users
Human processes – causes of variability difficult to quantify;
inexhaustable demand
The University of Nottingham
Role of knowledge in decision-making
(Van De Walle & Bovaird, 07)

To give a perception of rationality

Organizations and individuals often collect more information than
they (can) use
At the same time they keep requesting more information, or
complaining about inadequacies in information
Information often used to validate decisions after they are made
Narratives and stories often not recognised as valid information,
but anecdotes used by most decision makers

The University of Nottingham

Knowledge sharing (Titi Amayah, 2013)

Provision of task information and know-how – support and

collaboration – problems, new ideas, implementation
Motivation – personal benefits, community factors, norms
Enablers – organisational culture, trust, social capital
Barriers – organisational culture and structure
Fear that sharing knowledge leads to loss of power, unique
position
Organisational support not always experienced as such
Trust is only relevant when knowledge is sensitive
Norms only have an effect when values and goals are consistent

The University of Nottingham

Exploration, exploitation, innovation
(Choi and Chandler, 2015)

Identifying new opportunities vs. utilising existing knowledge –

or: exploration vs. exploitation – learning
Successful innovation is shared, failed innovation is not
Political pressure can push innovation – often not well planned
– counteracting pressures exist
Success breeds failure – failure breeds failure
Ambidexterity – or balance – structural; sequential

The University of Nottingham

Knowledge-based approach to
performance (Harvey et al., 2009)

Organisation as knowledge processing and utilising entity

Absorptive Capacity - ability to utilize externally held
knowledge through three sequential processes:
recognizing and understanding – exploratory learning
assimilating – transformative learning
applying – exploitative learning
AC is cumulative, affects expectation formation, domain
specific and path dependent
Combinative capabilities

Systems capabilities – policies, procedures

explicit knowledge, efficient, rigid
Coordination capabilities – training and education, participation
inefficient, flexible, scope
Socialisation capabilities – shared understanding
institutionalised, low flexibility
Effectiveness of strategies related to activities
routine tasks, predictable environment -> systems
fragmented, diverse environments -> socialisation
non-routine tasks, changing environments -> coordination
Group discussion

Are there signs of organisational learning in your case study?

Look at the role of learning during the decline of the
organisation as well as during and the improvement.
Discuss if there is scope for org learning to play a (more
important) role in the improvement process.

The University of Nottingham