Organizational Learning Versus Individual Learning in the Organization

This chapter critically discusses the existing literature on organizational learning. This critical analysis aims to provide evidence for the argument that, in mainstream literature, organizational learning has been conceptualized mainly in terms of individual learning and as an intra-organizational process. This focus on individual learning led to epistemological and ontological problems, to a paradox of organizational learning (does the organization really learn? Or is it only a metaphor?) and hinders a conceptualization of organizational learning as learning by the organizational entity. The focus on intra-organizational processes led to a view of learning processes that focused mainly on the institutional boundaries of the organization. Although in recent decades the inter-organizational level has been included in the literature debate and has also developed as a distinct stream, there are still problems in shifting the level of analysis of organizational learning to the network (or stakeholder nexus) level. Both the influence of individual learning and the intra-organizational focus hinder a conceptualization of organizational learning as learning in an organization conceptualized as a nexus of stakeholder resources and interests that form a distinct entity.