Assumptions

//Multilevel Learning//
 * Multilevel - Organizational learning is //multilevel// in the sense that it depends on learning at individual, group and organizational levels.**
 * Understanding the levels of learning in an organization is essential
 * Individual
 * Group
 * Organization
 * Individual learning is necessary but is not is not sufficient for organizational learning. (Argyris & Schon, 1978).
 * Individual learning must be shared with a group or started at the group level and before integrated at the organizational level. (Crossan et al., 1999).


 * Formal and informal is essential aspect of deliberate organizational learning (Argyris & Schon, 1978).
 * Necessary tool for error detection and correction within an organization.
 * May occur at any level.
 * Possible outcomes of inquiry
 * Alternative solutions to problems
 * Reflecting on previously unquestioned assumptions
 * Experimenting
 * Scanning for salient information

(Rait, 1995)
Shared Understandings - **Organizational learning relies on //shared understandings// among members. These (often tacit) understandings integrate lessons about the relationship between actions and outcomes that underlie organizational practices.** //Shared Understanding//
 * …learning is “distinctly organizational when it relies on the combined experiences, perspectives, and capabilities of a variety of organization members” (Rait, 1999)
 * Building shared understanding requires organization members to share
 * Ideas
 * Insights
 * Perceptions
 * Experiences
 * Questions
 * Examining existing shared understanding is also important for promoting organizational learning.
 * Often appear in tacit rather than clearly articulated assumptions.

//Behavioral and Cognitive Change//
 * Behavioral and Cognitive Change - Organizational learning at its best involves both //behavioral and cognitive change,// (double-loop learning).**
 * Double loop learning particularly appropriate in organizations with complex and unpredictable environments and in those that perform intensive non-routine work, (Rait, 1995).

//Embedding New Knowledge//
 * Embedding New Knowledge - Organizational learning includes //embedding new knowledge// and practices in organizational theories-in-use or routines.**
 * “In order for organizational learning to occur, learning agents’ discoveries, inventions, and evaluations must be embedded in organizational memory. They must be encoded in the individual images and the shared maps of organizational theory-in-use from which individual members will subsequently act.” (Argyris and Schon, 1978).

Collinson, V., & Cook, T. F. (2007). //Organizational Learning: Improving learning, teaching, and leading in school systems//. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

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