Mapping the learn-unlearn-relearn model: Imperatives for strategic management

European Business Review

Volumn 20, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 240-259

  Azmi, Feza Tabassum ^a  

^a ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY   (India)

Author keywords

Learning cycles; Learning organizations; Learning processes; Management strategy

Indexed keywords

EID: 43449131530     PISSN: 0955534X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1108/09555340810871437     Document Type: Article

References (99)

1. Anand, V., Manz, C. and Glick, W. (1998), "An organizational memory approach to information management", Academy of Management Review, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 796-809.
2. Argote, L. (1999), Organizational Learning: Creating, Retaining, and Transferring Knowledge, Kluwer, Norwell, MA.
3. Argote, L. and Ingram, P. (2000), "Knowledge transfer: a basis for competitive advantage in firms", Organization Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Vol. 82 No. 1, pp. 150-69.
4. Argote, L., Beckman, S.L. and Epple, D. (1990), "The persistence and transfer of learning in industrial settings", Management Science, Vol. 36 No. 2, pp. 140-55.
5. Argyris, C. and Schon, D.A. (1996), Organizational Learning II: Theory, Method, and Practice, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Reading, MA.
6. Azmi, F.T. (2003), "Attaining competitive advantage through strategic learning: a model", Indian Journal of Training & Development, Vol. XXXIII Nos 1/2, pp. 5-14.
7. Azmi, F.T. (2005), "Managing change through organizational unlearning: strategic building blocks", in Haque, M.I. (Ed.), Strategic Human Resource Management: Emerging Dimensions and Trends, Excel Books, New Delhi.
8. Bailey, C.D. (1989), "Forgetting and the learning curve: a laboratory study", Management Science, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 340-52.
9. Beardwell, I. and Holden, L. (1998), Human Resource Management, Macmillan India Limited, New Delhi.
10. Beer, M. and Eisenstat, R.A. (2000), "The silent killers of strategy implementation and learning", Sloan Management Review, Vol. 41 No. 4, pp. 29-40.
11. Benkard, C.L. (2000), "Learning and forgetting: the dynamics of aircraft production", American Economic Review, Vol. 90 No. 4, pp. 1034-54.
12. Besanko, D. and Ulrich, D. (2005), "Learning-by-doing, organizational forgetting, and industry dynamics", Computing in Economics and Finance, available at: http://ideas.repec.org/p/sce/scecf5/236.html (accessed 15 September 2006).
13. Bettis, R. and Prahalad, C.K. (1995), "The dominant logic: retrospective and extension", Strategic Management Journal, No. 16, pp. 5-14.
14. Brown, M.M. (2006), "Learn, unlearn, relearn", UN Forum, available at: http://unforum.com/UNheadlines322.htm (accessed 15 September 2006).
15. Brown, J.S. and Gray, E.S. (1997), "The people are the company", Fast Company, available at: www.fastcompany.com/t1/inprint/01/ people.html (accessed 15 September 2006).
16. Bruffee, K.A. (1993), Collaborative Learning: Higher Education, Interdependence and the Authority of Knowledge, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.
17. Ching, C., Holsapple, C.W. and Whinston, A.B. (1992), "Reputation, learning and coordination in distributed decision-making contexts", Organization Science, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 275-97.
18. Cicourel, A. (1990), "The integration of distributed knowledge in collaborative medical diagnosis", in Galegher, J., Kraut, R. and Egido, C. (Eds), Intellectual Teamwork: Social and Technological Foundations of Cooperative Work, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, Hillsdale, NJ.
19. Cowan, D.A. (1995), "Rhythms of learning: patterns that bridge individuals and organizations", Journal of Management Inquiry, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 222-46.
20. Crossan, M., Lane, H. and White, R.E. (1999), "Organizational learning: from intuition to institution", Academy of Management Review, Vol. 24 No. 3, pp. 522-37.
21. Cross, R., Baker, W. and Parker, A. (2003), "What creates energy in organizations?", Sloan Management Review, Vol. 44 No. 4, pp. 51-7.
22. Cyert, R.M. and March, J.G. (1963), A Behavioral Theory of the Firm, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
23. Daft, R. and Huber, G. (1987), "How organizations learn: a communication framework", in Staw, B. and Cummings, L. (Eds), Research in the Sociology of Organizations, JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, No. 5, pp. 1-36.
24. Daft, R.L. and Weick, K.E. (1984), "Toward a model of organizations as interpretation systems", Academy of Management Review, No. 9, pp. 284-95.
25. Darr, E., Argote, L. and Epple, D. (1995), "The acquisition, transfer and depreciation of knowledge in service organizations: productivity in franchises", Management Science, Vol. 41 No. 11, pp. 1750-62.
26. D'Aveni, R.A. (1994), Hypercompetition: Managing the Dynamics of Strategic Maneuvering, The Free Press, New York, NY.
27. Davidson, J. (2006), "Management: plugging the knowledge gap", available at: www.spe.org/spe/jpt/jsp/jptmonthlysection (accessed 5 September 2006).
28. Day, G.S. (1994), "Continuous learning about markets", California Management Review, No. 36, pp. 9-31.
29. Dodgson, M. (1993), "Organizational learning: a review of some literatures", Organization Studies, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 375-94.
30. Drucker, P.F. (2003), The Essential Drucker: The Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker's Essential Writings on Management, HarperCollins, New York, NY.
31. Duncan, R.B. and Weiss, A. (1979), "Organizational learning: implications for organizational design", in Staw, B.M. (Ed.), Research in Organizational Behavior, JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, No. 1, pp. 75-124.
32. Edmondson, A.C. and Moingeon, B. (1997), "From organizational learning to the learning organization", Working Paper No. 07-069, Harvard Business School, Boston, MA, available at: www.hbs.edu/research/facpubs/ workingpapers/papers2/0102/02-062 (accessed 1 September 2006).
33. Edmondson, A.C., Winslow, A.B., Richard, M.J.B. and Gary, P.P. (2003), "Learning how and learning what: effects of tacit and codified knowledge on performance improvement following technology adoption", Decision Science, Vol. 34 No. 2, pp. 197-205.
34. Eisenhardt, K.M. and Brown, S.L. (1998), "Time pacing: competing in markets that won't stand still", Harvard Business Review, March-April, pp. 59-69.
35. Elias, J.L. and Merriam, S. (1995), Philosophical Foundations of Adult Education, Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar, FL.
36. Epple, D., Argote, L. and Devadas, R. (1991), "Organization learning curves: a method for investigating intra-plant transfer of knowledge acquired trough learning by doing", Organization Science, No. 2, pp. 58-70.
37. Fiol, C. and Lyles, M. (1985), "Organizational learning", Academy of Management Review, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 803-13.
38. Gilly, S. (1997), "A different view of organizational learning", available at: www.flash.net/ ∼ jteague/Sue/orglearn.htm (accessed 6 September 2006).
39. Goh, S.C. and Richards, G. (1997), "Benchmarking the learning capability of organizations", European Management Journal, October, pp. 575-88.
40. Greve, H. (1995), "Jumping ship: the diffusion of strategy abandonment", Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 40, pp. 444-73.
41. Gustavsson, B. (1999), "Three cases and some ideas on individual and organizational re- and unlearning", paper presented at EIASM Conference, available at: www.fek.su.se/Home/gus/PAPERS/Essexpaper.html (accessed 4 September 2006).
42. Hamel, G. (1996), "Strategy as revolution", Harvard Business Review, July.
43. Hammer, M. (2004), "Deep change: how operational innovation can transform your company", Harvard Business Review, April, pp. 84-93.
44. Han, H. (1997), "Organizational forgetting", working paper, Harvard Business School, available at: www.hbs.edu/research/facpubs/ workingpapers/abstracts/9697/97-065.html (accessed 5 September 2006).
45. Harigopal, K. (2006), Management of Organizational Change, Response Books, New Delhi.
46. Hedberg, B. (1981), "How organizations learn and unlearn", in Nystrom, P. and Starbuck, W, (Eds), Handbook of Organizational Design, Oxford University Press, Oxford, No. 1, pp. 3-27.
47. Holan, P.M., Phillips, N. and Lawrence, T.B. (2004), "Managing organizational forgetting", Sloan Management Review, Vol. 45 No. 2, pp. 45-51.
48. Hollander, S. (1965), The Sources of Increased Efficiency: A Study of Du-Pont Rayon Plants, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
49. Huber, G.P. (1991), "Organizational learning: the contributing processes and the literatures", Organization Science, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 88-115.
50. Huber, G.P. (2001), "Transfer of knowledge in knowledge management systems: unexplored issues and suggested studies", European Journal of Information Systems, No. 10, pp. 72-9.
51. Joskow, P.L. and Rozanski, G.A. (1979), "The effects of learning by doing on nuclear plant operating reliability", Review of Economics and Statistics, No. 61, p. 2.
52. Kanter, R.M. (1992), "Creating a habitat for the migrant manager", Personnel Management, Vol. 24 No. 10, pp. 38-40.
53. Kantrow, A. (1986), "Why history matters to managers?", Harvard Business Review, January-February, pp. 81-7.
54. Khan, M.N. and Azmi, F.T. (2005), "Reinventing business organizations: the information culture framework", Singapore Management Review, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 26-37.
55. Kiernan, M. (1993), "The new strategic architecture: learning to compete in the twenty-first century", The Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 7-21.
56. Knowles, M. (1990), The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species, Gulf Publishing Company, Houston, TX.
57. Kofman, F. and Senge, P.M. (1993), "Communities of commitment: the heart of learning organizations", Organizational Dynamics, Autumn, pp. 5-23.
58. Kogut, B. and Zander, U. (1992), "Knowledge of the firm, combinative capabilities and the replication of technology", Organization Science, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 383-97.
59. Kotter, J.P. (1995), "Leading change: why transformation efforts fail", Harvard Business Review, March-April, pp. 59-67.
60. Levitt, B. and March, J.G. (1988), "Organizational learning", Annual Review of Sociology, No. 14, pp. 319-40.
61. Light, D.A. (2004), "When learning stops", Sloan Management Review, Vol. 45 No. 4, pp. 10-11.
62. Lyles, M.A. (1988), "Learning among joint venture-sophisticated firms", in Contractor, F. and Lorange, P. (Eds), Cooperative Strategies in International Business, D.C. Heath, Lexington, MA.
63. Lyles, M.A. and Schwenk, C.R. (1992), "Top management, strategy and organizational knowledge structures", Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 155-74.
64. McGill, M.E. and Slocum, J.W. (1994), The Smarter Organization: How to Build a Business that Learns and Adapts to Marketplace, Wiley, New York, NY.
65. March, J.G., Schulz, M. and Xueguang, Z. (2000), The Dynamics of Rules: Change in Written Organizational Codes, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA.
66. Miller, D. (1990), The Icarus Paradox, Harper Business, New York, NY.
67. Miller, D. (1993), "The architecture of simplicity", Academy of Management Review, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 116-38.
68. Miller, D. (1994), "What happens after success: the perils of excellence", Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 327-58.
69. Miner, A.S. and Mezias, S.J. (1996), "Ugly duckling no more: pasts and futures of organizational learning research", Organization Science, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 88-99.
70. Mohrman, S. and Mohrman, A. Jr (1995), "Organizational change and learning", in Galbraith, J. and Lawler, E. (Eds), Organizing for the Future: The New Logic for Managing Complex Organizations, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, CA, pp. 87-109.
71. Nevis, E.C., Dibella, A. and Gould, J. (1995), "Understanding organizations as learning systems", Sloan Management Review, pp. 73-85.
72. Normann, R. (1985), "Developing capabilities for organizational learning", in Pennings, J.M. (Ed.), Organizational Strategy and Change, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA, pp. 217-48.
73. Nystrom, P.C. and Starbuck, W. (1984), "To avoid organizational crises, unlearn", Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 53-76.
74. Oberg, J. (2000), "Houston, we have a problem", New Scientist, Vol. 166 No. 2234, p. 26.
75. Perez, C. (2002), Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.
76. Prahalad, C.K. and Bettis, R.A. (1986), "The dominant logic: a new linkage between diversity and performance", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 7, pp. 485-502.
77. Prahalad, C.K. and Hamel, G. (1990), "The core competence of the corporation", Harvard Business Review, May-June, pp. 79-91.
78. Prahalad, C.K. and Lieberthal, K. (2003), "End of corporate imperialism", Harvard Business Review, August, pp. 109-17.
79. Rogers, C.R. and Freiberg, H.J. (1994), Freedom to Learn, Macmillan College Publishing Company, New York, NY.
80. Rumelt, R.P., Schendel, D.E. and Teece, D.J. (1994), "Fundamental issues in strategy: a research agenda", in Rumelt, R.P., Schendel, D.E. and Teece, D.J. (Eds), Fundamental Issues in Strategy: A Research Agenda, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
81. Saini, D.S. (2000), "Globalization and development in human resource management", in Saini, D.S. and Khan, S.A. (Eds), Human Resource Management Perspectives for the New Era, Response Books, New Delhi.
82. Schein, E.H. (1996), "Three cultures of management: the key to organizational learning", Sloan Management Review, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 9-20.
83. Schulz, M. (1998), "Limits to bureaucratic growth: the density dependence of organizational rules", Administrative Science Quarterly, No. 43, pp. 845-76.
84. Searle, A.D. and Goody, C.S. (1945), "Productivity increases in selected wartime shipbuilding programs", Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 61 No. 6, pp. 1132-47.
85. Senge, P. (1990), The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of Learning Organization, Century, London.
86. Shaw, R. and Perkins, D. (1991), "Teaching organizations to learn", Organization Development Journal, Winter, pp. 1-12.
87. Slater, S.F. and Narver, J.C. (1995), "Market orientation and the learning organization", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 59 No. 3, pp. 63-74.
88. Smith, M.A., Ghazizadeh, A. and Shadmehr, R. (2006), "Interacting adaptive processes with different timescales underlie short-term motor learning", Public Library of Science: Biology, Vol. 4 No. 6, p. 179.
89. Spender, J.C. (1998), "The dynamics of individual and organisational knowledge", in Eden, C. and Spender, J-C. (Eds), Managerial and Organizational Cognition, Sage, London, pp. 30-6.
90. Starbuck, W. (1996), "Unlearning ineffective or obsolete technologies", International Journal of Technology Management, No. 11, pp. 725-37.
91. Stata, R. (1989), "Organizational learning - the key to management innovation", Sloan Management Review, Spring, pp. 63-74.
92. Sterman, J. (2000), Business Dynamics, McGraw-Hill, Boston, MA.
93. Teece, D.J., Pisano, G. and Shuen, A. (1997), "Dynamic capabilities and strategic management", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 18 No. 7, pp. 509-33.
94. Toffler, A. (1970), Future Shock, Bantam Books, New York, NY.
95. Trinh, K.W. (2005), "Organizational memory: conceptual framework and empirical operation", available at: www.faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/wakeman/ CCC/Trinh.doc (accessed 15 September 2006).
96. Tyre, M. and Hippel, E.V. (1997), "The situated nature of adaptive learning in organizations", Organization Science, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 71-83.
97. Walsh, J.P. (1995), "Managerial and organizational cognition: notes from a trip down memory lane", Organization Science, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 280-321.
98. Weick, K.E. and Bougon, M.G. (1986), "Organisations as cognitive maps", in Sims, H.P. and Gioia, D.A. (Eds), The Thinking Organization, Jossey-Bass, San Fransisco, CA.
99. Weick, K.E. and Westley, F. (1996), "Organizational learning: affirming an oxymoron", in Clegg, S.R., Hardy, C. and Nord, W.R. (Eds), Handbook of Organization Studies, Sage, London, pp. 440-58.