Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management     3
“Learning is an active process. We learn by doing.   Only knowledge that is used sticks in your mind.”-Dale Carnegie
  In discussing the affect of knowledge management on organizational learning and organizational knowledge, one must define the relationship between organizational learning and organizationa1 knowledge.   Organizational learning is the way in area of knowledge within organizational theory that studies modes and theories about the way organizations learn and adapts.     So what is learning?   Is it a process or is it a product?   Organizational learning is an interactive social process of individuals who confirm or change their actions through either existing or modified frameworks.   Although there have been many debates as to what the true definition of organizational learning is, Peter Senge’s vision of a learning organization is a group of people who are continually enhancing their capabilities to create what they want to create has been deeply influential (Smith, 2001, para 1 ).   In Senge’s 1990 book, The Fifth Discipline, he states, “Organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together (Ibid, sec 3).   The basic rationale for such organizations is that in situations of rapid change only those that are flexible, adaptive and productive will excel. For this to happen, it is argued, organizations need to ‘discover how to tap people’s commitment and capacity to learn at all levels’ (Ibid).   His book took the global market by storm.   Chief learning officers were appointed in many organizations around the world.   In particular, human resources departments took up Senge’s cause with passion and, more relevantly, with large training budgets to try to implement a portfolio of learning practices and policies (Prusak,...