Creating an organizational learning culture:
The perspective of workplace learning
Iris Ai-Tzu Li
Assistant Professor
Graduate Institute of Adult &
Continuing Education
National Chung Cheng University
Introduction 1/3
• Environmental change: technology, knowledge
economy, globalization, demographic change
• Learning is inevitable and increasingly important to
survive changes in today’s workplace
• Many researches have paid attention on formal
educational training
• Informal learning as one of the most important
training strategies to form the learning organization
in enterprises
Introduction 2/3
• A broader perspective: integrate high-leverage
training and continuous learning into the
learning practice.
• It aims to create a learning culture which in
turn links training and learning to performance
improvement.
Introduction 3/3
• The purposes of the paper
– describe what organizational learning culture is
– discuss the meaning and approaches of workplace
learning
– provide a case to explain how the company
established a learning culture through different
venues of workplace learning and achieve the
competitive advantage .
What is Organizational
Learning Culture? 1/4
• A culture is the way we do things around
here
• Organizational culture has a number of
basic elements that provide a guide to what is
important, what attitudes are appropriate, and
how to behave within an organization.
• These elements are beliefs, values,
assumptions, attitudes, and behavioral norms
(shared expectations).
What is Organizational
Learning Culture? 2/4
• An organizational learning culture was
defined as the existence of a set of attitudes,
values and practices with in an organization
which support and encourage a continuing
process of learning for the organization and/or
its member
What is Organizational
Learning Culture? 3/4
• Schein’s framework (2004)
tacit assumptions regarding
learning of the group
espoused values
day-to-day behavior or artifacts
What is Organizational
Learning Culture? 4/4
• a learning organization could also be seen as
indicators of an organizational with a culture of
learning or a commitment to learning
– a learning strategy (learning becomes a deliberate and
conscious part of the strategy)
– a flexible structure with reduced bureaucracy and
restrictive job descriptions and which encourages cross
function co-operation
– a blame-free culture in which learning is valued and
encouraged and the environment itself is blame-free
Implication
• Fostering learning in the organizational
context extend beyond the concept of a wellestablished orthodox training system
• But link closely to the behaviors, attitudes,
values, and structures operating in
organizations.
The Meaning of
Workplace Learning 1/3
• interactively used with training and human
resources development.
1700 apprenticeship
1800 workers’ education
1872 a school for employees
The Meaning of
Workplace Learning 2/3
1900 Westinghouse, General Electric, and
Ford organizationally provided
educational training for employees.
1945 ASTD was established
HRD
was
replaced
by
Workplace
1900s
Learning and Performance (WLP), and
shifted the focus of workplace training
from “Teaching” to ”Learning” and “the
results of learning”.
A systemic view
of workplace learning
Environmental factors such as
competitiveness, globalization,
knowledge economy, technological
change and government policy
The workplace learning community
Networks and
partnerships
Supply chains
Government
Community
Professional
societies
Other enterprises
Formal VET
The enterprise
Culture of learning Technology
The workgroup
and individual
Skills and capability
Innovative capacity
Training
Plans
Access to networks
Workplace learning for increased
competitiveness and innovative capacity
ANTA (Australian National Training Authority) (2003). What makes for good workplace learning?.
The Meaning of
Workplace Learning 3/3
Workplace
learning
formal
learning
informal
learning
incidental
learning
A case report 1/4
• STAR company
• The rationale of choosing this case:
– A multinational organization
– identified itself as having a commitment to
learning/learning culture.
• The analysis focused on the elements of
characteristics of a learning culture and the
ways to build a learning culture.
A case report 2/4
• Characteristics of the company
– Founded in 1940s
– Multinational information technology corporation
– $104 billion in 2007
• Organizational structure
– 3 business units
– Matrix structure
A case report 3/4
• Approaches to building an organizational
learning culture
– The headquarter develops a standardized training
system (competence-based)
– The development of the training courses suits
local circumstance
– Training and informal learning integrated
• Mobile learning system
• Mentoring
A case report 4/4
– Training and informal learning integrated
• Seed “instructor”
• Training and learning assessment systems
• Self-responsibility for learning
– Knowledge sharing mechanism
– Changing roles of learning consultant
– Management system
• Flexible organizational structures
• Team work job design
• Performance review system
Organizational structure
Work system
Motivated
employee
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