“Labouring to learn”: organisational learning and mutual gains

Research on organisational learning is limited in three ways; in terms of the type of organisation and the type of employees which are seen to benefit from a learning culture; and in terms of the consensual assumptions made about the nature of learning within the workplace, assumptions which contradict the reality of the workplace for most people. Other researchers have attempted to form a typology of learning; they are narrowly constructed and often internal to the enterprise; learning is often de‐contextualised from other organisational processes. In response to these criticisms, we have framed and measured a holistic concept of learning that more readily takes account of organisational context. This paper presents data on learning within two traditional companies operating in the food and drinks sector. In particular it is concerned with long‐term organisational learning in light of discussions of the mutual gains workplace, reflecting more general concerns about organisational behaviour.