Organisational learning and innovation : the study of enablers and relations

In the fast-changing environment of today, organisations have a tendency to change theirstrategy to be able to adapt to changing circumstances. It has become increasinglyimportant for organisations to remain competitive in the marketplace. The managementof organisations is therefore showing more interest in concepts such as organisationallearning and innovation. These concepts are seen as contributing factors to the success ofthe organisation. History has proven, however, that this is not always true. The infrequentsuccess of applying these concepts has resulted in the approach towards organisationallearning and innovation concepts being vague. This study aimed to examine theconceptual ambiguity in order to arrive at a better understanding. The problem statementis examined in some detail in Chapter One of this study. The second and third chaptersaim to investigate the concepts of organisational learning and innovation separately.To understand the concept of organisational learning better, other related concepts suchas organisation, individual learning, knowledge, knowledge management and changemanagement were studied. The focus, however, remained on organisational learning. Toelaborate on the concept of organisational learning, the organisational learning cycle wasof specific importance together with the characteristics of organisational learning. Aspects that are seen as restrictions to organisational learning were studied andconsequently strong theoretical arguments could be provided regarding organisationallearning. Aspects that were prominent were the notion that the presence of certainattributes can influence organisational learning, of which organisational structure andorganisational culture stand out. There were also certain stumbling blocks that mightprevent organisational learning, and individual learning was identified as essential fororganisational learning.In Chapter Three a similar approach was followed regarding the concept of innovation.The characteristics of the individual are as important for the sake of innovation as theindividual’s tolerance of change. The concepts of change management and structure ofthe organisation are important to allow for innovation to take place. These concepts were studied separately and in Chapter Four the aim was to compare thetwo concepts to determine any possible similarities and differences. By doing this, pointsof correlation as well as possible relations in terms of a systems approach were identified.In this chapter the attributes that support the concepts were listed along with aspects thatare seen as stumbling blocks.In Chapter Five the most important aspects relating to organisational learning andinnovation are summarised. The one prominent aspect is the impact that the structure ofan organisation has on the success of both organisational learning and innovation. Thestructure of an organisation, however, is based on the strategy of the organisation. Thelast contributing aspect that needs to be mentioned is the culture of the organisation. Thestudy has indicated clear similarities as well as relations between the concepts, but aswith any learning process there are always questions and therefore the study pointstowards further research. The research can be extended to determine the impact of theshortage of time on organisational learning and/or innovation processes in terms ofknowledge management.