Taking stock of "Organizational Learning": Looking back and moving forward. Issue 3 (July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Elkjaer, Bente
• Is Part Of: Management learning. Volume 53:Issue 3(2022)
• Page Start: 582
• Page End: 604
• Publication Date: 2022-07
• Subjects: Learning theories -- organizational learning -- pragmatism -- publication patterns -- responsibility -- sustainability; Industrial management -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Executives -- Training of -- Periodicals; Organizational learning -- Periodicals; Knowledge management -- Periodicals; 302.35
• DOI: 10.1177/13505076211049599
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1461-7307

Abstract

In what ways are organizational learning a relevant theoretical construct? The article taps into a debate on what is relevance to practitioners versus researchers' responsibility. The publications on organizational learning are on the rise, but the patterns have changed and points to a bifurcation within the field of organizational learning. On one hand, organizational learning is a means to further organizational performance, a fixed goal to be measured, which sometimes demands unlearning. On the other hand, there is a call for organizational learning to be encompassing contemporary societal challenges like widespread digitalization, sustainable production, and an inclusive labor market. This may appear as a cleavage between immediate relevance to practitioners and researchers' responsibilities for the development of relevant and critical knowledge. I propose to embrace a pragmatist theory of learning that can help address the unknown and include creative imagination directed toward developing an organizational learning field, which is also ready for the future.