Organizational Learning: Creating, Retaining and Transferring Knowledge

by Linda Argote

Overview

Why do some organizations learn at faster rates than others? Why do organizations "forget"? Could productivity gains acquired in one part of an organization be transferred to another? These are among the questions addressed in Organizational Learning: Creating, Retaining and Transferring Knowledge. Since its original publication in 1999, this book has set the standard for research and analysis in the field. This fully updated and expanded edition showcases the most current research and insights, featuring a new chapter that provides a theoretical framework for analyzing organizational learning and presents evidence about how the organizational context affects learning processes and outcomes. Drawing from a wide array of studies across the spectrum of management, economics, sociology, and psychology, Organizational Learning explores the dynamics of learning curves in organizations, with particular emphasis on how individuals and groups generate, share, reinforce, and sometimes forget knowledge. With an increased emphasis on service organizations, including healthcare, Linda Argote demonstrates that organizations vary dramatically in the rates at which they learn—with profound implications for productivity, performance, and managerial and strategic decision making.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781489987150
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	12/13/2014
Edition description:	2nd ed. 2013
Pages:	218
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

Linda Argote is the David M. Kirr and Barbara A. Kirr Professor of Industrial Administration. Her teaching and research interests include organizational learning, productivity, transfer of knowledge, organizational memory, group decision-making and performance.

Table of Contents

Preface. 1. Organizational Learning Curves: An Overview. 2. Organizational Forgetting. 3. Organizational Memory. 4. Micro Underpinnings of Organizational Learning. 5. Knowledge Transfer in Organizations. 6. Tensions in the Learning Process and Future Directions. Index.

Editorial Reviews

What factors account for production differences across a company's pizza franchises? Is the assumption that learning is indefinitely cumulative correct? Such issues have anchored the research of Argote (industrial administration, Carnegie Mellon U.) in studying reasons for organizations' differing learning curves, the neglected area of knowledge depreciation, and knowledge transfer within and across organizations. Theory is grounded in field studies and comparative outcome data on the production of aircraft and ships as well as pizza. She also maps directions for future research on trade-offs in the learning process. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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