Organizational Learning Networks

Requirement

In working out your responses to the Discussion Question, you should choose examples from your own experience or find appropriate cases on the Web that you can discuss. Credit will be given for references you make to relevant examples from real companies.In your opinion, what is the importance of networks in organisational learning? Analyse the Jones and Macpherson article with regard to how mature SMEs facilitate strategic renewal by accessing external resources. According to the Jones article, what role does absorptive capacity play in organisational learning?

Solution

PART I:

Organizational learning networks work to facilitate internal as well as external knowledge sharing. Internally, knowledge sharing happens through the invisible network that makes knowledge available to all the employees. Now it is difficult for small and medium organizations to afford proper knowledge sharing structures and thus they depend even more on these networks. In a study recommendations are made for setting up proper facilities for knowledge transfer and according to job roles the responsibility can be assigned for efficient knowledge sharing (Staplehurst, 2010).

For external knowledge sharing, network of interested non-competitive organizations come together to share their knowledge to gain competitive advantage in their respective domain of action. For small organizations exploring new sources of knowledge becomes very difficult which essentially leads them to depend heavily on these networks for new sources of awareness. However it is important to know about all the limitations that come with knowledge and also be aware of the risks associated with the process of knowledge sharing (Heavens, 2003). 

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PART II:

Small and medium size organizations suffer from lack of buffer (sometimes actual) resources and that prevents them from getting involved in knowledge management activities.. As these companies lag behind in terms of proper structure, routines and procedures to create and manage knowledge, they therefore quite often depend on other organizations which also feel the same way for external knowledge. The take help from those external organizations (sometime supplier and sometime clients) in Intuiting phase. Then Interpretation, Integration and Implementation happen inside the organization. More than often this change is resisted by the employees due to lack of experience regarding institutionalizing the knowledge acquired. In that scenario again external help is taken to resolve the issue. This phase is called intertwining. As per the article pressure from the customer triggers the process for the small organizations as they don’t usually possess facilities for intra-organization knowledge creation (Jones & Macpherson, 2006). 

PART III

Absorptive capacity is defined as dynamic learning capability in the article by Jones. Organizations not only learn from patents and learning curves but also from external knowledge sharing. The amount of knowledge the organization would be able to transform from exploration to exploitation phase depends on it absorptive capability. 
Absorptive capability is also associated with sustainable competitive advantage. In this era where business models are getting disrupted frequently through newer models and technological advancements, it is of absolute importance to keep updating and if possible stay one step ahead of the competition and that can only happen if the absorptive capability is high for an organization. Lastly to be specific about the role of different employees in the organization as an absorptive agent, the middle management level is most important. They act as linkage between senior management and regular employees. The role of gatekeepers, boundary spanners and change agents are also important in the procedure to absorb external knowledge. It is really important to make knowledge absorption process to be a part of intra organization social integration mechanism (Jones & Macpherson, 2006).

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REFERENCES

  • 1.    Heavens, J. C. (2003). ‘The Social Constitution of Organizations and its Implications for Organizational Learning. Oxford University.

  • 2.    Jones, O. (2006). Developing Absorptive Capacity in Mature Organizations. Managemement Learning , 355-376.

  • 3.    Jones, O., & Macpherson, A. (2006). Absorptive Capacity. Manchester Metropolitan .

  • 4.    Staplehurst, J. R. (2010). Knowledge Sharing in SMEs: A Comparison of Two Case Study Organisations. Journal of Knowledge Management Practice, Vol. 11 .


 

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