Editing Organizational learning (section)

== Knowledge management practices ==
Various [[knowledge management]] concepts and practices are the relevant products of organizational learning research. Work on knowledge transfer applies to knowledge retention and contributes to many of the applications listed below, including the practices of building [[learning organization]]s, implementing knowledge management systems, and its context for inter organizational learning and the diffusion of [[innovation]]s.<ref name="Argote Book5" />

=== Development of learning organizations ===
[[Learning organization]]s are organizations that actively work to optimize learning. Learning organizations use the active process of [[knowledge management]] to design organizational processes and systems that concretely facilitate knowledge creation, transfer, and retention. [[Corporate Brain|Organizational metacognition]] is used to refer to the processes by which the organization 'knows what it knows'. The study of organizational learning and other fields of research such as [[organizational development]], [[System theory]], and [[cognitive science]] provide the theoretical basis for specifically prescribing these interventions.<ref name="Senge20102">{{cite book|author = Peter M. Senge|title = The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=b0XHUvs_iBkC|date = 31 March 2010|publisher = Crown Publishing Group|isbn = 978-0-307-47764-4}}</ref> An example of an organizational process implemented to increase organizational learning is the U.S. Army's use of a formally structured de-brief process called an [[after-action review]] (AAR) to analyze what happened, why it happened, and how it could be improved immediately after a mission. Learning laboratories are a type or learning organization dedicate to knowledge creation, collection, and control.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Strategic Learning in a Knowledge Economy|last1 = Cross|first1 = Rob|year = 2000|isbn = 978-0-7506-7223-8|pages = 92|last2 = Israelit|first2 = Sam}}</ref>

Learning organizations also address [[organizational climate]] by creating a supportive learning environment and practicing leadership that reinforces learning.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Edmondson | first1 = A. | last2 = Garvin | first2 = D. | last3 = Gino | first3 = F. | year = 2008 | title = Is yours a learning organization? | journal = Harvard Business Review | volume = 86 | issue = 3| pages = 109–16, 134 | pmid = 18411968 }}</ref> Creating a supportive learning environment and reinforcing learning depends on the leadership of the organization and the culture it promotes. Leaders can create learning opportunities by facilitating environments that include learning activities, establishing a culture of learning via norms, behaviors, and rules, and lead processes of discourse by listening, asking questions, and providing feedback. Leaders must practice the individual learning they advocate for by remaining open to new perspectives, being aware of personal biases, seeking exposure to unfiltered and contradictory sources of information, and developing a sense of humility.<ref>Garvin, D. A. (2000). Learning in action: A Guide to putting the learning organization to work. Boston: Harvard Business School Press (Chapter 6).</ref>

===Knowledge management systems===
While learning processes depend on the context for optimizing knowledge transfer, the implementation of [[knowledge management systems]] incorporates technology into these processes. Knowledge management systems are technologies that serve as a repository, communication, or collaboration tool for transferring and retaining knowledge.<ref name="Argote Book5" /> Embedding knowledge in technology can prevent organizational forgetting<ref>Smunt, T. L. 1987. The Impact of Worker Forgetting on
Production Scheduling. Int. J. Prod. Res. 25, 689-701.</ref> and allow knowledge to transfer across barriers such as distance, organizational unit, and specialization. Knowledge management systems alone are not necessarily successful, but as a communication tool they tangibly reinforce individuals' ability to spread and reinforce their knowledge.<ref name="Argote Book5" />

=== Diffusion of innovation ===
Organizational learning is important to consider in relation to [[innovation]], [[entrepreneurship]], [[technological change]], and [[economic growth]], specifically within the contexts of [[knowledge sharing]] and inter organizational learning.  As one of the key dynamics behind the [[knowledge economy]], organizational learning informs our understanding of knowledge transfer between organizations. Heterogeneous experience yields better learning outcomes than homogenous experience, and knowledge diffusion spreads heterogeneous experience across organizations.<ref name="Sullivan BN 20022" /><ref>Schilling, M. A., P. Vidal, R. Ployhart, A. Marangoni. 2003. Learning by doing something else: Variation, relatedness, and organizational learning. Management Sci. 49 39-56.</ref> [[Diffusion of innovations]] theory explores how and why people adopt new ideas, practices and products. It may be seen as a subset of the anthropological concept of diffusion and can help to explain how ideas are spread by individuals, social networks, and organizations. Innovation policy, economic development initiatives, educational program endeavors, and entrepreneurial incubation and acceleration could all be informed by organizational learning practices.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hassan |first1=Noha Ahmed |title=University business incubators as a tool for accelerating entrepreneurship: theoretical perspective |journal=Review of Economics and Political Science |date=1 January 2020 |volume=ahead-of-print |issue=ahead-of-print |doi=10.1108/REPS-10-2019-0142 |issn=2631-3561|doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Knowledge protection ===
[[Digital transformation]] means that not only machines and [[IT]] but also people are digitally interlinked.<ref>Spath, D., Ganschar, O., Gerlach, S., Hämmerle, M., Krause, 
T., & Schlund, S. (2013). Produktionsarbeit der Zukunft Industrie 4.0. Stuttgart: Fraunhofer Verlag</ref> Knowledge cannot be directly secured same way as information is protected.<ref>Thalmann, S., Manhart, M., Ceravolo, P., & Azzini, A. (2014). An integrated risk management framework: Measuring the success of organizational knowledge protection. International Journal of Knowledge Management, 10(2), 28–42.</ref> There are formal and informal methods that can be used to protect organizational knowledge. Formal methods include Legal methods - such as [[confidentiality agreement]]s, [[patent]]s, [[copyright]]s, [[license]]<nowiki/>es and [[trademark]]s - and Technical methods - such as protecting communication channels, systems and storage and technically constraining the access to the knowledge. Informal methods instead include secrecy, education, social norms and complexity, i.e. carefully choosing what knowledge to share and to whom, and making sure others do the same. The formal and informal methods should be used in good balance.  <ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ilvonen |first1=Ilona |last2=Thalmann |first2=Stefan |last3=Manhart |first3=Markus |last4=Sillaber |first4=Christian |date=2018-04-03 |title=Reconciling digital transformation and knowledge protection: a research agenda |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14778238.2018.1445427 |journal=Knowledge Management Research & Practice |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=235–244 |doi=10.1080/14778238.2018.1445427 |s2cid=196033786 |issn=1477-8238}}</ref>


=== Internal knowledge Sharing Mechanism ===
The internal knowledge sharing mechanism can promote and develop the enterprise's continuous learning and innovation capabilities and play a role in motivating employees to exchange knowledge with each other.  The internal knowledge sharing mechanism can enable enterprises to improve the efficiency of product innovation through the recombination of cooperative knowledge and competitive knowledge.

The internal knowledge sharing mechanism is the way for enterprises to obtain knowledge from competitors. Enterprises first need to obtain available knowledge from competitors, and then internalize, transform and use this new knowledge according to their own company characteristics.<ref>Nonaka, I., & Takeuchi, N. (1995). The knowledge-creating company. New York: Oxford University Press. Szulanski, G. (1996). Exploring internal stickiness: Impediments to the transfer of best practice within the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 17(S2), 27–43. Tsai, W. (2001). Knowledge transfer in intraorganizational networks: Effects of network position and absorptive capacity on business unit innovation and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 996–1004. Lane, P. J., & Lubatkin, M. (1998). Relative absorptive capacity and interorganizational learning. Strategic Management Journal, 19, 461–477. Carlile, P. R. (2004). Transferring, translating, and transforming: An integrative framework for managing knowledge across boundaries. Organization Science, 15, 555–568. Galunic, C., & Rodan, S. (1998). Resource recombinations in the firm: Knowledge structures and the potential for Schumpeterian innovation. Strategic Management Journal, 19, 1193–1201.</ref>