IRMA-International.org: Creator of Knowledge
Information Resources Management Association
Advancing the Concepts & Practices of Information Resources Management in Modern Organizations

Learning Organizations or Organizations for Learning? How Small Firms can Learn from Planned and Random Technical Problem-Solving: Implications for Technical Education

Learning Organizations or Organizations for Learning? How Small Firms can Learn from Planned and Random Technical Problem-Solving: Implications for Technical Education
View Sample PDF
Author(s): Corrado lo Storto (Universitá di Napoli Federico II, Italy)
Copyright: 2011
Pages: 25
Source title: Global Business: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools and Applications
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Information Resources Management Association (USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-587-2.ch322

Purchase


Abstract

This chapter reports the findings of an empirical study whose purpose is to identify the attributes of the organization infrastructure that support organizational learning in small manufacturing firms through the creation of procedural knowledge. The study is based on the following assumptions: a) organizations are cognitive systems that process information and knowledge; b) knowledge is a by-product of technical problem solving; c) innovation occurs as a stream of random or planned problem solving; d) many attributes of the organization infrastructure that foster innovation also foster knowledge generation during technical problem solving. Findings show that three dimensions of the organization infrastructure have an influence on learning: openness, innovativeness, and leadership. These attributes identify two typologies of organization infrastructures that differently affect the generation of procedural knowledge and learning. In particular, it was found that the organization infrastructure has a moderating effect on the relationship between some context factors (environment diversity, problem complexity, context ambiguity, and uncertainty) and the amount of procedural knowledge generated during technical problem solving. Implications for technical education are also discussed.

Related Content

Monia Ben Ltaifa, Walid Chouari, Abdelkader Mohamed Sghaier Derbali. © 2024. 30 pages.
Filiz Mızrak. © 2024. 21 pages.
Aytaç Gökmen. © 2024. 12 pages.
Maria Aweis Mayow, Aytaç Gökmen, Dilek Temiz. © 2024. 27 pages.
Ahlem Baccouche, Houssem Bouzgarrou, Meriem Jouirou, Moufida Ben Saada. © 2024. 21 pages.
Ashwani Panesar, Rohit Sood. © 2024. 20 pages.
Boussairi Slimani, Moufida Ben Saada, Sameh Halaoua. © 2024. 22 pages.
Body Bottom