Can Organizations Learn? Exploring a Shift from Conflict to Collaboration

Both organization theory and practical experience tell us that organizations mired in conflict have a more difficult time in accomplishing their goals than organizations that are not. Among other considerations, the transaction costs associated with conflict—money, staff time, lost opportunities—consume resources that otherwise could contribute to pursuing primary organizational goals. Given the reality that agencies involved in managing natural and cultural resources are perpetually resource-poor in that there is never enough of what is needed to meet the demands on the agency, it would seem any advance toward reducing organizational conflict could be valuable in advancing an agency’s mission. Conversely, failure to learn and adapt would suggest a significant agency deficiency or that learning is less useful than other, less-obvious outcomes. This paper explores organizational learning in Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (hereafter INAH, its acronym in Spanish). INAH’s responsibility is to support research, analysis, protection, and dissemination of the country’s archaeological and anthropological heritage; it manages cultural but not natural resources. Founded in 1939, INAH is housed organizationally in the Secretary of Public Education, a decision reflecting its role in educating the public about the cultural and historical contributions of Mexico’s indigenous population to contemporary society. Its jurisdiction ranges from any subsurface archaeological remains anywhere to the exploration and protection of sites ranging in scope from individual houses to pyramids and monumental complexes such as Teotihuacan, Tajin, or Chichen Itza (Olive Negrete and Castro-Pozo 1988). Here we focus on two World Heritage sites in Oaxaca, in southern Mexico. In 1987, the city of Oaxaca and the nearby archaeological site at Monte Alban were among the first Mexican nominations to World Heritage status. In 2010, an assemblage of caves and related features between Yagul and Mitla also were inscribed on the World Heritage List as “Prehistoric Caves of Yagul and Mitla in the Central Valley of Oaxaca” (hereafter referred to as “Las Cuevas,” as the site is known locally). While the colonial architecture of the city of Oaxaca and the spectacular temples and pyramids of Monte Alban are obvious to even the most ob-