The number of failed software process assessment and improvement programs far outnumber the successes and the improvement rates appear to remain low, because as Garvin (1993) suggests, “continuous improvement programs require a commitment to learning”. This study investigates the relationship between a software process assessment and improvement model and organisational learning, and examines w...

The importance of tacit knowledge in organisational learning and innovation has become the focus of considerable attention in the recent literature. Our understanding of the nature of the links between tacit knowledge and organisational learning, however, has been hampered by the lack of a conceptual framework integrating micro-level learning activities with organisational forms and macro-level...

Competitive dynamics impact a firm’s necessity to adapt its capabilities permanently and to generate innovations continuously. Therefore, management practice claims for continuous change and the generation of substantial innovations. However, to a certain degree, change and innovation are associated with a break of a firm’s existing mode of operation. Routines and underlying rulesystems become ...

This paper takes a practice-based perspective on organisational learning and change and sheds light on the social processes that underlie effective changes in organisational practices. In particular, it investigates why and how practices of organisational communities of practice are transformed. I propose that management’s strategic practices can shape learning trajectories of organisational co...

This paper considers the role of space in overcoming knowledge stickiness discussing space as both a location and a gap between other things. Qualitative case data indicates that there are three areas of space that need to be considered; physical, mental and virtual, as well as a range of reasons why space alone is not enough to support knowledge creation and learning. We argue that recognising...

Following the Public Enquiry into avoidable deaths and poor standards of care at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, the English National Health Service (NHS) is aiming to become a system devoted to continual learning and improvement of patient care. The paper aims to explore current perceptions of healthcare staff towards reporting and organisational learning for improving patient safety. ...

This conceptual paper draws attention to the autopoietic knowledge production as a potential explanation for the project-based company’s learning and organisational memory. First, the concept of project-based company is described. Second, the epistemological assumptions are highlighted with the purpose to get a better understanding of what is knowledge and how it and organisational memory devel...

BACKGROUND This paper outlines the principal characteristics of a learning organisation and the organisational features that define it. It then compares these features with the organisational conditions that currently obtain, or are being created, within the British NHS. The contradictory development of recent British health policy, resulting in the NHS becoming both more marketised and more bu...

Analysis of the mechanisms of knowledge accumulation that are employed by firms is a key to understanding the success of certain regions, and also of some industries and firms. This paper: proposes a general framework for the firm’s organisational learning dynamics provides empirical evidence of the organisational learning dynamics that actually appear in firms from the software publishing indu...

Using activity theory, organisational theory and didactics as theoretical foundations, a comprehensive model of the organisational dimensions relevant for learning and knowledge transfer will be developed. In a second step, a Learning Assessment Guideline will be elaborated. This guideline will be designed to permit a targeted analysis of organisations to identify the status quo in those areas ...