Advertisement

Experience and Learning: Theoretical Perspectives and Effects on Strategic Decision-Making

  • Ilaria Galavotti
Chapter
First Online:
  • 394 Downloads

Abstract

This chapter contextualizes the long-established tradition of organizational learning within the broader frame of psychological theories of learning. The chapter begins with the identification of three epistemological trajectories, that is, the behavioral, the cognitive, and the constructivist schools, that have provided different heritages to organizational learning. Secondly, critical issues underlying learning are uncovered: starting from the critical examination of some of the most influential definitions of learning, the reader will then gradually enter the long-running debate over the anthropomorphization of organizations, in which arguments on knowledge acquisition and storage and unlearning represent key pillars. The second part of the chapter contextualizes the diverse roles that experience plays in strategic decision-making: after describing the dynamics through which organizational learning is institutionalized, implications of experience in strategic decisions are discussed in terms of adaptation, path dependence and momentum, experiential learning, analogical reasoning, and attribution inferences, with a concluding focus on cognitive heuristics and learning disorders.

Keywords

Learning Disorders Organizational Learning System Explicit knowledgeExplicit Knowledge routinesRoutines Cognitive Simplification Processes 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Amburgey, Terry L., and Anne S. Miner. 1992. Strategic Momentum: The Effects of Repetitive, Positional, and Contextual Momentum on Merger Activity. Strategic Management Journal 13: 335–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Anderson, Carl R., and Frank T. Paine. 1975. Managerial Perceptions and Strategic Behavior. Academy of Management Journal 18: 811–823.Google Scholar
  3. Argote, Linda, and Dennis Epple. 1990. Learning Curves in Manufacturing. Science 24: 920–924.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Argote, Linda, and Henrich R. Greve. 2007. A Behavioral Theory of the Firm—40 Years and Counting: Introduction and Impact. Organization Science 18: 337–349.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Argyris, Chris, and Donald Schon. 1978. Organizational Learning: A Theory of Action Approach. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
  6. Ausubel, David P. 1962. A Subsumption Theory of Meaningful Verbal Learning and Retention. The Journal of General Psychology 66: 213–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Ausubel, David Paul, Joseph Donald Novak, and Helen Hanesian. 1978. Educational Psychology: A Cognitive View. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
  8. Bandura, Albert. 1969. Social-Learning Theory of Identificatory Processes. Handbook of Socialization Theory and Research: 213–262.Google Scholar
  9. ———. 1977. Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
  10. ———. 1986. Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
  11. ———. 2001. Social Cognitive Theory: An Agentic Perspective. Annual Review of Psychology 52: 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. Berger, Peter, and Thomas Luckmann. 1967. The Social Construction of Reality. London: Allen Lane.Google Scholar
  13. Bettis, Richard A., and Coimbatore K. Prahalad. 1995. The Dominant Logic: Retrospective and Extension. Strategic Management Journal 16: 5–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Cangelosi, Vincent E., and William R. Dill. 1965. Organizational Learning: Observations Toward a Theory. Administrative Science Quarterly 10: 175–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Carter, E. Eugene. 1971. The Behavioral Theory of the Firm and Top-Level Corporate Decisions. Administrative Science Quarterly 16: 413–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Chapman, Loren J., and Jean P. Chapman. 1969. Illusory Correlation as an Obstacle to the Use of Valid Psychodiagnostic Signs. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 74: 271–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Child, John. 1972. Organizational Structure, Environment and Performance: The Role of Strategic Choice. Sociology 6: 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Cohen, Michael D., and Paul Bacdayan. 1994. Organizational Routines Are Stored as Procedural Memory: Evidence from a Laboratory Study. Organization Science 5 (4): 554–568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Crossan, Mary M., Henry W. Lane, Roderick E. White, and Lisa Djurfeldt. 1995. Organizational Learning: Dimensions for a Theory. The International Journal of Organizational Analysis 3: 337–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Cyert, Richard M., and James G. March. 1963. A Behavioral Theory of the Firm. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
  21. Daft, Richard L., and Karl E. Weick. 1984. Toward a Model of Organizations as Interpretation Systems. Academy of Management Review 9: 284–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Dewey, John. 1938. Experience and Education: The Kappa Delta Pi Lecture Series. New York: Kappa Delta Pi.Google Scholar
  23. Duncan, R.B., and A. Weiss. 1979. Organizational Learning: Implications for Organizational Design. In Research in Organizational Behavior, ed. Barry M. Staw, 75–123. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.Google Scholar
  24. Ertmer, Peggy A., and Timothy J. Newby. 2013. Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Constructivism: Comparing Critical Features from an Instructional Design Perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly 26: 43–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Feldman, Martha S., and Brian T. Pentland. 2003. Reconceptualizing Organizational Routines as a Source of Flexibility and Change. Administrative Science Quarterly 48: 94–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Fenwick, Tara J. 2000. Expanding Conceptions of Experiential Learning: A Review of the Five Contemporary Perspectives on Cognition. Adult Education Quarterly 50: 243–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Fiol, C. Marlene. 1994. Consensus, Diversity, and Learning in Organizations. Organization Science 5: 403–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Fiol, C. Marlene, and Marjorie A. Lyles. 1985. Organizational Learning. Academy of Management Review 10: 803–813.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Friedlander, Frank. 1983. Patterns of Individual and Organizational Learning. In The Executive Mind, ed. Suresh Srivastva, 192–220. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
  30. Gergen, Kenneth J. 1985. The Social Constructionist Movement in Modern Psychology. American Psychologist 40: 266–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Gervais, Simon, and Terrance Odean. 2001. Learning to Be Overconfident. The Review of Financial Studies 14: 1–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Gilovich, Thomas. 1981. Seeing the Past in the Present: The Effect of Associations to Familiar Events on Judgments and Decisions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 40: 797–808.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. Glynn, Mary Ann. 1996. Innovative Genius: A Framework for Relating Individual and Organizational Intelligences of Innovation. Academy of Management Review 21: 1081–1111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  34. Grandstrand, Ove. 1982. Technology, Management and Markets: An Investigation of R&D and Innovation in Industrial Organizations. Frances Pinter.Google Scholar
  35. Grant, Robert M. 1996. Toward a Knowledge-Based Theory of the Firm. Strategic Management Journal 17: 109–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Greener, Ian. 2002. Theorising Path-Dependency: How Does History Come to Matter in Organisations? Management Decision 40: 614–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  37. Hannan, Michael T., and John Freeman. 1977. The Population Ecology of Organizations. American Journal of Sociology 82: 929–964.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Hedberg, Bo. 1981. How Organizations Learn and Unlearn. In Handbook of Organizational Design, ed. Paul C. Nystrom and William H. Starbuck, 3–27. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
  39. Hedberg, Bo, Paul C. Nystrom, and William H. Starbuck. 1976. Camping on Seesaws: Prescriptions for a Self-Designing Organization. Administrative Science Quarterly 21: 41–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. Heider, F. 1958. The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations. New York: Wiley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  41. Hergenhahn, B.R., and Matthew H. Olson. 1993. Approaches to the Studies of Learning. An Introduction to Theories of Learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Inc.Google Scholar
  42. Hilgard, Ernest R., and Gordon H. Bower. 1975. Theory of Learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Inc.Google Scholar
  43. Holmqvist, Mikael. 2003. A Dynamic Model of Intra- and Interorganizational Learning. Organization Studies 24: 95–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  44. Holyoak, Keith J., and Paul Thagard. 1997. The Analogical Mind. American Psychologist 52: 35–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  45. Howard-Grenville, Jennifer A. 2005. The Persistence of Flexible Organizational Routines: The Role of Agency and Organizational Context. Organization Science 16: 618–636.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  46. Huber, George P. 1991. Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures. Organization Science 2: 88–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  47. Huff, Anne S. 1980. Evocative Metaphors. Human Systems Management 1: 1–10.Google Scholar
  48. Hull, Clark L. 1943. Principles of Behavior: An Introduction to Behavior Theory. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
  49. Jones, Edward Ellsworth. 1972. Attribution: Perceiving the Causes of Behavior. Morristown, NJ: General Learning Press.Google Scholar
  50. Jones, Edward E., and Keith E. Davis. 1965. From Acts to Dispositions: The Attribution Process in Person Perception. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 2: 219–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  51. Kelley, Harold H. 1973. The Process of Causal Attribution. American Psychologist: 107–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  52. Kelley, Harold H., and John L. Michela. 1980. Attribution Theory and Research. Annual Review of Psychology 31: 457–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  53. Kimble, Gregory A. 1961. Hilgard and Marquis’ ‘Conditioning and Learning’. East Norwalk, CT: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
  54. Klein, Jonathan I. 1989. Parenthetic Learning in Organizations: Toward the Unlearning of the Unlearning Model. Journal of Management Studies 26: 291–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  55. Kogut, Bruce, and Udo Zander. 1993. Knowledge of the Firm and the Evolutionary Theory of the Multinational Corporation. Journal of International Business Studies 24: 625–645.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  56. Kolb, David. 1984. Experiential Learning as the Science of Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
  57. Krippendorff, Klaus. 1975. Some Principles of Information Storage and Retrieval in Society. General Systems 15: 20–35.Google Scholar
  58. Lachman, Sheldon J. 1997. Learning Is a Process: Toward an Improved Definition of Learning. The Journal of Psychology 131: 477–480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  59. Lam, Alice. 2000. Tacit Knowledge, Organizational Learning and Societal Institutions: An Integrated Framework. Organization Studies 21: 487–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  60. Langer, Ellen J. 1975. The Illusion of Control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 32: 311–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  61. Larwood, Laurie, and William Whittaker. 1977. Managerial Myopia: Self-Serving Biases in Organizational Planning. Journal of Applied Psychology 62: 194–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  62. Levitt, Barbara, and James G. March. 1988. Organizational Learning. Annual Review of Sociology 14: 319–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  63. Mahoney, James. 2000. Path Dependence in Historical Sociology. Theory and Society 29: 507–548.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  64. March, James G. 1978. Bounded Rationality, Ambiguity, and the Engineering of Choice. The Bell Journal of Economics 9: 587–608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  65. March, James G., and Johan P. Olsen. 1975. Organizational Learning under Ambiguity. European Journal of Policy Review 3: 147–171.Google Scholar
  66. March, James G., and Herbert A. Simon. 1958. Organizations. Oxford: Wiley.Google Scholar
  67. McClelland, David C. 1958. Methods of Measuring Human Motivation. In Motives in Fantasy, Action, and Society, ed. I.W. Atkinson, 7–42. New York: Van Nostrand.Google Scholar
  68. Miller, Danny, and Peter H. Friesen. 1980. Momentum and Revolution in Organizational Adaptation. Academy of Management Journal 23: 591–614.Google Scholar
  69. Miller, Dale T., and Michael Ross. 1975. Self-Serving Biases in the Attribution of Causality: Fact or Fiction? Psychological Bulletin 82: 213–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  70. Mintzberg, Henry, Duru Raisinghani, and Andre Theoret. 1976. The Structure of ‘Unstructured’ Decision Processes. Administrative Science Quarterly 21: 246–275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  71. Nelson, Richard, and Sidney Winter. 1982. An Evolutionary Theory of the Firm. Belknap: Harvard.Google Scholar
  72. Newell, Allen, and Herbert A. Simon. 1972. Human Problem Solving. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
  73. Newell, Allen, J. Clifford Shaw, and Herbert A. Simon. 1962. The Process of Creative Thinking. In Contemporary Approaches to Creative Thinking, 63–119.Google Scholar
  74. Nicolini, Davide, and Martin B. Meznar. 1995. The Social Construction of Organizational Learning: Conceptual and Practical Issues in the Field. Human Relations 48: 727–746.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  75. Nonaka, Ikujiro, and Hirotaka Takeuchi. 1995. The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
  76. Novak, Joseph D. 1998. Learning, Creating, and Using Knowledge. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
  77. Nystrom, Paul C., and William H. Starbuck. 1984. To Avoid Organizational Crises, Unlearn. Organizational Dynamics 12: 53–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  78. Osigweh, Chimezie A.B. 1989. Concept Fallibility in Organization Science. Academy of Management Review 14: 579–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  79. Perrow, C. 1972. Complex Organizations: A Critical Essay. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.Google Scholar
  80. Pfeffer, Jeffrey, and Gerald R. Salancik. 1978. The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
  81. Polanyi, Michael. 1962. Tacit Knowing: Its Bearing on Some Problems of Philosophy. Reviews of Modern Physics 34: 601–615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  82. Ross, Lee. 1977. The Intuitive Psychologist and His Shortcomings: Distortions in the Attribution Process. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 10: 173–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  83. Schunk, Dale H. 1991. Learning Theories – An Educational Perspective. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.Google Scholar
  84. Schwenk, Charles R. 1984. Cognitive Simplification Processes in Strategic Decision-Making. Strategic Management Journal 5: 111–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  85. Senge, Peter. 1990. The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Science of the Learning Organization. New York: Currency Doubleday.Google Scholar
  86. Shrivastava, Paul. 1983. A Typology of Organizational Learning Systems. Journal of Management Studies 20: 7–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  87. Shrivastava, Paul, and John H. Grant. 1985. Empirically Derived Models of Strategic Decision-Making Processes. Strategic Management Journal 6: 97–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  88. Simon, Herbert A. 1991. Bounded Rationality and Organizational Learning. Organization Science 2: 125–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  89. Skinner, Burrhus Frederic. 1953. Science and Human Behavior. Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
  90. Snyder, William M., and Thomas G. Cummings. 1998. Organization Learning Disorders: Conceptual Model and Intervention Hypotheses. Human Relations 51: 873–895.Google Scholar
  91. Spearman, Charles. 1923. The Nature of Intelligence and the Principles of Cognition. New York: Macmillan and Co.Google Scholar
  92. Spender, J.-C. 1992. Limits to Learning from the West: How Western Management Advice May Prove Limited in Eastern Europe. Thunderbird International Business Review 34: 389–413.Google Scholar
  93. ———. 1996. Making Knowledge the Basis of a Dynamic Theory of the Firm. Strategic Management Journal 17: 45–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  94. Spender, J.-C., and Robert M. Grant. 1996. Knowledge and the Firm: Overview. Strategic Management Journal 17: 5–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  95. Stata, Ray. 1989. Organizational Learning: The Key to Management Innovation. Sloan Management Review 30: 63–74.Google Scholar
  96. Steinbruner, John D. 1974. The Cybernetic Theory of Decision. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
  97. Szulanski, Gabriel. 1996. Exploring Internal Stickiness: Impediments to the Transfer of Best Practice within the Firm. Strategic Management Journal 17: 27–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  98. Thorndike, Edward Lee. 1913. Educational Psychology: The Psychology of Learning. Vol. 2. New York: Teachers College Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  99. Tsang, Eric W.K. 1997. Organizational Learning and the Learning Organization: A Dichotomy Between Descriptive and Prescriptive Research. Human Relations 50: 73–89.Google Scholar
  100. Tsoukas, Haridimos. 1991. The Missing Link: A Transformational View of Metaphors in Organizational Science. Academy of Management Review 16: 566–585.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  101. Tversky, Amos, and Daniel Kahneman. 1974. Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases. Science 185: 1124–1131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  102. Walsh, James P., and Gerardo Rivera Ungson. 1991. Organizational Memory. Academy of Management Review 16: 57–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  103. Weick, Karl E. 1969. The Social Psychology of Organizing. Reading: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
  104. ———. 1979. Cognitive Processes in Organizations. Research in Organizational Behavior 1: 41–74.Google Scholar
  105. ———. 1991. The Nontraditional Quality of Organizational Learning. Organization Science 2: 116–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  106. Weick, Karl E., and David P. Gilfillan. 1971. Fate of Arbitrary Traditions in a Laboratory Microculture. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 17: 179–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  107. Weiner, Bernard, and Nancy Peter. 1973. A Cognitive-Developmental Analysis of Achievement and Moral Judgments. Developmental Psychology 9: 290–309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  108. Wilsford, David. 1994. Path Dependency, or Why History Makes It Difficult but Not Impossible to Reform Health Care Systems in a Big Way. Journal of Public Policy 14: 251–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  109. Yates, J. Frank, Carolyn M. Jagacinski, and Mark D. Faber. 1978. Evaluation of Partially Described Multiattribute Options. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 21: 240–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  110. Zollo, Maurizio. 2009. Superstitious Learning with Rare Strategic Decisions: Theory and Evidence from Corporate Acquisitions. Organization Science 20: 894–908.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  111. Zollo, Maurizio, and Sidney G. Winter. 2002. Deliberate Learning and the Evolution of Dynamic Capabilities. Organization Science 13: 339–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  112. Zollo, Maurizio, Mario Minoja, and Vittorio Coda. 2018. Toward an Integrated Theory of Strategy. Strategic Management Journal 49: 1753–1778.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  113. Zucker, Lynne G. 1977. The Role of Institutionalization in Cultural Persistence. American Sociological Review 42: 726–743.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2019

Authors and Affiliations

  • Ilaria Galavotti
    • 1
  1. 1.Università Cattolica del Sacro CuorePiacenzaItaly

Personalised recommendations

Cite chapter

Buy options