Purpose: The purpose of this study is to extend the knowledge on sustainable organisational learning (OL) in sustainable companies. Design/methodology/approach: Sustainability is examined from an OL perspective and was based on Edward's integral cycle of learning. An in-depth analysis of the literature was carried out, and a list of OL…

Purpose: This study aims to empirically investigate the role of learning for suppliers of individualized customizations from a communication perspective. Design/methodology/approach: Five companies providing individualized customizations are investigated through an in-depth qualitative approach. The empirical material is based on data from five…

Purpose: This paper aims to examine multiple learning cycles across a UK housebuilder organization following changes made to their quality management routine at the organizational level, through to subsequent understanding and enactment at the level of the individuals involved. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a qualitative case study…

Purpose: The concept of a mental model has been described by theorists from diverse disciplines. The purpose of this paper is to offer a robust definition of an individual mental model for use in organisational management. Design/methodology/approach: The approach adopted involves an interdisciplinary literature review of disciplines, including…

Purpose: Marks and Spencer's Plan A environmental strategy is an ambitious one which addresses economic, social and environmental considerations. As part of this process it recently used a sustainable learning store strategy to develop, capture and disseminate learning before, during and after construction so that learning could be transferred to…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of instruments defined as artefacts, rules, models or norms, in the articulation between knowing-in-practice and knowledge, in learning processes. Design/methodology/approach: The paper focuses on a distributed, knowledge-intensive and instrumented activity at the core of any collective…

Purpose: To highlight the relevance of management control in action learning programs that aim to foster organizational learning. Design/methodology/approach: Literature review plus case study. The latter consists of archival analysis and multiple interviews. Findings: When action learning programs are built around singular learning experiences,…

A project designed to reduce accidents in sugar factories used metaphors as tools for creative analysis, as ways of creating emotions, and as methods for fostering unconscious learning. When change is the goal, images, stories, narratives, and fairy tales were shown to be more effective than formal conceptual learning. (Contains 32 references.)…

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to study the influence of five critical factors on service quality in the insurance sector. Having studied the influence of these critical factors, an attempt has been made to obtain a generic solution to enhance the quality of service by proposing a holistic framework of learning organization. As…

Purpose: With the advent of information and communication technologies (ICT), some organisations have endeavoured to develop and maintain systems commonly known as project histories. This paper aims to provide a framework to the construction organisations in order to improve the learning from projects through the development and use of project…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the influence of organizational factors such as leadership commitment, incentives and interaction on learning outcomes defined as performance improvement and organizational climate. Design/methodology/approach: Different aspects of knowledge acquisition, sharing and utilization were examined,…

This paper, while emphasizing the linkage between the concepts of "empowerment" and "learning", argues that empowerment provides the most appropriate base to effectively implement learning in construction organizations. It is argued that "efficacy-information", being a derivative of empowerment, helps influence…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to provide a design and implementation framework for ALAR (action learning action research) programme which aims to address collaborative improvement in the extended manufacturing enterprise. Design/methodology/approach: This article demonstrates the design of a programme in which action learning and action…