‘Inside the Organizational Learning Curve Flashcards
Chapter 1 (94 cards)
What is organizational learning?
An organization’s ongoing effort to use better knowledge to improve its actions and results.
What are the two sub-processes in the learning cycle?
Conceptual learning (know-why) and operational learning (know-how).
Define conceptual learning.
Learning aimed at understanding why events occur, thus building explanatory (“know-why”) knowledge.
Define operational learning.
Learning aimed at developing the skill to deal with experienced events, thus building practical (“know-how”) knowledge.
What is meant by the organizational learning curve?
The relationship showing how an organization’s performance improves as it gains operating experience over time.
Why can learning rate be a sustainable competitive advantage?
Because rivals can imitate products or processes, but consistently faster learning—absorbing and applying new knowledge—is much harder to copy.
List the three levels at which learning can occur.
Individual, team, and organization levels.
How does individual learning influence higher levels?
Knowledge and skills gained by individuals feed into team routines and, when shared broadly, shape organizational practices.
Identify four trends that make learning rates strategically critical.
1) Rapid growth of knowledge in many industries
2) 2) Shorter product life cycles and lead times
2) 3) Increasing complexity of new ideas
3) 4) Wide performance gaps across firms.
How do shorter product cycles pressure firms to learn faster?
They reduce the time available to commercialize innovations, so firms must move quickly from idea to market to stay ahead.
Why does knowledge complexity heighten the need for fast learning?
Complex ideas require deeper understanding and more coordinated application, so slow learners fall further behind.
Explain how performance variation across firms motivates organizational learning.
Seeing peers outperform creates an imperative to search for, absorb, and apply better practices to close the gap.
Give an example of conceptual learning in a manufacturing firm.
Engineers conducting root-cause analysis to understand why defect rates spike after a material change.
Give an example of operational learning in the same context.
Line workers refining the exact torque settings that minimize defects once the root cause is known.
Lead time (to market)
Elapsed time from idea or design freeze to product launch.
Sustainable competitive advantage
A superior position that can be maintained because it is difficult for rivals to replicate or nullify.
Operating experience
Cumulative practice or exposure to tasks that generates data for learning.
What two core components are found in any model of an organizational learning curve?
A: A measure of experience (how much or what type of practice the organization has accumulated) and a measure of performance (how well the organization now executes the task).
Q: Name the three main ways researchers measure organizational experience.
A: Cumulative volume, calendar time, and maximum volume.
: Why does the learning curve capture the notion “practice makes perfect”?
A: Because it links accumulated experience to improving performance, illustrating “learning by doing.”
Q: Define cumulative volume as an experience metric.
A: The total number of units produced (or service encounters completed) since operations began—classic “learning by doing
Q: Give a manufacturing example of cumulative volume.
A: The running total of cars assembled in an auto plant since its first day of production.
Q: Define calendar time as an experience metric.
A: Elapsed time on the calendar; it assumes organizations learn simply because time passes and they have opportunities to reflect—“learning by thinking.”
Q: Why might calendar time alone misrepresent learning?
A: Time can pass without rich experience or reflection, so performance may not actually improve.
