...to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. As Senge (1990) remarks: "The rate at which organizations learn may become the only sustainable source of competitive advantage." Continuous learning in organisations was presented as a requirement and advocated by Argyris and Schon in 1978. “Organisational learning has been viewed as a source of competitive advantage that helps organisations respond to changes in their institutional environments via adopting and diffusing innovations that will contribute towards improving their performance”. (Sisaye and Birnberg, xiii) Pressures from globalization, technology developments, mergers and acquisitions are testing organisations and forcing them to learn how to anticipate and respond to these rapid changes, complexities and most importantly uncertainties that are hard to predict. Schein (1983) argues that there are three levels of organizational learning culture, cognitive, behavioral and artifactual, where: 1. Behavioral learning deals with the capacity of organizational processes, structures and systems to support learning. 1. Cognitive learning opposite to behavioral is focused on the individual capacity to change their mental cognition and abilities to attain, develop and interpret the knowledge, also known as act of process of knowing. Behavioral and cognitive learning have different forms in organizational learning. Behavioral change can occur without any association of cognitive change, or contrary to...
Words: 1669 - Pages: 7
...division that provides a product or service for a particular market. | Cognitive Biases | Systematic errors in human decision making that arise from the way people process information. | Competitive Advantage | The advantage over rivals achieved when a company’s profitability is greater than the average profitability of all firms in its industry. | Devil’s Advocacy | A technique in which one member of a decision-making group acts as a devil’s advocate, bringing out all the considerations that might make the proposal unacceptable. | Dialectic Inquiry | The generation of a plan (a thesis) and a counterplan (an antithesis) that reflect plausible but conflicting courses of action. | Emergent Strategies | Strategies that “emerge” in the absence of planning. | Escalating Commitment | A cognitive bias that occurs when decision makers, having already committed significant resources to a project, commit even more resources after receiving feedback that the project is failing. | Functional Managers | Managers responsible for supervising a particular function—that is, a task, activity, or operation, like accounting, marketing, Research & Development, information technology, or logistics. | General Managers | Managers who bear responsibility for the overall performance of the company or for that of one of its major self-contained subunits or divisions. | Illusion of Control | A cognitive bias rooted in the tendency to overestimate one’s ability to control...
Words: 1525 - Pages: 7
...theory of the firm, from its obsolete neoclassical toots and assumptions -of a perfect competitive market and a perfect rationality-, by adding the issues of bounded rationality and opportunism to Coases work2. Williamson opened the path to new ways of conceiving and complementing the theory of the firm in general, and the transactions costs theory in particular. By enabling to the economic theory the enhancing and the building of new connections between cognitive psychology and economics. Connections that have allowed, among other things, the development of a larger view in the roll of the firm, no only as an avoider of costs, but also as a creator of knowledge. All in better accordance with the modern firms logic of making business. In order to understand the transaction costs theory, one has to comprehend that the competitive market structure, is only a reference to be taken into account, when one analyses the observed structure of markets, which are called “imperfect competitive”, For the market is not given under a homogenous form to all economic agents, but is continuously changing under agents decisions and behaviours 3 . Further more the neoclassical perfect rationality, which is an essential assumption for the competitive market structure, doesn’t takes into account the problems of processing the uncertainty due to the imperfect information, the limits to the human capacity and the difficulties due to the interdependencies among different agents 4 . Under...
Words: 1410 - Pages: 6
...Q1. How can social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter be used to improve knowledge sharing, build social capital, support innovation, and aid problem solving in one of the following context - - A multinational corporation - Small business networks in Australia or your home country - Networks of community based Not for Profit organisations in Australia or your home country Discuss the associated risks and benefits for this context Table of Contents Introduction 4 Building Social Capital 5 Improving Knowledge Sharing 6 Aid Problem Solving 7 Supporting Innovation 8 Risks of Social Media 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction This essay examines how social media can be used to assist multinational organisations through enhancement of knowledge assets and social capital. Social media is an accessible and influential tool that can be used by organisations to cultivate and improve abilities to learn and share new knowledge. This knowledge can be used to solve problems through the effective usage of social media. Social networking has caused a fundamental and transformational shift in the way that people are connecting, knowledge is being shared and information is flowing However, as the information is communicated via the internet, risk of miscommunication and loss of vital information may happen. With proper management of knowledge sharing through social media, the organisation can provide excellent services and products to...
Words: 3073 - Pages: 13
...A Literature Review on Absorptive Capacity Abstract This paper reviews the developed body of literature on absorptive capacity over the last two decades. It identifies and discusses the main research streams and argues the tensions in the literature originate from the use of expense in R&D as a means of developing AC. Following from that, and building on the recent developments in literature, I argue that research in this area are needed and that the focus of research has to be aligned again to the Cohen and Levinthal’s 1989 and 1990 papers that discuss the general commercial application of acquired knowledge. This study, therefore, contributes to the understanding of absorptive capacity's antecedents and outcomes by offering important recommendations for policy makers and firms’ management. Introduction Nowadays, internal research and development (R&D) are integrated with knowledge sources external to the firm through licensing, company acquisition, R&D outsourcing, or the hiring of qualified researchers with relevant knowledge. This simultaneous internal and external knowledge acquisition activities prompt that these two activities are complementary. This recall the notion of “absorptive capacity”. The motivation on choose the topic of absorptive capacity (AC) is due to the large use of it by researchers to explain various organizational phenomena. In addition, according to the focus of the course on developing and emerging economies, AC can act as a valuable complement...
Words: 4278 - Pages: 18
...contributed articles Doi:10.1145/ 2330667.2330685 Trust between client organization and cloud provider is a strong predictor of successful cloud deployment. By GaRy GaRRiSon, SanGhyun Kim, anD RoBin L. WaKeFieLD Success Factors for Deploying Cloud Computing “a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (such as networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be quickly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.”14 The emergence of cloud computing is transforming the way organizations purchase and manage computing resources,17 providing a fundamentally different IT model in which a cloud provider might be responsible for a range of IT activities, including hardware and software installation, upgrades, maintenance, backup, data storage, and security. The result is that organizations can lower their IT capital expenditures ClOUD COMPUTiNg iS 62 Com muniCatio nS o F th e aCm | S epteM Ber 201 2 | vo L . 5 5 | N o. 9 and operating costs by purchasing ondemand technology resources (such as increased data storage, bandwidth, and processing power) while eliminating the need to maintain outdated equipment. Cloud services also include environments for application development and access to key technologies, software, and skilled IT personnel that might otherwise be too costly and difficult to obtain and maintain (see Figure 1). Along with hardware...
Words: 4590 - Pages: 19
...E-GOST TSER Contract of the European Union HPSE-CT-2002-50026 (Thematic Network) 1st workshop : April 3rd –4th, 2003 (Strasbourg) RESOURCES AND COMPETENCES PERSPECTIVES ON STRATEGY OF THE FIRM: A discussion of the central arguments F. Amesse, A. Avadikyan, P. Cohendet Introduction: In 1994, Wernerfelt received an award for the best paper of the decade in Strategic Management Review (A resource-based view of the firm, 1984). Considering the fortune of the article among practicing managers (Wernerfelt, 1995), he admitted that such a fortune had been leveraged by the 1990 article of Prahalad and Hamel in Harvard Business Review (“The Core Competence of the Corporation”). Directly addressed to people in management and strategy, this article was clearly prescriptive as to the best way to set winning strategies for the firm, especially as to diversification and the abusive use of SBUs (Strategic Business Units) in highly decentralized profit centres. “In the 1990s, top executives will be judged on their ability to identify, cultivate, and exploit the core competencies that make growth possible”. Since the 1990s, the resource based view (RBV) and the core competence approach (CCA) became very attractive for many researchers and consultants. Such interest was well supported by what seemed to be a clear and superior way of setting strategies by large Japanese groups which frequently served as a benchmark case of core competence management. The strong and pervasive trends...
Words: 14148 - Pages: 57
...Pimenta de Devotto, R. Adaption- Innovation Theory and Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI): contributions to collaborative problem solving. Rita Pimenta de Devotto “The process of collaborative problem solving needs to be better understood so that it can be applied more insightfully.” Kirton, 2003. SUMMARY This article aims to introduce Adaption-Innovation Theory (A-I) and the Kirton AdaptionInnovation Inventory (KAI) to readers not familiar with this subject. It will explain the origins of both, the theory and the psychometric instrument and give an overview of the core concepts of the theory. It will also discuss the contributions of A-I and KAI to management practice and explore its current use in organizations for improving team’s problem solving. Introduction In a world of complex and diverse problems, where change is constant, which is better: Adaption or Innovation? Following the current trend we probably should choose innovation betting it will solve most of the problems. However, accordingly to Kirton (2003), which is better depends on the problem-solving context. The current trend underplays adaption and ignores all creative solutions that come from “doing things better” (Kirton, 2003 p.55). Adaption-Innovation theory (A-I from now on) proposes that a diversity of problem solvers (“more adaptive” to “more innovative”) is required to solve a diversity of problems. Not only innovators are creative and capable of bring about change...
Words: 7053 - Pages: 29
...process of taking a program to scale, or in the course of regular operations. Conducting a periodic detailed organizational analysis can be a useful way for management to identify problems or inefficiencies that have arisen in the organization but have yet to be addressed, and develop strategies for resolving them.[1] Organizational analysis focuses on the structure and design of the organization and how the organization's systems, capacity and functionality influence outputs. Additional internal and external factors are also accounted for in assessing how to improve efficiency. Undertaking an organizational analysis is helpful in assessing an organization's current well-being and capacity, and deciding on a course of action to improve the organization's long-term sustainability. A restructuring of an Organization may become necessary when either external or internal forces have created a problem or opportunity for improvement in efficiency and effectiveness. When performing an organizational analysis, many details emerge about the functions and capacity of the organization. All of these details can make pinpointing what is efficient and inefficient difficult. Using theoretical organizational models can help sort out the information, and make it easier to draw connections. After working through these theoretical models, the organizations present situation is more adequately addressed, and the trajectory of the organization can be more fully determined. Organizational Analysis Models ...
Words: 2007 - Pages: 9
...Outback Steakhouse HRM 530 November 14, 2011 Dr. West Discuss how the employee selection methods at outback Steakhouse help the organization achieve a competitive advantage. In most business the selection process is one of the most important parts of the business. The employee selection methods at Outback Steakhouse help the organization achieve a competitive advantage by hiring employees who fit their needs and there strategic plans. With this method Outback can determine if an employee will fit with not only the job but the organization itself (Stewart & Brown 2009). Outback employees had to take care of others, and they were accountable for doing so. Outback Steakhouse have a competitive advantage because they chosen the right people through having a realistic job preview and testing methods. By Outback Steakhouse taking this approach it keep turnover rate down low and employee commitment high. By having the job preview this is the first step to eliminating employees that just don’t have the commitment and will know if the job is right or not. Choosing the right employees can improve the efficiency of the other human resource practices and avoid various problems. This method benefits Outback Steakhouse because it allows more time to focus on the customer. “ With the Human Age accentuated by demographic shifts such as aging workforces, worsening talent mismatches, the collaborative power of fast-evolving technologies and the need for companies to do more with...
Words: 925 - Pages: 4
...Cycles of Organisational Learning: A Conceptual Approach Dr Peter Murray Senior Lecturer Division of Economic and Financial Studies, Department of Business, Macquarie University, NSW. Australia. Phone +61 2 98508468 Email: p.murray@mq.edu.au Key Words: unbounded learning, integrated learning cycles, competencies Abstract In an environment of rapid change, organisational learning theory appears to offer much for organisations trying to grapple with change and growth. Not all theorists agree on the methodologies of organisational learning however, and there is little consensus about how organisations achieve both change and growth simultaneously. This paper attempts to expand the simplistic idea that organisational learning is an adaptive approach supported by individualized and stand-alone strategies of learning. The paper demonstrates how various conventions of learning can be understood as integrated learning cycles from which organisations can chart new paradigms of learning in practice. Current theories of organizational learning are imbued with their own sense of history making, clever manifestos that support a workshop or case study approach, and questionable rather than empirical validations of internally consistent phenomenon. Existing theories of learning however are valuable to the extent that they collectively represent a community of practice from which scholars and practitioners benefit. New conceptual approaches are needed...
Words: 5441 - Pages: 22
...firm. The paper introduces strategic capability architecture and investigates how network capability emerges within the configuration of other capabilities in these firms. We found that in customer oriented capability sets, network capabilities are central to the formation this kind of capabilities. In other types of capability sets, networking capabilities play an important role as assets in the formation of the capability sets. Furthermore, we identified that the networking capabilities act in unison with other capabilities through three different logics, termed partnering, value streaming and horizontal allying. Keywords: network capability, relational capabilities, cooperative competencies, competence and capability configurations Competitive paper 1 NETWORK CAPABILITY – EMERGING AS PART OF AN INDUSTRIAL FIRMS COMPETENCE CONFIGURATION INTRODUCTION The challenges of developing an...
Words: 9794 - Pages: 40
...DigitalCommons@ILR. It has been accepted for inclusion in CAHRS Working Paper Series by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@ILR. For more information, please contact hlmdigital@cornell.edu. Extending the Human Resource Architecture: Relational Archetypes and Value Creation Abstract Theories of knowledge-based competition focus on internal resources as the source of value creation. The HR architecture (Lepak & Snell, 1999) brought human resource management directly into this forum by developing a model of human capital allocation and management. We attempt to extend the HR architecture by introducing a framework of relational archetypes—entrepreneurial and cooperative—that are derived from unique combinations of three dimensions (cognitive, structural, and affective) that characterize internal and external relationships of core knowledge employees. Entrepreneurial archetypes facilitate value creation from external partnerships while cooperative archetypes facilitate value creation from internal partnerships. This paper identifies how each of these archetypes is managed by a corresponding HR configuration and how they together contribute to value creation by facilitating organizational learning via exploration and exploitation. Keywords HR,...
Words: 12286 - Pages: 50
...sources to gain sustainable competitive advantage.This cability in build and leverage the value of intangible assets shapes the core organizational competency, and recognized as intellectual capital (IC), which has become the most wealth creator in organizations. In other words, the performance of organizations will be determined by their IC. The decison makers must deeply understood that IC for now becoming a major source to have organizational’s sustainable competitive advantage, which proven as the fundamental steps of successful business....
Words: 2078 - Pages: 9
...example of how new capabilities can be made, and existing ones rebuilt to deploy resources using organisational processes to produce a desired effect. Institutional theory Institutional theory describes companies that operate in foreign markets conform to the institutional environments in order to gain legitimacy from the perspective of other institutional bodies. These institutions are the rules, norms and beliefs that define socially acceptable behaviour and therefore influence economic activity (Scott, 1995). The degree to which a company can conform to these institutions determines whether or not the institutions act as constraints or resources in providing the company with a competitive advantage. Scott (1995) also developed three pillars of institutional structure: cognitive, normative and regulative. Kostova’s adapted these structures to the country level which effectively highlights how formal government policies...
Words: 4588 - Pages: 19
