Measuring organizational learning capability in Indian managers and establishing firm performance linkage: An empirical analysis

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to measure Organizational Learning Capability (OLC) perception in the managers of public, private and multinational organizations and establish the link between OLC and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected from a sample of 612 managers randomly drawn from Indian industry, using a questionnaire survey. Findings – Organizational capability perception for the managers of the IT sector and of multinational firms was the highest, while it was lowest for the engineering sector. Mixed results were found for the market indicators of firm performance, i.e. firm's financial turnover and firm's profit as predictors of OLC in Indian organizations, where financial turnover was predicting organizational learning capability. Research limitations/implications – The research paper does not test the possibility of firm performance affecting OLC, which may be true, and the author acknowledges it as a limitation of the research study. Future studies...

[1]  J. Burgoyne,et al.  The Learning Company: A Strategy for Sustainable Development , 1994 .

[2]  Alfred D. Chandler Organizational Capabilities and the Economic History of the Industrial Enterprise , 1992 .

[3]  P. Budhwar,et al.  Competition and change: mapping the Indian HRM recipe against world-wide patterns , 1997 .

[4]  P. Senge The leader's new work: Building learning organizations. , 1998 .

[5]  R. Lipshitz,et al.  Organizational Learning Mechanisms , 1998 .

[6]  Michael Armstrong,et al.  The name has changed but has the game remained the same , 2000 .

[7]  J. S. Sodhi,et al.  EMERGING TRENDS IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN INDIAN INDUSTRY , 1994 .

[8]  P. Senge The fifth discipline : the art and practice of the learning organization/ Peter M. Senge , 1991 .

[9]  M. Lieberman The learning curve, diffusion, and competitive strategy , 1987 .

[10]  Pilar Jerez-Gómez,et al.  Organizational learning capability: a proposal of measurement , 2005 .

[11]  John C. Narver,et al.  Market Orientation and the Learning Organization , 1995 .

[12]  Dave Ulrich,et al.  High-impact learning: Building and diffusing learning capability , 1993 .

[13]  P. Shrivastava A TYPOLOGY OF ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING SYSTEMS , 1983 .

[14]  David Lei,et al.  Management practices in learning organizations , 1992 .

[15]  D. Garvin Building a learning organization. , 1993, Harvard business review.

[16]  Kuldeep Singh,et al.  Organization development : interventions and strategies , 1998 .

[17]  David Lei,et al.  Dynamic Core Competences through Meta-Learning and Strategic Context , 1996 .

[18]  O. C. Ferrell,et al.  Global organizational learning capacity in purchasing: Construct and measurement , 1997 .

[19]  I. Nonaka A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation , 1994 .

[20]  Richard T. Harrison,et al.  Learning organizations: the measurement of company performance , 1996 .

[21]  Eric W. K. Tsang Organizational Learning and the Learning Organization: A Dichotomy Between Descriptive and Prescriptive Research , 1997 .

[22]  Eliot R. Smith,et al.  Research methods in social relations , 1962 .

[23]  C. C. Snow,et al.  The Role of Entrepreneurship in Building Cultural Competitiveness in Different Organizational Types , 2003 .

[24]  R. Veliyath,et al.  A Study of the Determinants of CEO Compensation in India , 2000 .

[25]  Philip M. Marcus,et al.  The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business , 1979 .

[26]  R. Grant The Resource-Based Theory of Competitive Advantage: Implications for Strategy Formulation , 1991 .

[27]  Hanne Kargaard Thomsen,et al.  Employees' Perception of the Learning Organization , 2001 .

[28]  Paul Blyton,et al.  The Realities of Work , 1997 .

[29]  P. Budhwar Determinants of HRM Policies and Practices in India: An Empirical Study , 2000 .

[30]  T. Rao,et al.  A Study of HRD Concepts, Structure of HRD Departments, and HRD Practices in India , 2001 .

[31]  Naresh Khatri,et al.  A comparative study of HR practices in Britain and India , 2001 .

[32]  Rajeev Sharma Management Training in India: Its Nature and Extent , 1992 .

[33]  E. Nevis,et al.  Understanding Organizational Learning Capability , 1996 .

[34]  M. Tayeb Contingency Theory and Culture: A Study of Matched English and the Indian Manufacturing Firms , 1987 .

[35]  Hiroyuki Itami Mobilizing invisible assets , 1987 .

[36]  James M. Sinkula,et al.  The synergistic effect of market orientation and learning orientation on organizational performance , 1999 .

[37]  J. Pfeffer Competitive Advantage Through People , 1994 .

[38]  G. Day The Capabilities of Market-Driven Organizations , 1994 .

[39]  Donald A. Schön,et al.  Organizational Learning II: Theory, Method, and Practice , 1995 .

[40]  R. Lipshitz,et al.  Installing mechanisms and instilling values: the role of leaders in organizational learning , 2000 .

[41]  David Lei,et al.  The new learning strategy: Anytime, anything, anywhere , 1994 .

[42]  Alexander E. Ellinger,et al.  Making the Business Case for the Learning Organization Concept , 2003 .

[43]  R. Dharmaraj,et al.  Machiavellianism in Indian management , 1994 .

[44]  Anthony J. DiBella,et al.  DEVELOPING LEARNING ORGANIZATIONS: A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE. , 1995 .

[45]  Howard B. Lee,et al.  Foundations of Behavioral Research , 1973 .

[46]  Stephen Gourlay,et al.  Knowledge management and HRM , 1999 .

[47]  J. L. Naman,et al.  Entrepreneurship and the concept of fit: A model and empirical tests , 1993 .

[48]  E. Nevis,et al.  Understanding Organizations as Learning Systems , 1995 .

[49]  Karen Ayas,et al.  Project-Based Learning: Building Communities of Reflective Practitioners , 2001 .

[50]  Mary Anne Devanna,et al.  Strategic Human Resource Management , 1984 .

[51]  Martha A. Gephart,et al.  Learning Organizations Come Alive. , 1996 .

[52]  W. Scott,et al.  Tracking the Giant Corporation@@@Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism. , 1991 .

[53]  G. Huber Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures , 1991 .

[54]  Sudipt Dutta Family business in India , 1997 .

[55]  M. Jelinek Managing change for competitive success , 1993 .

[56]  Steven Henderson,et al.  Black swans don’t fly double loops: the limits of the learning organization? , 1997 .

[57]  David P. Lepak,et al.  Human Resource Management, Manufacturing Strategy, and Firm Performance , 1996 .

[58]  Mark Salisbury,et al.  An Example of Managing the Knowledge Creation Process for a Small Work Group , 2001 .

[59]  Alexander E. Ellinger,et al.  The relationship between the learning organization concept and firms' financial performance: An empirical assessment , 2002 .

[60]  S. Debowski Knowledge Management , 2005 .

[61]  M. Marquardt,et al.  The global learning organization , 1993 .

[62]  How Do Indian Organizations Meet Learning Challenges? , 1993 .

[63]  The Learning Organization: An Undelivered Promise , 2001 .

[64]  Swee C. Goh,et al.  TOWARDS A LEARNING ORGANIZATION: THE STRATEGIC BUILDING BLOCKS , 1998 .

[65]  George Alexander Boyne,et al.  Human resource management in the Indian public and private sectors: an empirical comparison , 2004 .

[66]  J. March,et al.  A Behavioral Theory of the Firm , 1964 .

[67]  Chris Hendry,et al.  Patterns of Strategic Change in the Development of Human Resource Management , 1992 .

[68]  Madhukar Shukla Competing through knowledge : building a learning organization , 1997 .

[69]  E. Johnsen Richard M. Cyert & James G. March, A Behavioral Theory of The Firm, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1963, 332 s. , 1964 .

[70]  Managerial perceptions of barriers to becoming a “learning organization” , 2000 .

[71]  Patrick E. Connor,et al.  Managing Organizational Change , 1987 .

[72]  Gregory Richards,et al.  Benchmarking the learning capability of organizations , 1997 .

[73]  Robert M. Morgan,et al.  The Resource-Advantage Theory of Competition: Dynamics, Path Dependencies, and Evolutionary Dimensions , 1996 .

[74]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING AND INNOVATION , 1990 .

[75]  Pawan S. Budhwar,et al.  Employment relations in India , 2003 .

[76]  Swee C. Goh,et al.  Improving organizational learning capability: lessons from two case studies , 2003 .

[77]  O. C. Ferrell,et al.  A GLOBAL LEARNING ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE AND MARKET INFORMATION PROCESSING , 1997 .

[78]  I. Nonaka,et al.  The Knowledge Creating Company , 2008 .

[79]  Ronald L. Jacobs Impressions about the learning organization: Looking to see what is behind the curtain , 1995 .

[80]  Jacob Mankidy Changing Perspectives of Worker Participation in India with Particular Reference to the Banking Industry , 1995 .

[81]  Mary Ann Von Glinow,et al.  Organizational learning capability , 1999 .

[82]  J. Slocum,et al.  Designing organizations for competitive advantage: The power of unlearning and learning , 1999 .

[83]  J. Gupta,et al.  Comparative performance appraisal practices and management values among foreign and domestic firms in India , 2000 .