The Role of Communication in Creating and Maintaining a Learning Organization: Preconditions, Indicators, and Disciplines

This conceptual paper discusses the role communication plays in creating and maintaining learning organizations. A continuum ranging from Rational Choice Theory to Social Exchange Theory is proposed for relationship interac tions. These relation-based interactions are effective for organizations exposed to conditions of instability and complexity. Attention is given to the communica tion embedded in the preconditions necessary for developing learning organiza tions (trust, commitment, perceived organizational support), in the indicators needed for preparing for this state (organization-employee relationship, valuing the employee, employee empowerment, and employee ownership and acceptance of responsibility) and in what Senge refers to as the five disciplines of learning organizations (systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building a shared vision, and team learning). An organizational case study using commu nication and relationships to create and maintain a learning organization is presented. Implications and conclusions are discussed.