Organizational Learning and Memory

Just like humans, organizations must learn and grow to survive and thrive in an rapidly evolving world. A firm and its members should constantly collaborate and communicate information, as well as share, teach, and learn knowledge. A learning organization is "an organization capable of learning from its past experience, implying the existence of an organizational memory and a means to save, represent, and share it through its personnel."

The concepts of organizational learning and organizational memory are at the very center of a learning organization. Additionally, organizational learning and memory play vital roles in shaping a firm's knowledge management and its knowledge management systems (KMSs). Organizational learning can be defined as "the development of new knowledge and insights that have the potential to influence an organization's behavior." Organizational memory is simply all that the organization "knows." When faced with problems, individuals can tap into corportate memory for explicit and tacit knowledge. Individuals can turn to KMSs or company policies and procedures for any needed information. As a firm and its members learn, the new knowledge gained can be added to the shared via KMSs and, therefore, added to organizational memory. This reveals how important information technology can be in fostering organizational learning and memory development.

According to Turban, Leidner, McLean, and Wetherbe, "the ability of an organization to learn, develop, and share knowledge is dependent on its culture." Culture refers to the assumptions, values, and norms associated with a group or organization. So, organizational culture can be described as the personality of the company. A firm's culture will determine how its members approach learning, value existing knowledge, and utlize knowledge management systems.

Source: Information Technology for Management: Transforming Organizations in the Digital Economy 6th Edition (2008) by Efraim Turban, Dorothy Leidner, Ephraim McLean, & James Wetherbe