Abstract: A commitment to embracing continuous learning, considered a crucial component of an organization's growth and long-term survival by allowing it to innovate, adapt and change, has gone hand in hand with an accelerated exploration of alternative contemporary techniques aimed at utilizing the full potential of an institution’s human resources. This has not, however, been the case for all organizations, especially military ones, characterized by a rigid, hierarchical organizational structure, which have been slow to adapt and ring the necessary changes. This paper addresses the study’s central research question directly by looking at some of the enabling factors affecting organizational learning that may be leveraged by the military organization under study in order to transform itself into a successful learning organization. The study employed theoretical frameworks of organizational learning (OL) and models of the learning organization (LO) to provide guidance and greater clarity in seeking to extrapolate and interpret the complex web of factors influencing OL gathered as data from a document review, observation and informal conversations, and semi-structured interviews. The results demonstrated the critical importance of a shared vision, strategy, structure and culture to organizational transformation. They also highlighted the crucial role of transformational leadership, learning dynamics and processes at the individual, team, and organizational levels, as well as knowledge management and the use of technology for communication, learning systems and enhanced collaboration. Some of these supportive forces for organizational learning were found to be either absent or evident only in a nascent form, leaving the case organization a long way from complying with the modus operandi of a learning organization. Both the literature and the findings of the study suggest that being a military organization is not incompatible with being a learning organization. Military organizations can become learning organizations provided that organizational learning is fully endorsed by the leadership through their unwavering commitment to establishing and sustaining the various conditions that enable positive change. The study’s theoretical and practical reach help to advance research into the multitude of factors involved in transforming a specific military organization into a learning organization.
Keywords: Forces that Support Organizational learning, Learning Organization, Organizational Learning, Military Organization.
Title: Exploring the Forces that Support Organizational Learning: A Qualitative Case Study of a Military Organization
Author: Saleem Hamood Saleem Al-Rahbi, Dr. Mohamed Binkkour
International Journal of Management and Commerce Innovations
ISSN 2348-7585 (Online)
Vol. 10, Issue 2, October 2022 - March 2023
Page No: 394-416
Research Publish Journals
Website: www.researchpublish.com
Published Date: 20-February-2023
