Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on Intellectual Capital

Ayşen Berberoğlu and Emine Ünar
(Dodgson 1993). Psychological and organizational factors conspire to make organizations and <strong>the</strong>ir
members resist change and miss opportunities to create preferred futures (Edmondson and Moingeon
1998). The factors influencing <strong>the</strong> learning process according to Mullins (2005) are shown in Figure 1
below:
External Factors
Relationships
Rewards and Punishments
Environment
The internal and external factors are
constantly affecting each o<strong>the</strong>r
Internal Processes
Perception
Memory
Motivation
Attitudes
Ability Level
Emotions
Personality
Figure 1: Factors influencing <strong>the</strong> larning process (source: Mullins 2005)
In <strong>the</strong> literature <strong>the</strong>re are three important types <strong>of</strong> learning:
1-Single-Loop
2- Double-Loop
3- Triple-Loop
According to Lassey (1998), single loop learning is where <strong>the</strong> collective learning causes changes in
<strong>the</strong> rules that govern action for organization; whereas double loop learning is <strong>the</strong> stage where
collective learning causes changes to <strong>the</strong> insights which determine <strong>the</strong> rules. In triple loop learning,
which was developed by Swieringa and Wierdsma (1992) expanded as a fur<strong>the</strong>r level <strong>of</strong> learning after
single and double loop, collective learning causes changes in <strong>the</strong> principles upon which <strong>the</strong>
organization was founded. According to Argyris (1999), it is possible to divide <strong>the</strong> literature into two
main categories: <strong>the</strong> practice oriented and prescriptive literature <strong>of</strong> “<strong>the</strong> learning organization”
promulgated mainly by consultants and practitioners and predominantly skeptical scholarly literature
<strong>of</strong> “organizational learning” produced by academics.
Organizational Learning can be described as <strong>the</strong> ways firms build, supplement and organize
knowledge and routines around <strong>the</strong>ir activities and within <strong>the</strong>ir cultures, and adapt and develop
organizational efficiency by improving <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> broad skills <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir workforces (Dodgson 1993).
Organizational Learning introduces a perspective that learning is not only <strong>the</strong> capability <strong>of</strong> individuals;
learning can also happen on a group level, starting from individual level to organization level (Amiri et
al 2010).
March (1991), in <strong>the</strong>ir studies regarding organizational learning, stated that <strong>the</strong> problem <strong>of</strong> balancing
exploration and exploitation is very important. Exploration included things captured by terms such as
search, variation, risk taking, experimentation, play, flexibility, discovery, innovation whereas
exploitation included such things as refinement, choice, production, efficiency, selection,
implementation, execution. According to March (1991), adaptive systems that engage in exploration
to <strong>the</strong> exclusion <strong>of</strong> exploitation are likely to find that <strong>the</strong>y suffer <strong>the</strong> costs <strong>of</strong> experimentation without
gaining many <strong>of</strong> its benefits whereas systems that engage in exploitation to <strong>the</strong> exclusion <strong>of</strong>
exploration are likely to find <strong>the</strong>mselves trapped in suboptimal stable equilibria. On <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, <strong>the</strong>
concept <strong>of</strong> learning organizations also became an important concept in management literature.
According to Greenberg (2005), Learning Organizations are ones that are successful at acquiring,
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