Explaining Discontinuity in Organizational Learning: A Process Analysis

Abstract

This paper offers a process analysis of organizational learning as it unfolds in a social and temporal context. Building upon the 4I framework (Crossan et al. 1999), we examine organizational learning processes in a longitudinal case study of an implementation of knowledge management in an international bank. This learning trajectory shows complex multilevel learning dynamics, in which we identify discontinuities where micro-processes of organizational learning are interrupted or do not progress from level to level. These discontinuities are explained by dynamics and tensions in the social and temporal structures enacted in the learning processes. Time is thereby revealed as a key dimension in the process and politics of organizational learning. The discontinuities in the micro-processes of learning render organizational learning fragmented and transient.