We learn by trying, through experience and practice. Theory, of course, plays a part. It provides the framework and the tools for understanding and interpreting reality. But we truly learn by experimenting, verifying and comparing. Even in business\u2014perhaps especially in business\u2014where we are faced with the challenges of the marketplace, understanding the mechanisms behind learning is something we all need.<\/p>\n
Recently published in Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Experiential strategies for building \u00a0individual absorptive capacity provides some help in this regard as it takes a look at the mechanisms of learning and relates them to the ability of any organisation to \u201cabsorb\u201d knowledge from the various settings with which it comes into contact, whether it be the market, consumers, trade unions, or studies.<\/p>\n
As the authors explain at the start of their study, \u201cOne of the key elements of competitiveness is an organization\u2019s absorptive capacity, or a firm\u2019s ability \u2018to recognize the value of new, external information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends\u2019 (Cohen & Levinthal 1990, 128)\u201d.<\/p>\n
But there is one point that we often underestimate, the fact that organisations are made up of individuals, people with their own personalities and their own personal experiences. Organisations are not machines that learn all on their own, so learning is not a homogenous flow of information that ensures equal, constant results. Learning changes from one person to the next, and an organisation\u2019s culture changes from one day to the next.<\/p>\n
Therefore, the authors of the study, Hugh M. Cannon \u00a0(Wayne State University), Bryon C. Geddes (Dixie State University), Andrew Hale Feinstein (San Jose State University), gave themselves the goal of establishing a strong \u201cconceptual base\u201d for understanding the process of experiential learning in individuals. The purpose was to describe \u201chow individuals absorb knowledge in an organizational setting\u201d and to identify \u201ckey learning objectives for an integrated experiential curriculum\u201d. As individuals, we all learn based on our specific social settings (e.g. an organisation), our feelings or rationality, our technical know-how, the motivation we are given, and our past experience.<\/p>\n
The study looks into these issues through a series of exhibits that bring together the characteristics of the individual (i.e. inventiveness and the ability to adapt and acquire knowledge) with those of the organisation and of the external context. There is also an effort to create a conceptual model of the three dimensions of knowledge and learning in an organisation \u2013 i.e. cognitive, affective and psychomotor \u2013 which is then used to create grids that can be used in real-life situations.<\/p>\n
One final passage from the study is of particular interest, when the authors note that the absorptive capacity of an organisation depends on that capacity in its individual members, but these two capacities are not the same thing.<\/p>
Experiential strategies for building individual absorptive capacity\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Hugh M. Cannon, Bryon C. Geddes, Andrew Hale Feinstein<\/p>\n Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 41, 2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We learn by trying, through experience and practice. Theory, of course, plays a part. It provides the framework and the tools for understanding and interpreting reality. But we truly learn by experimenting, verifying and comparing. Even in business\u2014perhaps especially in business\u2014where we are faced with the challenges of the marketplace, understanding the mechanisms behind learning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corporate-culture","category-insights"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n