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The story of project-based action learning (PAL): a 15-year organizational learning journey of a high tech firm in China

Version 2 2024-06-05, 03:04
Version 1 2019-07-22, 09:25
journal contribution
posted on 2024-06-05, 03:04 authored by Kris LawKris Law, KB Chuah
Purpose: Since the late 1980s, the concepts of organizational learning (OL) and learning organization (LO) has prospered and been advocated as an effective strategy for organizational excellence. However, there was a lack of systematic documentation or cases reported proving the sustaining effect of OL. The purpose of this paper is to present a successful 15-year OL case in China, with which to prove PAL is a sustainable vehicle for OL. Design/methodology/approach: This study documents a 15-year successful journey of a project-based action learning (PAL) driven OL setting in a multinational high-tech manufacturing company in China. The case study has been focusing on the progress of the four pillars in the PAL framework (i.e. policy and strategy; learning facilitation; resources and technology; and performance management) throughout the 15-year journey. Besides secondary data collection, on-site interviews with participants and the management of the company were carried out. Findings: From this longitudinal case study, it can be seen that the four pillars form a very robust infrastructure supporting PAL for driving OL within the company. Each pillar is indispensable and evolves according to the needs of the others. Both management and learning team members perceived that PAL is an effective tool to drive OL within the case company. Originality/value: This paper presents a unique15-year longitudinal examination of a successful OL story in a high-tech company in China, through the adoption of the PAL driven framework and the evolutionary road of the associated parts. While successful, this paper is considered as a “stage” summary of the long range road of OL adoption, with PAL proven to be a sustainable OL vehicle.

History

Journal

International journal of organizational analysis

Volume

27

Pagination

1442-1464

Location

Bingley, Eng.

ISSN

1934-8835

Language

eng

Publication classification

C Journal article, C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

Issue

5

Publisher

Emerald Publishing Limited