A view of the learning organization from a practical perspective: interview with Michael Marquardt

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to provide an overview of the development of learning organization concepts from the perspective of Dr Michael Marquardt and presents an interesting evolution of his work spanning three decades in the learning organization field. Design/methodology/approach Through a conversation with a thought-leading scholar, Dr Michael Marquardt, this paper discusses several topics pertaining to the evolution of the learning organization debate and provides his perspective on the development of his theories. Findings The learning organization debate may have differing perspectives. However, the theories foundational to Dr Marquardt’s research originated from those in the field during the 1980s and 1990s. He built upon the foundation through his consultancy work to develop his current perspective. Originality/value The discussion with Dr Marquardt reveals his perspective on the evolution of the learning organization debate. He began with similarities to others and over time built his definition based upon those areas of that he saw most impactful in practice.

Context related learning opportunities for individual and organizational improvement in learning organizations

“…One of the best ways to do that is to explore conceptualizations of learning organizations by the most prominent thought leaders in this field. Reese and Sidani (2020) provided such an overview by summarizing the interviews they had with Victoria Marsick and Karin Watkins (Sidani and Reese, 2018a), Bob Garratt (Sidani and Reese, 2018b), Michael Marquardt (Reese and Sidani, 2018) and Peter Senge (Reese, 2020). For instance, Marquardt focused on the levels of This work is a part of the project "Development of management in the entrepreneurial economy and society" supported by the University of Rijeka, Croatia, Grant Number: 18-44 1174. learning and the expected outcome in the definition of a learning organization as an organization in which there is learning "at all levels to adapt and succeed with the environment that continually changes" (Reese and Sidani, 2018).…”

Effect of organizational learning and effectiveness on the operations, employees productivity and management performance

“…Research Studies is still divergent on whether organizational learning has a strong relationship with organizational effectiveness and if such enhances the organizations' operational efficiency, enhances employees' capacity to deliver assigned duties and if it also enhances the organization's management performance in contributing to overall organizational effectiveness and bottom-line profit especially in organizations considered to be well structured (Yang, 2007;Lantz et al, 2015;Kaminska and Borzillo, 2018;Reese and Sidani, 2018;Rose et al, 2020). Again, some of these studies are still very limited and the study sample still only applicable to some particular region or industry as empirical literature on this topic is still very limited.…”

“…Many firms today are yet to realize what can be called an ideal learning organization; a factor that can be attributed to the fact that organizations still lack concrete prescriptions on how to fully implement the recommendations and suggestions made by the few available cogent literatures on learning organization and its composition thereby making many organizations to fall behind among organizations that can be fully considered as learning organizations (Sidani and Reese, 2018b). Systematic approaches to organizational learning from various literature perspective only offers guidance on organizational learning implementation but fails to provide measures for comparability and evaluation creating a major vacuum of learning for organizations pursuing and aiming to make their firm a learning organization (Aydin and Ceylan, 2009;Lantz et al, 2015;Kaminska and Borzillo, 2018;Reese and Sidani, 2018;Rose et al, 2020). Organizational learning has been advanced to be very crucial for organizations operating in a dynamic and unpredictable environment to build capacity for such organization to be able to respond quickly to unforeseen circumstances and to stay ahead of its competitors, this makes it compulsory for every organization to ensure their firm becomes a learning organization as almost all organization in today's business world operates in an environment that is dynamic, fast pace and ever-changing (Reese, 2020).…”

“…Management is responsible for strategic planning of the organization and making better plans that will ensure the survival of the organization. The study done by Reese and Sidani (2018) examined organizational learning from a practical perspective looking closely at policies to ensure organizational learning within the selected firms but failed to look at management performance. The study done by Rup ci c (2020) examined the context related to learning opportunities for individual and organizational improvement in learning organizations but also failed to look into management performance.…”

Learning organization thought leaders interview series

“…Moreover, Senge's framing impacted other leading perspectives. Marquardt, for example, explained how Senge's five disciplines could be found scattered in his (Marquardt's) model (Reese and Sidani, 2018). Senge's contribution has evidently been the major contributor to "the avalanche of literature on the subject" (Johnson, 2002) [1].…”