March's Organizational Learning Class

Notes from March's Organizational Learning Class

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Baum, J. A. C. and V. S. Jintendra (1994). "Organization-Environment Coevolution" in J. Baum and V. S. Jitendra. The Evolutionary Dynamics of Organizations. New York, Oxford University Press: 379-402.

• feedback between org and environment has mutual and unexpected effects

Cohen, W. M. and D. A. Levinthal (1990). "Absorptive Capacity: A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation." Administrative Science Quarterly, 35: 128-152.

• absorptive capacity is ability for org to recognize, assimilate, and apply new external knowledge
• need capacity to increase capacity - basic research can help firms exploit new ideas quickly

Levinthal, D. A. and J. G. March (1981). "A Model of Adaptive Organizational Search." Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2: 307-333.

• learning leads to adaptations in search strategies, search competencies, and asipirations
• organizational slack channeled into other activities

Levinthal, D. A. and J. G. March (1993). "The Myopia of Learning." Strategic Management Journal, 14: 95-112.

• overlooking distant times, erosion of enactment, competency traps, power traps, knowledge inventories

March, J. G. and Z. Shapira (1971). "Managerial Perspectives on Risk and risk Taking." Management Science, 33(11): 1404-1418.

• managers use different rules for decision making than theory states
• more comfortable with verbal than numerical risk definitions
• outcomes good people risk-adverse, outcomes poor people risk-seeking
• managers think risk is a preference based on personality
• risk less about probability, more about potential loss

March, J. G. and J. P. Olsen (1975). "The Uncertainty of the Past: Organizational Learning Under Ambiguity." European Journal of Political Research, 3: 147-171.

• process of learning - cognition affects individual behavior which affects organizational choice which affects environmental response which affects individual cognitions and preferences
• superstitious learning, how likes, expectations can lead to certain behaviors and preferences

March, J. G., L. S. Sproull, et al. (1991). "Learning from Samples of One or Fewer." Organization Science, 2: 1-13.

• experience more aspects richly, experiencing more interpretations, preferences, near-histories,

March, J. G. (1991). "Exploration and Exploitation." Organization Science, 21(February): 71-87.

• slower socialization leads to greater knowledge (value of diverstity)

March, J. G. (1991). "Organizational Consultants and Organizational Research, J of Applied Communication Research." Journal of Applied Communication Research, 19: 20-31.

• research and consulting pools experience across organizations
• provide alternative interpretations of experience

March, J. G. and Z. Shapira (1992). "Variable Risk Preferences and the Focus of Attention." Psychological Review, 99(1): 172-183.

• people below aspiration focus on either survival (risk-averse) or aspiration (risk-seeking)

March, J. G. (1994). A Primer on Decision Making,. New York, The Free Press.

• competency traps, intelligence, extracting knowledge from experience

March, J. G. (1994). Three Lectures on Efficiency and Adaptiveness in Organizations. Helsingfors, Sweden, Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration.
March, J. G. and J. P. Olsen (1995). Democratic Governance,. New York, The Free Press.

• experiential learning processes, variation and selection,

March, J. G. (1995). "The future, disposable organizations and the rigidities of imagination." Organization, 2: 427-440.

• disposable organizations one response to need for exploration/exploitation issue at society level

March, J. G. (1996). "Learning to Be Risk Averse." Psychological Review,.

• risk averseness may result from accumulated learning

Orlikowski, W. J. (1996). "Improvising Organizational Transformation over Time: A Situated Change Perspective." Information Systems Research,.

• situated change affects on-going practices of individuals
• organizational design emergent

Padgett, J. F. (1995). "The emergence of simple ecologies of skill: a hypercycle approach to economic organization" in B. Arthur, S. Durlauf and D. Lane. The Economy as a Complex Evolving System.

• collective order is the stabilization of chains of action-reaction sequences