Managing the learning organization

Summary form only given. The focus of the paper is, based on a learning perspective, to discuss the management of organizational learning. We identify the main concepts and issues related to organizational learning, where our principal interest in working with learning processes is to create changes in what people actually do in organizations. Our line of reasoning is the following: if we want to change what people do, we have to change the understanding that guides their actions; to understand and know what to do, does not imply that we know how to do it, hence, developing skills through training is a crucial part of learning processes; individual learning is a prerequisite for, but does not imply, organizational learning; and consequently, managing the learning organization is to design possibilities for organizational members to engage in learning processes. The management of change involves the following challenges: to have both the theoretical basis and an insight into the actual organizational context, that enables her/him to create and support arenas for dialogue and reflecting on collective practice, and to create and support arenas for practical testing, obtaining experiences and reflecting upon the new organizational practice; and a process element should be added, i.e. the ability to intervene into ongoing processes in order to identify and change the mechanisms that prevents learning. We present a case elaborating on these arguments, by showing how a management training program in a large scale Norwegian aluminum plant (Norsk Hydro) involved several design choices to support organizational learning