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Argyris (1977) defines Organizational Learning as the process of detection and correction of errors. In his view organizations learn through individuals acting as agents for them: "The individuals' learning activities, in turn, are facilitated or inhibited by an ecological system of factors that may be called an organizational learning system"! There are many other definitions,Huber (1991), Weick (1991)...
Regarding Learning Organization, "Senge (1990) defines the Learning Organization as the organization "in which you cannot not learn because learning is so insinuated into the fabric of life." Also, he defines Learning Organization as "a group of people continually enhancing their capacity to create what they want to create."!
Referring to literature review the differences perceived as follow:
Peter Senge, 1990 in his book "The Fifth Discipline" defines a learning organization that continually develops and facilitates the learning and development of its members. To a certain extent, learning organizations are action oriented, and are geared towards using specific diagnostic and evaluative methodological tools which can help to identify, promote and evaluate the quality of learning processes inside organizations (Easterby-Smith and Araujo, 1999; Tsang, 1997). As companies naturally grow, their line of thinking becomes rigid, and there is a need to develop these organizations into Learning Organizations so as to continue their development, maintain new knowledge about products or services outside their own that may compete with theirs, comprehend the internal and external environment of the organization, and produce creative and innovative solutions through and with the help of its members. On the other hand, Argrys and Schon, 1985, perceived Organizational Learning under Organizational Theory which focuses and studies on the manners and ways organizations adapt and learns. This is a facet of Organizational Development because Organizational Learning is the interaction that takes place within the individual members of the company. Finger and Brand (1999) stipulates that Organizational Learning is the activity and process by which the organization eventually reaches the ideal Learning Organization. You can view how an organization learns cognitively as a whole, or community based within specific networks within the system.
agree with ms. ghada answer
The notion of the learning organization as described is sometimes confused
with the concept of organizational learning. However, as Harrison (2000) points out: ‘Too
often… it is assumed that the terms “the learning organization” and “organizational learning”
are synonymous. They are not.’
Easter by-Smith and Araujo (1999) explain that the literature on organizational learning
focuses on the ‘observation and analysis of the processes of individual and collective learning
in organizations’, whereas the learning organization literature is concerned with ‘using specific
diagnostic and evaluative tools which can help to identify, promote and evaluate the quality of
the learning processes inside organizations’. In other words, organizational learning is about
how people learn in organizations and the learning organization concept is about what organizations
should do to facilitate the learning of their members.
