The Uncertainty of the Past
Organizational Learning Under Ambiguity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6258545 |
|---|---|
| Authors | James G March (University of Bergen), J P Olsen (0000-0002-1383-8318, University of Bergen) |
| Year | 1975 |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 147-171 |
| Publication date | 1975-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Political Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0304-4130 • E-ISSN: 1475-6765 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1475-6765.1975.tb00521.x |
| OpenAlex | W1966160150 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 100 |
| References cited | 12 |
Classical theories of omniscient rationality in organizational decision‐making have largely been replaced by a view of limited rationality, but no similar concern has been reflected in the analysis of organizational learning. There has been a tendency to model a simple complete cycle of learning from unambiguous experience and to ignore cognitive and evaluative limits on learning in organizations. This paper examines some theoretical possibilities for assuming that individuals in organizations modify their understanding in a way that is intendedly adaptive even though faced with ambiguity about what happened, why it happened, and whether it is good. To develop a theory of learning under such conditions, we probably require ideas about information exposure, memory, and retrieval; learning incentives; belief structures; and the micro development of belief in organizations. We exhibit one example by specifying a structural theory of the relations among liking, seeing, trusting, contact, and integration in an organization. The argument is made that some understanding of factors affecting learning from experience will not only be important to the improvement of policy making in an organizational context, but also a necessary part of a theory of organizational choice
Ambiguity · Argument (complex analysis · Bounded rationality · Cognitive psychology · Context (archaeology · Economics · Epistemology · Incentive · Knowledge management · Management · Microeconomics · Organizational learning · Organizational theory · Rationality · Sociology · Complex Systems and Decision Making · Computer Science · Innovation and Knowledge Management · Management and Organizational Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology · Artificial Intelligence
Organisational Memory as a Function
Responsive Schulleitung
NGOs and Organizational Change
The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis and Planning
Learning from Samples of One or Fewer
Making Invisible Work Visible
Perspective—Tacit Knowledge and Knowledge Conversion
Reframing Policy Discourse
Explaining the homogeneous diffusion of Covid-19 nonpharmaceutical interventions across heterogeneous countries
Conflict amid Community
Social Bricolage
Organisational Memory As a Function
Governing after crisis
When Arts Enter Organizational Spaces
The Logic of Appropriateness
Climate Adaptation as Organizational Learning
Acceptabilité sociale, justice distributive et ERA
Systemtheoretische Perspektiven auf Organisationen – Luhmanns bekannte und unbekannte Schriften zur Organisation
Do organizations really co-evolve? Problematizing co-evolutionary change in management and organization studies
How does a populist government interpret and face a health crisis? Evidence from the Mexican populist response to Covid-19
Quo Vadis? From the Schoolyard to the Courtroom
Learning/Becoming/Organizing
New Pythias of public administration
Organization philosophy
A performance-based budget in the judiciary
Die Vermittlung von sozialer Zeit, Lebenszeit und Alltagszeit
Organisationaler Wandel als Thema der Erwachsenenbildung
Organisationales Lernen als soziale Praxis. Der Beitrag von Pierre Bourdieu zum Lernen und Wissen von und in Organisationen
Schulreform als aktive Deprofessionalisierung? Zur Semantik der Lernenden Organisation im Kontext der Erziehung
Ein neuer Blick auf Schulentwicklung. Das Zusammenspiel zwischen impliziten und expliziten Prozessen der Weiterentwicklung der Einzelschule
Interorganisationales Lernen
Organisationales Lernen als zentraler Gegenstand der Organisationspädagogik
The Routledge Companion to Risk, Crisis and Emergency Management
Innovative Workplaces
Entwicklung von Organisationen als organisationspädagogische Gestaltungsaufgabe
Der Innovationstransfer in der Breite des Schulwesens
Aneignung im Kontext von (Re-)Organisation
Accountability Myopia
Media Coverage Shifts and Policy Overreactions
The Origins of the Food Desert
Does it take three to dance the Tango? Organizational design, triadic structures and boundary spanning across subunits
Students, Courses, and Stratification
The US military in uncertain times
The Procedural Politicking Tug of War
Group-Level Exploration and Exploitation
The role of goal-setting in urban climate governance
Making Sense of Leadership in Norway
Garbage can order
Thinking About Tomorrows”
Cross-cultural experience, strategic motivation and employer hiring preference
Can transnational exchange in EU projects really lead to change? A differentiated analysis from an action research perspective
Realistic Evaluation and Case Studies
Conducting Projects in Uncertain Times
Locating the modernist state. On whether or not modernist principles govern contemporary policy practice
Terrorist Learning
Regulatory indicators in the European Union and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
Classifying and interpreting threats to patient safety in hospitals
Strategic factors and barriers for promoting educational organizational learning
Organisationsversagen und NSU-Ermittlungen
Organizational Learning and Public Policy
Between public interest and the market
Information technology systems and the learning organization
District Central Offices as Learning Organizations
Learning from losing
Organizing for Crisis Management
Nonprofit Service Continuity and Responses in the Pandemic
Governing by Looking Back
On the Job Training of Social Workers the Case for the Continuing Seminars
Disciplines of Organizational Learning
Organization Learning Disorders
An Exploration of the Relationship between Performance, Decision Making, and Structure
When the good times are over
Sound from silence
Meaning and power in the design and development of policy experiments
Calm in the storm
Environmental, Technical, and Representational Uncertainty
Organizational learning in United Nations’ peacekeeping exit strategies
Future visioning for sustainable household practices
Organisation und Theorie
Why Forensic Pathologists Maintain Uncertainty in Reporting Causes of Death
Inteligencia Artificial en la administración pública
Understanding the Trust-Control Nexus
Organizational Learning
In Search of a Holistic Public Policy Theory Primer
Global diffusion ofCovid‐19 policies
Building a Conceptual Approach to Collective Learning
Analysing the contextual factors that promote and constrain policy learning in local government
Fuzzy Control
Reform efforts, synchronization failure, and international bureaucracy
Does learning matter for policy outcomes? The case of integrating climate finance into the EU budget
Revisiting the study of policy failures
Scienza Politica E Teoria Dell'organizzazione. Le Possibili Convergenze
Modernization Programs in Perspective
De la police guidée par le renseignement à la complexité des appareils policiers
El aprendizaje organizacional en instituciones de educación superior. Caso de estudio de un grupo de investigación
Organizational Learning Under Fire
Recycling the Garbage Can
Inteligência Artificial e democracia
Repurposing American Labor Law
Institutional and Noninstitutional Influences on Information and Communication Technology Adoption and Use Among Nonprofit Organizations
A Routine Flame-Photometric Determination of Organic Chloride
Handbook of Organizations (RLE
The psychology of interpersonal relations.
When prophecy fails
An Introduction to Models in the Social Sciences
A Theory of the Allocation of Time
A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice
Schema Theory
Organizational Analysis
| Unique citing works | 100 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,13 |
| Citation span | 1979 - 2026 (48) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 100 |