A business school as a learning organization

Brings up and examines the concept of a business school as a learning organization. Discusses the issue of change as a stimulus to learning ‐ as businesses face new challenges, so, therefore, do business schools ‐ hence the necessity to become a learning organization. Proposes the idea of the faculty member as the learner, as well as the integration of various modes of organizational learning: faculty group discipline‐based learning, cross‐disciplinary programme‐based learning, and learning via a “partnership” with a major customer organization. Illustrates a working model for organizational learning comprising learning from research activities, workshops/ “discovery events”, open teaching programmes as well as in‐company tailored programmes. The total of this ‐ when aggregated as it relates to all the major learning partnerships the school is involved in ‐ leads to acquisition of knowledge by the faculty and the business school becomes a deliberate organizational learner. Concludes with emphasis on partnerships with multinational cutting‐edge firms as the key to the most relevant real‐life organizational learning.