Managing an Organizational Learning System by Aligning Stocks and Flows of Knowledge.

There exists great interest in organizational learning among academics and practitioners. However, the organizational learning literature remains a mixture of qualitative theories, descriptive case studies, computer simulations and little empirical research. A distinction currently lacking in the literature is the difference between knowledge in organizations that is static (i.e., remains fixed within one individual or information system) versus knowledge that is dynamic (i.e., moves from one individual or information system to the next). This paper considers knowledge stocks and flows which interact with one another across levels in an overall organizational learning system. A survey instrument was used to test these hypotheses based on the Strategic Learning Assessment Map (SLAM) (Crossan and Hulland, 1997; Crossan and Bontis, 1998). The survey was administered to 32 organizations in the mutual fund industry. Approximately 15 individuals representing senior-, middle- and non-management levels responded from each organization resulting in a total sample of 480 respondents. The final regression equation represented a highly explanatory model which also validates the hypotheses.