Organisational learning style, competencies and learning systems in small, UK manufacturing firms

Organisational learning is increasingly being mentioned in the literature as a mechanism for assisting the market performance of small firms. There exists, however, limited empirical evidence on either the benefits conferred by organisational learning and the learning systems utilised to manage the process. A survey of small UK manufacturing firms was undertaken to acquire data on whether a relationship exists between learning style and the competencies exhibited by organisations. The survey also sought to determine the nature of learning systems used by small manufacturing firms. The results suggest that as firms move from a lower‐level to a higher‐level learning style, this is accompanied by competence enhancement that can contribute to improving organisational capability. It also appears that a higher‐level learning style is accompanied by the adoption of a more formalised learning system inside the organisation. The implications of these findings are discussed and proposals presented on the needs for further research.