اثرات یادگیری سازمانی جهانی بر عملکرد زمان چرخه

This study examines the effects of organizational learning (team-, systems-, learning-, and memory orientations) on subjective and objective cycle time performance in the purchasing process of a Fortune 500 multinational services corporation. The focus is on the activities and relationships between the domestic and international strategic business units (SBUs) on the one hand, and the corporate buying center on the other (i.e., defined as the organization's strategic purchasing units). Based on a sample of 346 worldwide SBUs, the results suggest that organizational learning in the strategic purchasing units positively influences the cycle time performance in the purchasing process.

The transformation of organizational systems to reflect “processes of learning, behavior change, and performance improvement” (Slater and Narver, 1995, pp. 63–64) is gaining worldwide momentum. It is almost impossible today to find an industry that is not in a state of dynamic change requiring organizations to focus on continuous learning activities. For example, organizations such as Federal Express, Xerox, CIGNA, General Motors, and Honda are reconfiguring organizational charts and management practices to stress organizational learning for the purpose of obtaining a competitive advantage De Geus, 1988 and Dickson, 1992. Organizational learning as an important strategy for achieving a competitive advantage is also increasing in the academic marketing field (e.g., Baker and Sinkula, 1999, Hult, 1998, Hult and Ferrell, 1997a, Hult and Ferrell, 1997b, Hult et al., 2000a, Hult et al., 2000b, Hurley and Hult, 1998, Lukas et al., 1996, Sinkula, 1994, Sinkula et al., 1997, Slater and Narver, 1994 and Slater and Narver, 1995). However, with the exception of recent studies by Baker and Sinkula (1999), Hult (1998), Hult et al., 2000a and Hult et al., 2000b, and Sinkula et al. (1997), little effort has been devoted to empirically test the effects of such learning (cf. Sinkula, 1994 and Slater and Narver, 1995). Therefore, the present study examines the effect of organizational learning on cycle time performance in the purchasing process of a Fortune 500 multinational corporation that has made documented investments in processes and procedures for purposes of instilling organizational learning in the corporation (cf. Hult et al., 1995). The examination in this study focuses on how learning emerges in dyadic relationships (i.e., strategic purchasing units) between a corporate buying center and the various strategic operating units it represents and, as such, constitutes a unique and fine-grained approach to the study of organizational learning (cf. Hult and Nichols, 1996). Since purchasing processes are becoming more complex in scope, numerous areas exist where optimizing activities can yield considerable synergies and resulting competitive advantage Kale, 1986, McCabe, 1987 and Venkatesh et al., 1995. The paper is organized into six sections. First, a brief review of the literature on cycle time and organizational learning is provided. Second, we present the conceptual paradigm for examining organizational learning in purchasing. Third, a set of testable hypotheses is developed pertaining to the effects of organizational learning on cycle time performance in global purchasing. Fourth, the methodology is discussed, including information about the sample, study measures, and the analyses conducted to test the hypotheses. Fifth, the results of the hypothesis tests are presented, followed by concluding remarks.

The results of this study, providing empirical evidence of linkages between organizational learning and cycle time, would suggest that the positive effects of learning may supersede traditional learning outcomes (e.g., generation and dissemination of knowledge) (cf. Sinkula et al., 1997). Focusing on the purchasing process, the results indicate that the achieved capacity for organizational learning obtained through education and training via the “learning seminars” has a direct and significant effect on cycle time. In this study, we found that the SBU representatives that have attended purchasing-specific learning seminars have a greater degree of achieved capacity for organizational learning and that this achieved level of learning capacity positively affects cycle time performance in the purchasing process. Thus, an additive (and potentially synergistic effect) of organizational learning can be realized by having purchasing participants obtain a higher degree of capacity for organizational learning through education and training. The low variance explained by the structural equation model when using the OCT scale coupled with the significant effect of only team orientation (TO) in this case imply that management should focus on a more SCT scale that incorporates (and neutralizes) the effect of specific purchasing activities and relationships. As such, understanding purchasing cycle times is sometimes difficult because organizational buyer behavior processes are often dynamic and complicated. Purchasing managers face a complicated set of issues and their behaviors are confounded by a series of situational factors. In this regard, the SCT scale allows organizations to measure cycle times of their purchasing processes, including all product and service categories (i.e., simple re-buys to complex new purchases), in a standardized multi-attribute manner (Hult, 1998), resulting in a more comprehensive understanding of the issues facing purchasing managers. In summary, the overall results of this study suggest that when SBU users are enjoined in a purchasing process where an overall team orientation is encouraged, systems orientation is generated, activities are carried out that enhance the perception of commitment to learning, and organizational purchasing memory is accessible in the right format, the SBU users develop a more proactive sense of the corporate buying center's commitment to their needs and the motivation to act on their behalf in the purchasing unit. As such, the function of organizational learning in the purchasing process means that people within the purchasing units put aside their old ways of thinking about details (learning orientation), adopt a broader perspective of how the purchasing unit really works (systems orientation), learn to be open with each other in the purchasing unit (memory orientation), and work together to form and implement a purchasing strategy upon which everyone can agree (team orientation).