In organizations existing rules and norms are usually used as the basis for solving new problems even when this means stretching those rules. Such absorption of new problems by rules reduces the need to explore and develop new solutions and to encode those solutions into new rules. Furthermore, one way that organizational learning can occur is through problem solving, i.e. learning takes place through identifying and resolving problems that occur in the execution of projects. Thus, finding a viable perspective and approach with which project-based companies can understand how their organizational learning through problem solving activities take place in the course of time is a very important issue. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to explore the potential of process thinking to open up new ways to understand organizational learning – particularly through problem absorption within problem solving – in project-based companies. All in all, with the help of this paper we have sought to offer a brief illustration of how process thinking may help to understand this issue.
Recognition that rule-following characterizes much of the behavior in organizations has directed attention to the processes by which rules emerge, change, and develop over time (March, 1981). Therefore, organizational learning is often conceptualized as a process by which organizations develop rules, procedures, and routines for solving recurring problems (e.g. Cyert and March, 1992). Over time, a repertory of tried and tested solutions is built up in organizational memory (e.g. Brooking, 2000, Koskinen, 2010 and Walsh and Ungson, 1991), and, insofar as these can be used to deal with or absorb new problems, the perceived need to search for alternative solutions is reduced (Levitt and March, 1988). That is, in organizations – project-based companies in our case – existing rules and norms are usually used as the basis for solving new problems even when this means stretching those rules. Such absorption of new problems by rules reduces the need to explore and develop new solutions and to “encode” those solutions into new rules and norms.
Process thinking involves considering phenomena dynamically in terms of movement, activity, events, change and temporal evolution (e.g. Hernes, 2007 and van de Ven, 1992). This is intended to be inclusive of weaker and stronger views of process as described by Chia and Langley (2004). This means that process thinking may involve consideration of how and why things such as people, organizations, rules and norms, evolve over time (Langley, 2007). This is well expressed by Pettigrew (1992, p. 11) as catching ‘reality in flight’ or, adopting a more radical process ontology, how such things come to be constituted, reproduced, adapted and defined through ongoing processes, expressed nicely in Tsoukas and Chia's (2002) reference to ‘organizational becoming’.
Obviously, finding a viable perspective and approach with which project-based companies can understand how their organizational learning through problem solving activities takes place in the course of time is a very important issue. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to explore the potential of process thinking to open up new ways to understand organizational learning – particularly through problem absorption within problem solving – in project-based companies.
In the pursuit of this goal, initially we present essential theoretical information, by reviewing the concept of process thinking, describing the notion of organizational learning, illustrating notions of problem and problem solving, and highlighting concepts of organizational rules and norms. After that follows the main content of the paper, namely an exploration of organizational learning through problem absorption in project-based companies. The paper ends with the conclusions section.
Finding a viable perspective and approach with which project-based companies can understand how their organizational learning through problem solving activities takes place in the course of time is a very important issue. Therefore, the goal of this paper has been to explore the relationship between problem absorption taking place within problem solving and organizational learning in project-based companies. Building on the process view, we suggest that an important part of problem solving through problem absorption is the extension of categories of existing rules to non-prototypical cases, which can shift the meaning of those categories in practice without changing the actual contents of the rules. Our analysis shows that the formation and revision of rules can be regarded as a basic outcome of organizational learning (Fig. 1).
