| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, 105 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E6, Canada
We link two influential organizational learning models—performance feedback and experiential learning—to advance hypotheses that help explain how organizations’ learning from their own and others’ experience is conditioned by their aspiration-performance feedback. Our focus is on learning from failure; this kind of learning is essential to organizational learning and adaptation, and a necessary complement to studies of learning from success. Our analysis of U.S. Class 1 freight railroads’ accident costs from 1975 to 2001 shows that when a railroad’s accident rate deviates from aspiration levels, the railroad benefits less from its own operating and accident experience and more from other railroads’ operating and accident experiences. These findings support the idea that performance near aspirations fosters local search and exploitive learning, while performance away from aspirations stimulates nonlocal search and exploration, providing a foundation for constructing more-integrated models of organizational learning and change.
Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, 105 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E6, Canada
baum{at}rotman.utoronto.ca
dahlin{at}rotman.utoronto.ca
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  V. Desai Do organizations have to change to learn? Examining the effects of technological change and learning from failures in the natural gas distribution industry Ind. Corp. Change, January 17, 2010; (2010) dtp048v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 G. Labianca, J. F. Fairbank, G. Andrevski, and M. Parzen Striving toward the future: aspiration--performance discrepancies and planned organizational change Strategic Organization, November 1, 2009; 7(4): 433 - 466. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J.-Y. Kim, J.-Y. Kim, and A. S. Miner Organizational Learning from Extreme Performance Experience: The Impact of Success and Recovery Experience Organization Science, November 1, 2009; 20(6): 958 - 978. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. Lampel, J. Shamsie, and Z. Shapira Experiencing the Improbable: Rare Events and Organizational Learning Organization Science, September 1, 2009; 20(5): 835 - 845. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. M. Madsen These Lives Will Not Be Lost in Vain: Organizational Learning from Disaster in U.S. Coal Mining Organization Science, September 1, 2009; 20(5): 861 - 875. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
W. H. Starbuck Perspective--Cognitive Reactions to Rare Events: Perceptions, Uncertainty, and Learning Organization Science, September 1, 2009; 20(5): 925 - 937. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
C. Rerup Attentional Triangulation: Learning from Unexpected Rare Crises Organization Science, September 1, 2009; 20(5): 876 - 893. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
A. Schwab Learning from broadcasts of project participation: selection of second-tier actors during project-venture formation in the movie industry, 1931--40 Strategic Organization, May 1, 2009; 7(2): 137 - 181. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
V. M. Desai Constrained Growth: How Experience, Legitimacy, and Age Influence Risk Taking in Organizations Organization Science, July 1, 2008; 19(4): 594 - 608. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
W.-R. Chen Determinants of Firms' Backward- and Forward-Looking R&D Search Behavior Organization Science, July 1, 2008; 19(4): 609 - 622. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
L. Argote and H. R. Greve A Behavioral Theory of the Firm--40 Years and Counting: Introduction and Impact Organization Science, May 1, 2007; 18(3): 337 - 349. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
