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Organizational learning in non‐governmental organizations: What have we learned?
Author(s) -
EDWARDS MICHAEL
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
public administration and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1099-162X
pISSN - 0271-2075
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-162x(199705)17:2<235::aid-pad943>3.0.co;2-p
Subject(s) - typology , organizational learning , learning organization , set (abstract data type) , private sector , public relations , public sector , sociology , political science , knowledge management , computer science , anthropology , law , programming language
Learning is considered to be an essential component of organizational effectiveness in all sectors—private, public and non‐governmental. All NGOs aspire to be ‘learning organizations’, yet few have reflected systematically on the success in this regard. This article summarizes the experience to date of international NGOs that have prioritized learning as an objective, drawing out areas of both success and failure, and reflecting on whether there are any features that distinguish learning in NGOs from learning in other types of organization. A simple typology and set of tests of NGO‐learning are presented, along with a series of challenges for the future. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Public Admin. Dev . Vol. 17 : 235–250 (1997). No. of Figures: 0. No. of Tables: 0. No. of Refs: 48