Summary of the four assigned articles for Organisation & Environment at Radboud University 2021/2022.
1) Baum & Dahlin, aspiration perforamnce and railroads' patterns of learning from train wrecks and crashes.
2) Van den Oever & Martin, fishing in troubled waters? Strategic decision-making and ...
2) Power school: v.d. Oever & Martin............................................................................................................. 5
3) Cultural school: Bertels & Howard-Grenville...............................................................................................7
4) Dialogue lecture: Davis & DeWitt............................................................................................................. 10
, 1) Learning school: Baum & Dahlin
Baum, J.A.C., & Dahlin, K.B. (2007). Aspiration performance and railroads’ patterns of learning
from train wrecks and crashes. Organization Science, 18(3), 368-385.
This paper studies how and when US railroads use their own or other’s success & failure to
improve their performance, making a valuable contribution to the study of organizational
learning.
More specifically, they combine two lines of inquiry within the school of organizational learning
= performance feedback theory and experiential learning
Performance feedback theory
This theory holds that organizations learn or adapt by evaluating their actual performance
against the benchmark/aspired performance.
Step 1) set aspiration level, either based on the firms past performance and historical
aspirations or based on similar others in the industry (competitors).
Step 2) organization performs
Step 3) compare performance to aspirational level
Step 4) learning
Learning takes to different forms:
1) Performance below or far below aspiration → organization will look beyond its own
boundaries and engage in non-local search = exploration
2) Performance near aspiration → firms will fine-tune it’s existing routines and procedures in
local search = exploitation
Experiential learning
Organizations learn by (others’) doing things somewhat logically = by trial and error/learning-by-
doing.
Step 1) perform
Step 2) evaluate output in order to improve it
Learning takes two different forms:
1) Distant search = learning from others → non-local search / exploration
2) Local search = learning from own experience → local search / exploitation
This theory holds that organization should always do both, they need to both exploit current
abilities to stay relevant within the marketplace and have a steady stream of income, and they
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