Capacity for organizational learning: theoretical analysis and empirical study in the context of official development aid project teams

Although several studies have investigated Organizational Learning Capability (OLC), the question of its operationalization remains open. We review the OLC concept, analyze its relationship to Organizational Learning (OL), and assess the validity of its operationalization through three models (formative, reflexive, mixed). While part of the literature states that OLC has five dimensions (experimentation, risk taking, dialogue, interaction with stakeholders, and participation in decision making), our exploratory study of 41 Official Development Aid projects suggests the existence of an important sixth dimension for OLC: autonomy vis-a-vis the national supervisor. The theoretical and practical implications of this finding are then discussed. Copyright (c) 2013 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Resume Bien que plusieurs recherches aient etudie la capacite d'apprentissage organisationnel (CAO), la question de son operationnalisation reste ouverte. Nous reexaminons la notion de CAO, analysons ses relations avec l'apprentissage organisationnel (AO) et evaluons la validite de son operationnalisation a travers trois modeles (formatif, reflexif, mixte). Alors qu'une partie de la litterature affirme que la CAO comprend cinq dimensions (l'experimentation ; la prise de risque ; le dialogue ; l'interaction avec les parties prenantes ; la participation a la prise de decisions), notre etude exploratoire de 41 equipes de projet d'aide publique au developpement suggere l'existence d'une sixieme dimension importante pour la CAO : l'autonomie vis-a-vis du superieur hierarchique national. Nous discutons ensuite les implications theoriques et pratiques de cette decouverte. Copyright (c) 2013 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.