What is a Learning Organization?

According to Harvard Business School professor, David Garvin, “A learning organization is an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, interpreting, transferring and retaining knowledge and at purposefully modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights.”

A learning organisation

Knows how to improve its actions and decision making processes through better knowledge.
Knows how to build on past knowledge and experience. It is good at detecting and correcting errors
Is good at learning new things and acting upon this knowledge. It knows how to change people’s behavior according to the needs of the business environment.
Knows how to institutionalize the knowledge of individuals. It keeps increasing its capacity to take effective action.



Source: David Garvin, “Learning in Action,” Harvard Business School Press, 2000.