Continuous learning in organizations

by Valerie I. Sessa

At the heart of the work is the idea that individuals, groups, and organizations are living systems with internal learning mechanisms that can be activated and supported or stymied and thwarted. Once activated, systems can learn adaptively by reacting to a change in the environment; they can learn by generating new knowledge and conditions; and/or they can transform by creating and applying frame-breaking ideas and bringing about radically new conditions. Individuals, groups, and organizations are nested within each other forming an increasingly complex hierarchy of intertwined systems. From this point of view, the book describes the interactions between the levels and how developmental processes at one level affect learning at other levels.