Learning in times of permanent change – a theoretical input on work environment and organizational learning

Abstract

This article shows that the original socio-technical theory, through its focus on participation and workplace democracy and its link between work organization and social systems, has similarities with the action-oriented model of organizational learning. Socio-technical theory has also had a direct impact on what has later become a dominant perspective within the work environment and health research, the demand-control-support model. Both of these perspectives make use of a learning term which is cognitively oriented and “made organizational” by emphasizing dialogue oriented processes involving both employees and managers through inquiry in their own organization and through changes in work organization. The models differ in that the demands – control – support model looks at stress as an obstacle to learning while the action-oriented organizational learning model advocates the impossibility of fundamental change without provoking discomfort. The article argues that in a labor market characterized by an increased rate of restructuring, there is a need for combined insights about how stressors in different types of work, coping capabilities and learning interact, and how elements of the organizational and psychosocial work environment may affect the organization’s ability to learn.