Many academicians and practitioners have recognized that organizational learning is a
viable paradigm for contemporary organizations aspiring to attain competitive
advantage in an increasingly turbulent business environment. Despite tremendous
interest in endeavoring to understand the nature of learning organizations, there is a
dearth of empirical evidence to support the anecdotal claims that learning in
organizations results in positive outcomes such as team performance, service quality,
job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Most studies either focus on the
antecedents and obstacles to learning or speculate how learning produces positive
outcomes. Consequently, the purpose of this research was to examine the interactions
of individual, team and organizational learning and to examine how learning at the three
levels contributed to competitive advantage. In the framework of this study competitive
advantage was conceptualized to be made up of team performance, service quality, job
satisfaction, and organizational commitment.
Accordingly, a cross-sectional study was conducted at a 230-bed capacity Australian
hospital. The study respondents were drawn from all fill time hospital workers -
nurses, executives, managers, professions allied to health, administration and clerical
workers. As the doctors are contracted, they were not surveyed. All respondents
completed a complex questionnaire. In addition to demographic information, the
instruments used in the questionnaire included the Individual Learning Scale (Arnes and
Archer, 1988), Team Learning Survey (Edrnondson, 1996), Organizational Learning Survey (Goh and Richards, 1997), Team Performance Survey (Edmondson, 1996),
SERVQUAL (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry, 1991), job satisfaction section of the
Job Diagnostic Survey (Hackman and Oldham, 1979, and Organizational Commitment
Questionnaire (Porter, Steers, Mowday, and Boulian, 1976). These instruments were
deliberately chosen because of their previously recorded acceptable psychometric
properties (i.e. validity and reliability) in similar assessments, and hence, they were
considered appropriate for the purpose of this study.
A comprehensive methodology was used to assess the hypotheses. Relevant literature
pertaining to the variables examined in this study was reviewed. In light of the
literature review, a number of hypotheses and a conceptual model were developed. A
quantitative methodology was used to test the proposed hypotheses and qualitative
information was sought to provide some explanation of the results. This pluralist
approach is gaining recognition in contemporary research because of the
complementary nature of qualitative to quantitative methodology (Edmondson, 1996;
Shaffer and Harrison, 2001). In total 700 questionnaires were administered for
completion during a period of two weeks. A total of 189 questionnaires were returned,
generating an overall response rate of 27.0 percent. The lower-than-expected response
rate was a concern, as biasness in results could occur (Churchill, 1991; Hunt, 1990), so
a non-response bias assessment was conducted by comparing early and late respondents
(Rulke, Zaheer, and Anderson, 2000; Wright, 1997). The results indicated no grave
problem with non-response bias, and therefore, the data was deemed suitable for
analyses.
Several statistical procedures were employed to evaluate the data. For example, factor
analyses and reliability analyses were used to assess the psychometric properties of the
scales. The results of psychometric assessments indicated that the scales had good
validities and reliabilities, and the data was robust. Then, path analysis was used to test
the hypotheses, which were developed in Chapter Two. The results of path analysis
indicated that individual learning was negatively related to team learning, two service
quality facets, and two organizational learning facets. Also, the predictions that team
learning would enhance organizational learning and team performance were fully
supported. Furthermore, the relationships between organizational learning and three
relevant outcomes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and service quality)
received some support. Finally, it was found that three job satisfaction facets were
related to organizational commitment. Implications for these findings are
comprehensively discussed in the implications section of Chapter Five.
A feature of this study is the use of informal focus groups to improve the understanding
of statistical results. The Quality Coordinator of the hospital organized seven sessions
and every employee was invited to attend. Each session lasted fifteen to twenty
minutes. The Chief Executive Officer, who attended most the sessions, displayed
tremendous interest and support for the study. There were two objectives for the
informal discussions. Firstly, this strategy allowed a better interpretation of the results
from the mindsets of some employees. During the sessions, attendees were asked to
recall instances that support the findings. Secondly, the session allowed staff members
to discuss any job-related issues with the Quality Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer. Indeed, as suggested by contemporary management researchers (Bond, Fu, and
Pasa, 2001; de Ruyter, Moorman, and Lemrnink, 2001; Teagarden, Von Glinow,
Bowen, Frayne, Nason, Huo, Milliman, Arias, Butler, Geringer, Kim, Scullion, Lowe,
and Drost, 1995), this informal qualitative approach was complementary to the
statistical method.
The study represents an original attempt to empirically examine the individual, team
and organizational learning constructs and their outcomes. Discussion of results is
preceded by a review of the outcomes of individual learning, which include team
learning, organizational learning, and service quality. Next, the outcomes of team
learning, such as organizational learning, team performance and service quality, are
discussed. Subsequently, the effects of organizational learning on job satisfaction,
organizational commitment and service quality are discussed. The discussion is
concluded with explanations for the reciprocal relationship between the affective
variables of job satisfaction and organizational commitment as well as the effects of the
two variables on service quality. Following the discussion of results, the limitations and
strengths of the study are presented. Finally, suggestions for future research are
provided.
A number of theoretical and practical contributions have resulted from this study.
These can be broadly summarized to include four features. The first contribution of
this study is an advancement of the currently available knowledge about individual,
team and organizational learning by empirically examining the linkages. A second contribution of the study is an assessment of the appropriateness of the Individual
Learning Survey, Team Learning Survey, Organizational Learning Survey, and the
SERVQUAL instrument in assessing learning capabilities and service quality in the
context of an Australian hospital, with the potential of a wider application across the
health care industry. Next, evidence supporting the organizational learning facets that
have contributed to employee attitude and behavior, such as job satisfaction and
organizational commitment, may help bolster arguments for initiatives to improve the
quality of life of health care staff. Finally, identifying the organizational learning facets
that have contributed to service quality has the potential to encourage hospital
management to incorporate human resource policies into operational plans to improve
service quality. Implications of the findings for managers and theory developments are
discussed comprehensively in Chapter Five.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/221781 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Christopher Ching Ann Chan |
| Publisher | Murdoch University |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.murdoch.edu.au/goto/CopyrightNotice, Copyright Christopher Ching Ann Chan |
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