| This qualitative study of organizational learning and transfer of learning in the context of planned organizational change reveals concrete ways that learning occurs and both affects and is affected by the knowledge transfer process. Rigorous application of grounded theory methodology produced a model of learning wherein (a) willingness to adapt is antecedent to learning at the organizational level, (b) mental maps are influenced by both intrapersonal and interpersonal processes, and (c) emotion is as central as cognition relative to the construction of both willingness and mental maps. This interactive, iterative process of assessing, believing in, choosing, and owning the change is called locker room learning to situate its development and enactment in the everydayness of job performance rather than the classroom. Locker room learning emphasizes the social nature of learning while recognizing the technical needs of the change. This case study looked at the process innovation and strategic change of replacing mass production with lean production at a single plant that is part of a global manufacturing firm, primarily through multilevel, multifunction interviews. The knowledge or learning that was developed in this change had the potential to be used in other functions and sites, both within the firm and with supply chain partners. What is most interesting is the relationship discovered between LRL and knowledge management, specifically the knowledge transfer. This relationship is based on the social bonding that developed during the knowledge creation process. The emotional component of the experience of learning creates a bond-ary that both aides and hinders knowledge transfer. This organizational analysis of knowledge transfer of new, novel organizational learning has theoretical, practical and epistemological implications. |
