Using groupware technology to construct a learning organization: A case study of a groupware-based enriched learning and information environment

Emerging business environments, information technology, and learning theories are calling for any organization that seeks to increase productivity to transform itself from a training organization to a learning organization. With the characteristics of a learning organization in mind, I developed a technological framework for a groupware-based Enriched Learning and Information Environment (ELIE), which integrates case-based learning, cognitive apprenticeship, and groupware technology to facilitate pedagogical processes for the knowledge advancement of know-what, know-how, and know-why in an organization. The aim of the present study is to evaluate this technological framework as a blueprint for constructing a learning organization.;In the context of a manufacturer for automotive electronics, Lotus Notes was employed to create a groupware-based ELIE which was titled: Using Notes for Case-based Learning Environments (UNCLE). This study examined the interactions between the social system of this organization and the technical system of UNCLE used by the organization using the sociotechnical system analysis approach. Because of the unique context under study, the case study method was chosen to cast light upon the development and implementation of a groupware-based ELIE in this particular real-life corporate setting.;Based on the findings of the sociotechnical system analysis, recommendations were made to the organization that included organizational change strategies, technology strategies, and migration strategies. Also, this study established that the sociotechnical system of a groupware-based ELIE consists of knowledge workers with certain prerequisites, supported by a favorable organizational context, who participate in the learning tasks of knowledge advancement using ELIE technology. The essential characteristics of the knowledge workers, the constituents of a favorable organizational context, the structure of ELIE learning tasks, and the suggestions for ELIE development and implementation were identified. Then, a model which combines organizational knowledge creation and the knowledge advancement process using ELIE's technology was proposed. Future research was suggested in the area of sociotechnical systems of groupware-based ELIE's using different organizational contexts and perspectives of ELIE sociotechnical components, and in the proposed new model using a similar sociotechnical system analysis approach to that used in this study.