DOI: 10.5176/2251-1970_BizStrategy13.19
Authors: Mihaela Stan
Abstract: Although management scholars have recognized that organizational learning is an indispensable constituent of strategic management, there are still fundamental questions about the contextual factors that influence the ability of organizations to learn from their experience.
More specifically, this study seeks to test if organizational learning is influenced by different types of “integrators”– formally mandated managerial roles which cut across departmental structures and link interdependent specialists. These effects are analyzed using longitudinal data from the medical domain of in- vitro fertilization in the United Kingdom.
The analyses illustrate how integrators, as elements of formal structure with varying levels of formal authority and relational coordination, influence collective outcomes in terms of organizational learning rates.
Keywords: organizational learning, integrator, relational coordination, formal influence
