The effect of variation and learning before doing on the learning curve: An experimental design approach and evidence from a case study.

详细信息   

• 作者：Vidal ; Patricia Goncalves.
• 学历：Doctor
• 年：2003
• 导师：Schilling, Melissa A.
• 毕业院校：Boston University
• 专业：Business Administration, Management.;Economics, General.
• ISBN：049392129X
• CBH：3072394
• Country：USA
• 语种：English
• FileSize：4175764
• Pages：145

文摘

An organization's ability to learn enables it to develop new competencies, improve production processes, and respond to environmental change (Baum, Li and Usher, 2000; Bewonder and Miyake, 1994; Haleblian and Finkelstein, 1999; Senge, 1990). Researchers and practitioners alike have vigorously sought greater understanding of the learning process in organizations, and the factors that affect this process, yet we have thus far only begun to scratch the surface. There are still many aspects of organizational learning that are poorly understood. This dissertation provides a step further in understanding how organizations learn, through an empirical investigation of learning curves.;The dissertation investigates factors that affect the learning processes. The first essay describes the investigation of how teams' task influences the teams' learning—either by specialization, or through related or unrelated activities. The results show that teams' learning rates are higher when they perform multiple activities that are related, rather than when they specialized on a single-task or when they perform multiple unrelated tasks.;The second study describes a study that focused on the impact of learning before doing (learning that takes place prior to producing output) on the initial performance of teams and on the learning rates. Results indicate that investment in learning before doing (study of a process that takes place prior to producing output) significantly increased initial performance, but decreased the slope of the learning curves (the learning rate). The data used in these studies were obtained from a carefully controlled experimental design that allows us to compare multiple learning curves while controlling for task type, performance measures, and the learning context.;The third study presents a qualitative study conducted at a biotechnology company in the Boston area, in order to analyze the use of problem solving activities on a collaborative effort of this company and a pharmaceutical company to develop a novel process for developing new drugs. The case investigates how this company uses problem-solving activities to balance the ability to explore and exploit knowledge. The main conclusion of this case is that problem solving activities are being used both to increase the current knowledge base, as well as to refine the knowledge base through developing new opportunities to the company. The case also stresses the importance of creating an independent project management team to manage knowledge integration and dissemination.