Interventions to Create a Learning Organization

This chapter examines ways that Watkins and Marsick (1993, 1997), together or with other collaborators (including students), have engaged in, or supported, interventions to create a learning organization. The chapter starts by framing the intervention approach associated with their model. The authors then examine examples of research that illustrate how action science and action learning develop learning capacity toward a learning organization in ways consistent with the model. They turn to a comprehensive framework that Gephart and Marsick (2016) developed focused on system dynamics, and illustrate the way this framework has been used to foster organizational learning. The authors’ final examples come from DLOQ-inspired research carried out by students. They conclude with reflections that suggest a way of creating a learning organization that is less an idealized outcome and more a learning process for iterative—and adjustable—growth toward desired goals.