Background and Introduction

This chapter introduces the book and its chapters. First, a brief background is given. In this part of the chapter the aims of the book are also offered. The main aim is to examine and develop the idea of the learning organization, through making an inventory on what already is known about the learning organization, offering new, alternative features and angles on the learning organization, and suggesting areas for further research. The book also intends to fill the gap between the more traditional perspectives and the more critical perspectives of the learning organization—or at least to bring them closer to each other. After the relatively brief background, the eight sections in the book are presented, along with the chapters that each section contains.