تاثیر ادراک فردی بر فرهنگ سازمانی در محیط آموزش و یادگیری Impact of individual perception of organizational culture on the learning transfer environment

Introduction Organizational learning can be critical in influencing the success of organizations in a globalized system characterized by rapid technological advancements, fierce competition and rapid rates of change in work environments (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). An important determinant of organization learning is the transfer of knowledge (Garvin et al., 2008) from training programs. According to Chiaburu and Lindsay (2008), training programs are effective only to the extent that the skills and behaviors learned and practiced during instruction are actually transferred to the workplace. This can happen only if the organization has a favorable transfer environment, which is one that affects motivation and performance of its people positively (Krishnamani & Haider, 2016; Litwin & Stringer, 1968). It is recognized that the process of learning transfer within an organization is complex because of various influences (Bates & Khasawneh, 2005; Edmondson et al., 2007), including work-environment-related elements (Baldwin & Ford, 1988). Although learning and training are many a time used interchangeably, there is a nuanced difference between the two. As per their dictionary meanings, training is imparted through specific teaching interventions meant to upgrade a set of skills or behavior of the trainee(s), whereas learning refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skill and/or attitude through multiple sources like study, experience or being taught. Thus training is a type of learning. The terms training transfer and learning transfer have been used interchangeably in this paper. The latter term has been preferred, however, because we do not restrict our research to training but include programs that are designed to build wider knowledge and influence attitude. One of the key aspects of the work environment is organizational culture. There is substantial literature that focuses on the impact of the organizational culture on organization learning (Amabile, 1998; Prather, 2000; Shallcross, 1975; Sternberg, 2003); however, very little effort has been made to understand the relationship between organizational culture and organization-specific factors that affect the transfer of learning from training programs. This paper is an empirical study of the relationship between organization culture, operationalized as individual perception of the organizational culture, and the work-environment-related learning transfer factors in organizations, which we call learning transfer environment (LTE). For the purpose of this research, we have chosen two established models. The first is the Learning Transfer System Inventory (LTSI) which was developed by Holton et al. (2000); we focus on a specific part of this model to define the LTE. Second, we use Cameron and Quinn’s (1999) model on organizational culture called the Competing Values Framework (CVF) and a matched scale based on CVF, called Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI), to help us identify specific cultures of organizations. The next sections describe the two models in detail.