The goal of this study is to theorize and empirically test a multilevel model of organizational learning culture in a context of four national cultural dimensions: power distance, individualism, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance. Based on established conceptual foundations of organizational learning culture (OLC), defined as a set of organizational norms and values that support systematic, in-depth approaches aimed at achieving higher-level organizational learning, this study seeks to examine the cross-level interactions between national culture dimensions and two key organizational learning processes: the impact of information acquisition on information interpretation, and behavioral and cognitive changes as a result of information interpretation. Data were collected from 1333 companies in 7 countries with different national cultures, and analyzed by hierarchical linear modeling techniques. The results showed that while national cultural dimensions had no significant influence on the relationship between information acquisition and information interpretation at the organizational level, each of the four cultural dimensions moderated the effects of information interpretation on organizational behavioral and cognitive changes in different directions. This study contributes to current literature by demonstrating the theoretical and empirical viability in using a multilevel approach to understand how organizational learning culture develops in the context of national cultural dimensions.

Poleg tega sem podal tudi kratko izjavo o posebnostih učenja v NVO, ki je bilo objavljeno v Biltenu EduAkcija, marec 2010.

Med uvajanjem konceptov učeče se organizacije v podjetja in nevladne organizacije je kar nekaj podobnosti in obenem tudi razlik. Skupno je recimo to, da je stalna težnja k učenju posameznikov, timov in organizacij dejansko edini trajen vir napredka naše družbe. Od razlik bi izpostavil vprašanje motivacije za učenje. Raziskave kažejo, da je aktivnih ‘učencev’ približno 10 odstotkov, pasivnih 80, takih, ki ga zavračajo pa še preostalih 10 odstotkov. Menedžerji podjetij lahko spodbujajo razvoj učečih se podjetij z orodji, kot so sistemi finančnega in nefinančnega nagrajevanja, vodenje z zgledom ipd. Za nevladne učeče se organizacije motivacija za učenje ni takšen problem, ker imamo tukaj opravka z pretežno aktivnimi in notranje motiviranimi kadri. Zato pa je po moji oceni eden izmed ključnih izzivov, kako vzpostaviti omrežja teh notranje motiviranih, a obenem tudi relativno slabo povezanih posameznikov in organizacij. Pozdravljam projekt eduAkcija, ki skuša odgovoriti na točno takšen izziv!

It is a wonderful thing to be successfu by oneself. And it is even better to help others to achieve their own personal success. Last year I’ve had a privilige of being mentor to two bachelor and two master theses that were yesterday awarded prestigious Trimo research awards: (1) Tomaž Bartolj for his work on maturity to compete on business analytics, (2) Ula Mejaš on transformational leadership, (3) Lara Madotto on emotional intelligence and employee satisfaction, and (4) Jure Pompe on innovative organizational culture. Congratulations to them all!

In recent years, research has recognized that creativity is a social process. By
communicating with others, individuals get access to novel perspectives and unique
knowledge, and they can get political support for their ideas by ensuring that they meet
others’ standards. Based on the different function of idea-related communication, we expected
the structure of idea-generation networks to differ from that of idea-validation networks.
Specifically, we expected different effects of leadership status and tenure. Our results
indicated some differences in the structure of the two networks. This leads to the
recommendation that future research on idea-related communication and creativity needs to
distinguish the different phases of the creative process.
Keywords: Idea generation, implementation, social network, social support, communication,
reciprocity