Chances of learning organizations through digitalization

Abstract

Organizations must constantly adapt in order to remain competitive in today's rapidly changing global environment. Knowledge management, flexibility and continuous learning play a crucial role for this adaptation process. This thesis explores the role that digital tools play to improve continuous learning through personal mastery and team learning in learning organizations, focusing on the areas of personnel development, knowledge storage and knowledge sharing. Goals, requirements and challenges faced by organizations in these areas are assessed through an integrative review of the existing literature on knowledge, learning and digitalization. Evaluation of valuable digital tools for learning organizations are evaluated by a utility analysis using a scoring method according to Kühnapfel (2021). For personnel development, the thesis found out the importance of holistic onboarding processes and structured development programs. Key priorities are fast integration of new hires into new roles, promoting identification with the corporate culture and efficient knowledge transfer. Challenges include low satisfaction rates among new employees and stress during onboarding. The focus of knowledge storage is on providing easy access to stored knowledge and ensuring its reuse and availability. Challenges including lack of time and resistance to documentation. Effective knowledge sharing requires a supportive culture and organizational and technological structures. The goals include the promotion of innovation and the transformation of individual knowledge into organizational knowledge. Challenges include the difficulty of sharing implicit knowledge and the creation of an encouraging environment. To summarize, digital tools in personnel development, including E-learning, mobile/micro learning, MOOCs and E-mentoring, primarily focus on personal mastery. Features such as discussion forums and collaboration features promote team learning. While E-learning, mobile/micro-learning and MOOCs primarily promote the explicit knowledge sharing through formal methods, E-mentoring supports both implicit and explicit knowledge sharing. Digital tools for knowledge storage, such as knowledge graphs, maps and management systems, focus on the structured and accessible representation of explicit knowledge. These tools promote personal mastery and team learning through collaborative working and by supporting the collective creation and sharing of knowledge. Knowledge sharing tools, including online communities of practice, wikis and corporate social networks, focus on team learning. These platforms encourage the sharing of explicit and implicit knowledge through digital personal interactions and The results show that in personnel development, tools such as E-learning, mobile/microlearning and MOOCs support personal mastery, with mobile/micro-learning performing best in terms of 'skill development and performance' and 'integration into everyday working life'. Regarding knowledge storage, knowledge graphs/maps were found contribute to 'self-directed learning' and provide good 'knowledge representation and structure'. For knowledge sharing, wikis received the best score, especially in terms of 'knowledge representation and structure'. All knowledge sharing tools were perceived to be suited for collaboration, and so subsequently also for team learning. This work is limited by the generalized descriptions of the tools and evaluation criteria. A more detailed examination of specific software solutions might provide further insight into the different features within each tool category. While this thesis examined the individual categories separately, it is important for a learning organization to consider all aspects in a holistic approach. Future studies could investigate how different tools can be integrated into a learning organization and how they interact. This could determine whether these tools complement or influence each other and which ones are preferred by employees.collaboration, thus promoting collective knowledge creation and collaboration.

Date of Award	2024
Original language	English
Supervisor	Markus Aichinger (Supervisor)