Barriers to organizational learning: results from the application of an instrument for its characterization

Purpose – The theory of organizational learning (OL) has been present in organizational studies since the
1970s, providing an explanatory framework for organizational effectiveness and, recently, as one of the pillars of
the emerging strategy. However, there are obstacles to its promotion and application, generating barriers to OL
and depriving organizations of opportunities to improve their performance. An instrument is designed to
characterize the barriers, and a pilot test is applied in an organization in the central region of Colombia. The
information is analyzed using descriptive statistics, which is the main finding of the presence of barriers to OL. It
is concluded from the evidence that the organization must pay special attention to intervening in the actions that
cause them. If you propose to advance in this line of research to adjust the instrument, collect more information
that allows for a more robust statistical analysis.
Design/methodology/approach – The scope of the research is descriptive, applying an instrument to identify
and characterize the barriers to OL. It is applied in a financial organization in a city in the central region of
Colombia. A quantitative approach is followed with statistical analysis and visualizations in the Power BI
program. As an instrument for collecting information, a questionnaire was designed with twenty-one questions
following a five-point Likert scale, with 1 being “Disagree” and 5 being “Totally agree.”
Findings – People consulted state that the organization is highly saturated with activities in their work,
preventing them from participating or contributing to improvement projects other than the contracted work. The
above is evidence of the “I am my position” barrier, which is a defensive behavior to protect oneself in the
security of the position and thus avoid participating in different activities, depriving the organization of
intellectual capital that can add value in a situation of mismatch. Complementing the above, those who use their
job as an excuse to not contribute in any other way to the organization, deceive themselves under the idea that
their contribution lies in limiting themselves to doing what is stated in the contract.
Research limitations/implications – Findings of the case study conducted in a company in the financial
sector in Colombia are presented, in which 142 responses to the instrument were obtained. Since this is a
pilot study, the findings characterize the barriers to OL in this specific organization but cannot be
generalized to the economic sector as a whole. As the instrument is applied to a larger number of
organizations in different sectors, advanced computer development is suggested to facilitate the integration
of databases and allow for more in-depth cross-analysis. This would contribute to informed decisionmaking
and organizational intervention. Likewise, the study has the potential to broaden its scope through
statistical analysis to establish the relationships between sociodemographic variables and the presence (or
absence) of barriers to OL.
Practical implications – The possibility of characterizing the barriers to OL allows decision-makers to
overcome Model I, which restricts significant learning and therefore creativity and innovation, to move toward Model II, of considerable learning and useful knowledge generation. Eradicating organizational barriers should not be the primary goal of top management. Instead, the focus should be on minimizing their impact on professional effectiveness. This can be achieved by identifying and characterizing these barriers, as demonstrated in the case study.
Originality/value – OL research has traditionally been conducted under qualitative methods, while a quantitative approach is rare. Thus, this paper aims to perform a pilot test on a real organization of a survey that has been designed to characterize the presence or absence of barriers for OL, following a 5-point Likert scale. What is shown as original here is the application of a quantitative instrument for data gathering.