Synergizing the learning organization and knowledge management

Many writers on management during the 1990s have stated that we have neither a good understanding of the process of organizational learning nor a good grasp of the concept of knowledge management. In his 1990 book The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge quoted others in asserting that “The most successful corporation of the 1990s will be something called the learning organization and the ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable means of achieving competitive advantage”. More recently, writers such as Drucker, Davenport, Prusak, and Stewart have made similar claims when describing the drivers for managing corporate knowledge. This paper briefly looks at the overlaps and synergies between these concepts. It is argued that the discipline of knowledge management at a corporate level and the phenomenon of the learning organization are inextricably linked and should always be analysed and discussed in concert.