Argyris C. The Evolving Field of Organizational Learning. In: Argyris C, Schon D, eds. Organizational Learning Volume II. Reading.: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., 1996:180-199.

The field of organizational learning is constantly evolving. The field has been broken down into two main categories: the practice-oriented, prescriptive literature and the predominantly skeptical scholarly view. What is described are the main thoughts of each branch and their intersecting points.

Argyris C. Skilled Incompetence. Harvard Business Review. 1986; Sept-Oct:74-79.

Managers that have the ability to avoid conflict with coworkers, may negatively effect the group. Skilled incompetence is routine behavior to produce what they did not intend. Managers have to become de-institutionalized in order to avoid disastrous side effects.

Argyris C. Teaching Smart People How to Learn. Harvard Business Review. 1991;May-June:99-109.

Single loop and double loop are different ways that professionals solve problems. Defensive reasoning occurs with people who rarely experience failure and do not know how to deal with it. Ultimately, the goal is to learn how to reason productively and to question another's reasoning as a valuable opportunity for learning.

Barker R, Camarata M. The Role of Communication in Creating and Maintaining a Learning Organization: Preconditions, Indicators, and Disciplines. J Business Communication. 1998;35(4):443-467.

The paper discusses the role communications plays in creating and maintaining learning organizations. Also involved are the preconditions necessary for developing a learning organization in what Senge refers to as the 'five disciplines of learning organizations.'

Cook R. Two Years Before the Mast: Learning How to Learn about Patient Safety. Enhancing Patient Safety and Reducing Errors in Health Care. 1998;Nov:61-64.

The New Look entails learning how to learn about safety. Observations provides examples of how individuals are learning about safety in health care. The examples range from statements learning about safety occurs at intervals, being in close contact with failure, and understanding that people create safety.

Edmondson A, Bohmer R, Pisano G. Speeding Up Team Learning. Harvard Business Review. 2001;Oct:125-132.

Study involving 16 cardiac surgical teams and their ability to adapt to a new way of working. Provides ways to create a team that will be able to learn from each other and the importance of communication and behavior in the leader to aid in the learning process.

Fiol CM, Lyles M. Organizational Learning. Academy of Management Rev. 1985;10(4):803-813.

This paper clarifies the distinction between organizational learning and organizational adaptation and shows that change does not necessarily imply learning. There are different levels of learning, each having a different impact on the strategic management of the firm.

Levitt B, March J. Organizational Learning. Ann Rev Sociol. 1988;14:319-340.

The paper reviews certain aspects of organizational learning. Various topics are discussed, such as how organizations learn, complications of adapting behavior, and the limitations and possibilities of organizational learning.

Probst G, Buchel B. What are the barriers to learning? In: Marks B, ed. Organizational Learning. Hemel Hempstead.: Prentice Hall Europe, 1997;64-67.

This chapter offers explanations of the difficulty of learning and defensive patterns of organizations. What are the obstacles to learning, such as norms, and information disorders.

Schein E. The Learning Culture: Managing the Contradictions of Stability, Learning and Change. In: Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco.: Jossey-Bass Inc., 1992: 363-373.

Considers what a learning culture may entail. It is a combination of ideas that will attempt to describe the characteristics of different types of learning cultures. A list is provided and they are explained briefly.

Senge P. "Give Me A Lever Long Enough…and Single-Handed I Can Move the World." In: 'The Fifth Discipline': The Art and Science of the Learning Organization. New York.: Doubleday, 1994;1-16.

There are five disciplines that will innovate learning organizations. They are systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision, and team learning. They need to be integrated as a group in order to be effective. This would require a need to a change of thinking and ideas, and putting them into practice.

Senge P. Appendix 1: The Learning Disciplines. In: 'The Fifth Discipline': The Art and Science of the Learning Organization. New York.: Doubleday, 1994;373-377.

Provides three different levels that the five learning disciplines can be thought of : practices, principles, essences, and how these levels are applied to each of the five learning disciplines.

Sitkin S. Learning Through Failure: The Strategy of Small Losses. In: Cohen M, Sproull L,eds. Organizational Learning. Thousand Oaks.: SAGE Publications. 1996:541-577.

This provides an explanation of the importance of failure for effective organizational learning. Research is done to examine the benefit that failure can have on the learning process. They are illustrated by application to important organizational concerns.