This article offers two contributions to the literature of organizational learning (OL): (a) a multifaceted case study of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and (b) a framework for future research in OL. The NYPD case is analyzed using two of the four alternative definitions of OL that are highlighted here. One is sharply focused on bottom line results; the other is more inclusive and more suitable for assessing an organization’s capacity for renewal and hence for sustainable success. Nine examples from the case illustrate nine different forms of OL, which are mapped onto the four alternative definitions. This article has major implications for how OL should be defined.
Aguilar, F.J. ( 1992). General managers in action. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
2.
Anonymous. (2009, June 21). NYPD recruits, community relations. Harlem World. Retrieved from http://harlemworldblog.wordpress.com/2009/06/21/nypd-recruits-community-relations/
Ashkenaz, R., Ulrich, D., Jick, T., & Kerr, S. ( 2002). The boundaryless organization. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.
5.
Benner, M.J., & Tushman, M.L. ( 2003). Exploitation, exploration, and process management: The productivity dilemma revisited. Academy of Management Review , 28, 238-256.
6.
Contu, A., & Willmott, H. ( 2003). Re-embedding situatedness: The importance of power relations in learning theory. Organization Science, 14, 283-296.
7.
Capra, F. ( 1996). The web of life: A new scientific understanding of living systems. New York, NY: Doubleday/Anchor .
8.
Crossan, M.M., Lane, H.W., & White, R.E. ( 1999). An organizational learning framework: From intuition to institution. Academy of Management Review, 24, 522-537.
9.
Deming, W.E. ( 1982). Out of crisis. Cambridge: MIT Press.
10.
Dixon, N.M. ( 1994). The organizational learning cycle: How we can learn collectively?New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
11.
Eisenhardt, K.M. ( 1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14, 532-550.
12.
Eisenhardt, K.M., & Graebner, M.E. (2007). Theory building from cases: Opportunities and challenges. Academy of Management Journal , 50, 25-32.
13.
Gendar, A. ( 2009, June 19). Cops-to-be go uptown for course on diversity . Daily News (NY).
14.
Hays, T. ( 2008, September 10). Counterterrorism work transforms NYC police force. The New York Times, p. A2.
15.
Heskett, J.L. ( 1996). William J. Bratton (case). Harvard Business School, Boston, MA.
16.
Huber, G.P. ( 1991). Organizational learning: The contributing processes and the literatures. Organization Science, 2, 125-136.
17.
Kelling, G.L., & Sousa, W.H., Jr. (2001). Do Police Matter? An Analysis of the Impact of New York City’s Police Reforms. New York: Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
18.
Kleiner, A. ( 1996). The age of heretics. New York, NY : Doubleday.
19.
Kleysen, R.F., & Dyck, B. ( 2001, June). Cumulating knowledge: An elaboration and extension of Crossan, Lane, & White’s framework for organizational learning . Paper presented at the Fourth International Conference on Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management, Ivey School of Management , University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
20.
Knobler, P., & Bratton, W. ( 1998). Turnaround: How America’s Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic. New York: Random House.
21.
Langan, P.A., & Durose, M.R. ( 2003, December). The remarkable drop in crime in NYC. Paper presented at the International Conference on Crime, Rome, Italy.
22.
Lardner, J., & Reppetto, T. ( 2000). NYPD: A City and Its Police. New York : Henry Holt.
23.
Lawrence, P.R., & Lorsch, J.W. ( 1967). Organization and environment: Managing differentiation and integration. Boston, MA. Harvard Business School Press.
24.
Lawrence, T.B., Mauws, M.K., Dyck, B., & Kleysen, R.F. ( 2006). The politics of organizational learning: Integrating power into the 4-I framework. Academy of Management Review , 30, 180-191.
25.
Lipshitz, R., Popper, M., & Friedman, V.J. (2002). A multifacet model of organizational learning. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 38, 78-98.
26.
March, J.G. ( 1991). Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning . Organization Science, 2, 71-87.
27.
McDonald, P., Greenberg, S., & Bratton, W.J. ( 2001). Managing Police Operations: Implementing the NYPD Crime Control Model Using COMPSTAT: Wadsworth Publishing Co.
28.
Miller, J.G. ( 1994). Living systems theory. In K. D. Bailey (Ed.), Sociology and the new systems theory: Toward a theoretical synthesis (pp. 167-218). Albany: SUNY Press. (Original work published 1978)
29.
Mintzberg, H. ( 1979). The structuring of organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
30.
Nonaka, I., & Takeuchi, H. ( 1995). The knowledge-creating company: How Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
31.
New York City Police Department. (2010). Citywide crime statistics. Retrieved from http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cscity.pdf
32.
O’Dell, C., & Grayson, C.J. ( 1998). If only we knew what we know: Identification and transfer of internal best practices. California Management Review, 40, 154-174.
33.
Osborne, D. ( 2006). Chief of Police, Chief of Reinvention: Bill Bratton teaches through example. The Osborne letter: Public Strategies Group . Retrieved from http://www.psg.us/resources/osbornebillbratton.html
34.
Oshry, B. ( 1995). Seeing systems. San Francisco, CA : Berret Koehler.
35.
Popper, M., & Lipshitz, R. ( 1998). Organizational learning: Mechanisms, culture, and feasibility . Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 34, 161-179.
36.
Repenning, N., Goncalves, P., & Black, L.J., (2001). Past the Tipping Point: The persistence of firefighting in product development. California Management Review, 43 (4), 4463.
37.
Revans, R.W. ( 1966). The theory of practice in management. London, England: Macdonald.
38.
Roth, G., & Kleiner, A. ( 2000). Car launch: The human side of managing change. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
39.
Schein, E.H. ( 1992). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
40.
Schein, E.H. ( 1996). Three cultures of management: The key to organizational learning. Sloan Management Review, 38, 9-19.
41.
Schein, E.H. ( 1999). The corporate culture survival guide: Sense and nonsense about culture change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
42.
Senge, P.M. ( 1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization (1sted.). New York, NY: Doubleday/Currency
43.
Senge, P.M., Roberts, C., Ross, R., Roth, G., Smith, B., & Kleiner, A. ( 1999). The dance of change: The challenges of sustaining momentum in learning organizations. New York, NY: Doubleday.
44.
Signore, J.D. ( 2009). Al Sharpton teaching rookie cops about diversity. Gothamist. Retrieved from http://gothamist.com/2009/06/19/al_sharpton_teaching_rookie_cops_ab.php
45.
Silverman, E.B. ( 2001). NYPD battles crime: Innovative strategies in policing (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.
46.
Sterman, J.D. ( 2000). Learning In and About Complex Systems . Reflections, 1 (3), 24-49.
47.
Sterman, J., Kofman, F., & Repenning, N. ( 1997). Unanticipated side effects of successful quality programs: Exploring a paradox of organizational improvement. Management Science, 43, 503-521.
48.
Storch, A. ( 2006). CompStat-The start of a revolution in policing. Unpublished Web report. Retrieved from http://www.worldwidelawenforcement.com/docs/COMPSTAT%20article.pdf
49.
Sugarman, B. ( 2001). A learning-based approach to organizational change: Some results and guidelines. Organizational Dynamics, 30, 62-76.
50.
Sugarman, B. ( 2007). A hybrid theory of organizational transformation. In W. A. Pasmore & R. W. Woodman (Eds.), Research in organizational change and development (Vol. 16, pp. 43-80). New York, NY: Elsevier.
51.
Szulanski, G. ( 2003). Sticky knowledge: Barriers to knowing in the firm. London, England: Sage.
52.
Tushman, M.L., Anderson, P.C., & O’Reilly, C. (1997). Technology Cycles, Innovation Streams, and Ambidextrous Organizations. In M. L. Tushman & P. Anderson (Eds.), Managing Strategic Innovation and Change. New York, NY : Oxford University Press.
53.
von Krogh, G., Ichijo, K., Nonaka, I. ( 2000). Enabling knowledge creation: How to unlock the mystery of tacit knowledge and release the power of innovation. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
54.
Waldrop, M.M. ( 1992). Complexity: The emerging science at the edge of order and chaos. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
55.
Watkins, K. E., & Marsick, V. J. (Eds.). (1996). In action: Creating the learning organization. Alexandria, VA, ASTD Press.
56.
Weick, K.E. ( 1979). The social psychology of organizing (2nd ed.). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley .
57.
Whittington, R., Jarzabkowski, P., Mayer, M., Mounoud, E., Nahapiet, J., & Rouleau, L. ( 2003). Taking strategy seriously: Responsibility and reform of an important social practice. Journal of Management Inquiry , 12, 396-409.
58.
Willis, J.J., Mastrofski, S.D., & Kochel, T. (n.d.). CompStat and community policing: Lessons from the field. Professional Conference (not named). Retrieved from http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/2/0/0/2/6/pages200265/p200265-1.php .
59.
Willis, J.J., Mastrofski, S.D., & Weisburd, D. ( 2003). CompStat in practice: An in-depth analysis of three cities . Washington, DC: Police Foundation .
60.
Willis, J.J., Mastrofski, S.D., & Weisburd, D. ( 2007). Making sense of CompStat: A theory-based analysis of organizational change in three police departments. Law & Society Review, 41, 147-188.
