It is argued that much contemporary discussion about organizational learning is unfocused and unproductive because it fails to distinguish between learning and adaptation, the latter being the chief characteristic of any learning organization. A simple cybernetic model, the finite function machine, is examined in order to outline the defining properties of an adaptive system, and shown to be consistent with assertions made by several key authors while offering greater clarity about our concept of the `learning organization'. Its fractal properties are outlined.
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