A pragmatist definition of organizational learning is applied to a study of city management, revealing peculiarities of learning in a situation which could be described, with the help of new institutional theory, as an undeveloped organization field. Such a field lacks the supporting institutions and servicing organizations that are typical in more well-developed fields, which both helps and hinders organizational learning. The situation of Warsaw, exemplifying problems of many Eastern and Central European cities, is interpreted as translation of managerial philosophies originating in different institutional orders.
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