The institutionalization of organizational knowledge: Learning to walk the talk

This dissertation is a study of organizational learning. Organizational learning is a cyclical process through which knowledge that has been learned on an individual or group level is institutionalized on the organizational level. Organizational learning is at the heart of an organization's ability to adapt and respond to changing environments and can ultimately improve business performance. While organizations are said to learn quite naturally, the processes through which this learning occurs are highly complex and multifaceted. One of the unique facets of organizational learning is the process through which knowledge is embedded in the organizational memory.;Crossan, Lane and White (1999) presented a model of organizational learning called the '41 framework' that includes four processes (intuiting, interpreting, integrating and institutionalizing) which explain how knowledge that is learned on the individual or group level is ultimately embedded in the organizational memory. Research that has followed the '41 framework' has elaborated on the first three processes but insufficient research has explored the final process of institutionalization.;This study uses a grounded theory methodology to explore, identify and characterize the process through which organizational knowledge is institutionalized at the organizational level. In particular, this study focuses on the institutionalization of the core body of knowledge associated with a Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) management system in an international mining company. Data that were collected from the organization's intranet, internal documents and interviews were coded and conceptualized. The findings were then analyzed through a lens of neoinstitutional theory. In doing so, this study discusses the role that institutional carriers, including routines, symbolic systems and relational systems play in the institutionalization process and concludes by elaborating on the process of institutionalization as it relates to the '41 framework'.