Web 2.0 and Organizational Learning

Web 2.0 and Organizational Learning: Conceptualizing the Link

Collaborators: Richard Boateng, Ali Malik and Victor Mbarika

ABSTRACT

The Internet has brought the next dimension of collaboration to the door steps of organizations, and its name is ‘Web 2.0’. While there is a lot of hype around various concepts associated with the term, little academic research has so far been conducted on the implications of this new approach for the domain of organizational learning.

This paper seeks to conceptualize the link between Web 2.0 and organizational learning through a framework that assesses its adaptability as a learning tool. The paper provides an integrated perspective on the broader contribution of Web 2.0 to organizational learning. The proposed framework can assist organizations in prioritization and evaluation of learning tools. Future research may extend its applicability and understanding by examining the constructs of the proposed framework empirically.

Reference: Boateng, R., Malik, A. and Mbarika, V. (2009). Web 2.0 and Organisational Learning: Conceptualizing the Link, Proceedings of the Fifteenth Americas Conference on Information Systems, San Francisco, California, August 6th-9th 2009.

INTRODUCTION

Web 2.0 is a set of trends and tools for using the Internet. These socio-technological innovations have introduced a new way to interact. People are able to collaborate and interact freely, through tools like Social networking, Blogs, Wikis and RSS (O’Reilly, 2005). Web 2.0 has enabled interactivity and gathering of knowledge through experience and practice on a global scale. This combination has the potential to create personalized, yet collective, learning. There may be an emerging opportunity for organizations to adapt Web 2.0 for learning through knowledge sharing and interacting with people. This opportunity addresses the need to learn and the process of learning in organizations.

First, we examine the need to learn. Organizations are unique in several respects; from their sizes to the industries in which they operate. They are unique in the way they understand their internal and external environments and adapt accordingly. Employees are also directly involved in this adaptation, whether they are top managers or field workers. They continuously need to be trained and provided with a platform of learning in order to close the gap between their practices (what is actually done) and the processes (formally organized) in the organization (Brown and Duguid, 2000; Bekerman, 2003). Thus, organizations are in a consistent search for new and dynamic ways to learn effectively and collectively. The collaborative characteristics of Web 2.0 offer new ways in which this need can be addressed. This brings us to the method or process of learning.

Second, although the need is recognized, the systems and tools that enable such learning needs must also be given recognition in order to benefit from them. Organizations have formal and informal learning methods that they adopt. Formal methods are structured and created with the purpose of learning. These include meetings, discussions and conferences. Many organizations have deployed learning management systems (LMS) for the purpose of structuring the learning process. These systems are designed to manage user learning interventions (Ismail, 2001). Informal methods are built on the informal means of communication; they are unstructured and depend on situations to be created. Dixon (1997) calls these informal places of organizational learning (OL), ‘hallways’. In knowledge-driven companies like software houses, learning is an important aspect to their business strategy and employee skills. Not all employees in such settings have the same skills and knowledge. Hence, managers in software companies encourage information sharing in a less formal setting (Cusumano and Shelby, 1995: 343). In this respect, there are claims that Web 2.0 can fill the gap with ‘social aspects of the content’ (O’Reilly, 2005); supported by connectivity of people and knowledge sharing (Drasil and Pitner, 2006).

Though there seems to be some opportunity; questions concerning how Web 2.0 can be effectively used to support organizational learning activities remain fairly unanswered. Publishing, content aggregating, social networks and peer-to-peer connections seem to share collaborative features, is it all just for fun, or do they offer more? Should organizations adapt these tools just because of what they are; should they be assessed before they are used; how do they actually assess them from the learning perspective? These questions are the foundation of this paper. The new theory of learning tools and usage in organizations requires essential and urgent research (Ebner, 2007).

Studying in detail, we question how to link Web 2.0 and learning: ‘How can Web 2.0 enable learning in organizations’? This is the main question this paper attempts to answer. We seek to create a framework that assesses Web 2.0 tools and applies them to OL. The framework opens a new insight to the evaluation process for learning tools and an area of IS research where a handful have ventured. The paper is structured in four sections, the first being the introduction. The second section is develops an organizational learning framework. The third second section explores Web 2.0, examining how Web 2.0 tools may be linked with the concepts of OL. The last section concludes the paper with the research implications and future directions.