THE LEARNING ORGANIZATION UNDERSTANDING IN DISRUPTIVE TIMES AND ITS IMPACT ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE: THE APPAREL INDUSTRY CASE

Esmir Demaj
Epoka University, Rr. Tirane – Rinas, km.12, Tirana, Albania

DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/EMAN.S.P.2019.125

3rd International Scientific Conference – EMAN 2019 – Economics and Management: How to Cope With Disrupted Times, Ljubljana – Slovenia, March 28, 2019, SELECTED PAPERS published by: Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans, Belgrade, Serbia; Faculty of Management Koper, Slovenia; Doba Business School – Maribor, Slovenia; Integrated Business Faculty –  Skopje, Macedonia; Faculty of Management – Zajecar, Serbia, ISBN 978-86-80194-19-6, ISSN 2683-4510

Abstract:

Globalization or the rapidly changing economic environment is characterized by continual disruption and is shaped by the ever-changing conditions of the economy. Making use of the learning and knowledge concepts is among the most important conditions that provide enterprises the capability to become agile and quickly respond to change, thus earning a competitive advantage towards competitors. The Learning Organization concept has received increasing attention in organizational studies especially in the last two decades. It has emerged from the idea of “organizational learning”, but it differs as in addition to learning of the organization it includes learning within the organization too. It is clear now that knowledge acquisition and the transfer of this knowledge to the organizations used to shape their own future is of vital importance for enterprise survival, and this acquired knowledge is one of the important factors that reduces the risks of profit losses by increasing the management capabilities of enterprises. On the other hand, organizational performance measurements play a crucial role for managers to be able to carry out their managerial functions and activities. Organizational performance measurements give a good grasp of both quantitative and qualitative elements that affect the overall enterprise performance. In this way, possible problems of low performing units are revealed and tackled.
The main purpose of this descriptive research is to measure the effect of learning organization understanding and framework on the organizational performance with special focus on the apparel industry. In this context, a questionnaire has been conducted to the personnel of the headquarters in some major companies operating in the apparel industry as a methodology used in this study to support our work. This study aims to shed light on the concept of learning organization and its applicability in the apparel industry as well as hoping that such a pilot study will contribute to the literature of Learning Organization and Organization Performance. In line with previous research in other sectors it results that there exists a positive correlation between learning and transferring the accumulated knowledge to various units of the enterprise and the increase in overall organizational performance of enterprises.

Keywords:

Learning Organization, Organizational Performance, Apparel Industry, Emerging Countries.

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