The Misconception Between Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management

The present work assumes the concepts of organizational learningOrganizational learning and knowledge managementKnowledge management are related, although not identical. Through literature review, we provide clarification on the specificities of each conceptual construct: even if the basic processesProcesses and objectives of knowledgeKnowledge managementManagement and organizational learningOrganizational learning are mutual, we contend that knowledge management refers to a conceptual construct which primarily focuses on knowledge contentKnowledge content, while organizational learningOrganizational learning entails all aspects of data, information and knowledgeKnowledge. So, clear differences can be presented when comparatively analysing such conceptual constructs, which we summarized into five distinctive core vectors, operating at the level of the conceptual approach (interest of academicsInterest of academics vs. interest of practitionersInterest of practitioners), the goalGoal (processProcesses vs. resultResult), the scopeScope (systemSystem vs. subsystemSubsystem), the agentsAgents (individual levelIndividual level vs. collective levelCollective level) and theProducts products (individual memoryIndividual memory vs. organizational memoryOrganizational memory). Nonetheless, based on the common elements vividly detected, shared purposes are identified, once such notions jointly thrive towards enhanced information and knowledgeKnowledge that allow organizational behavioursOrganizational behaviours, impelling on superior organizational performanceOrganizational performance, objectives which guide the solidification and the expansion of a knowledge value chain modelKnowledge value chain model able to incorporate and objectivize the basis for a framework towards the progress in knowledge management programsKnowledge management programs and in the enhancement of a learning organizationLearning organization.