LEARNING FROM SAMPLES OF ONE OR FEWER

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: March, James G.; Sproull, Lee S.; Tamuz, Michal
• 署名单位: Stanford University; Boston University; Rutgers University System; Rutgers University New Brunswick
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2.1.1
• 发表日期: 1991
• 页码: 1-13
• 关键词: organizational learning; learning from experience; Small samples

摘要

Organization learn from experience. Sometimes, however, history is not generous with experience. We explore how organizations convert infrequent events into interpretations of history, and how they balance the need to achieve agreement on interpretations with the need to interpret history correctly. We ask what methods are used, what problems are involved, and what improvements might be made. Although the methods we observe are not guaranteed to lead to consistent agreement on interpretations, valid knowledge, improved organizational performance, or organizational survival, they provide possible insights into the possibilities for and problems of learning from fragments of history.