Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks: Implementing Organizational Learning in an Asian National Police Force

Abstract

The authors employed a longitudinal in-depth action research method to explore the implementation of organizational learning in an Asian national police force. They aimed to get an interpretive, in-depth understanding of the related processes of transformational change, as well as the barriers to change, in a machine bureaucracy with entrenched structure & culture not ordinarily conducive to learning & adaptation. They also aimed to explore the applicability of universalist change-management prescriptions in this context. The authors found several structural & cultural barriers to transformational change that were nevertheless being successfully contested through a bottom-up participative change process, the existence of change champions, experiences that challenged the prevailing culture, & change actions that were congruent with the organization's authorizing environment. They also found that universalist change-management prescriptions may not always be relevant because the nature, task, & culture of an organization influence what approaches are appropriate & applicable.