Organizational Learning. A Framework for Public Administration

The complexity of modern socio-economic issues turns our public policies into a continuous trial and error process. Every time public managers and stakeholders address a new policy issue they have to use research results, experience and insight to find out what works for whom and in what context. That requires from public organizations intense organizational learning. This challenge is especially demanding for administrations of countries that are undergoing modernization of their socioeconomic systems. Poland is an example of such country. In order to face the challenge of effective organizational learning, we need to address three pressing questions:
1. How does learning work in our public organizations?
2. What promising practices can we implement to advance learning in public organizations?
3. What changes in public management are required to combine learning with the
growing demands of performance and accountability?
This book is an attempt to address those questions in a systematic and empirical manner. The answers presented in this volume are the result of a four-year empirical research project conducted in Polish ministries and study visits in public institutions of twelve countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.