USING EVALUATION TO UNDERSTAND THE LEARNING ARCHITECTURE OF AN ORGANIZATION

This article presents an emerging theoretical perspective for understa nding organizational learning and what it takes to build learning orga nizations. The concept of learning architecture is introduced as a cri tical element in understanding organizational learning. The learning a rchitecture consists of the organization's framing mechanisms, memory, knowledge, and learning processes which connect these three structure s. The article provides insight into the role of evaluation as an impo rtant link to (a) understanding the learning architecture of organizat ions, and (b) helping organizations to transform the learning organiza tion ideal into reality. It concludes with a framework to guide evalua tors in uncovering an organization's existing learning architecture an d designing a new learning architecture essential to building a learni ng organization.