Organizational Learning and the Learning Organization: A Dichotomy Between Descriptive and Prescriptive Research
区分了组织学习领域的两类研究：规范性研究关注组织应该如何学习，描述性研究关注组织实际如何学习，并指出前者缺乏严谨性、后者缺乏实用性，最后提出整合建议。
Despite the growing popularity of the term 'organizational learning," writings on the topic have little consensus in terms of definition, perspective, conceptualization, and methodology. This article examines the dichotomy between two main streams of theorizing in the field. The first stream, prescriptive writings on the learning organization, is concerned with the question "How should an organization learn?" Targeting practitioners, these studies are usually based on the authors' consulting experience and seldom follow rigorous research methodologies. They also tend to overgeneralize their theories to all types of organization. Descriptive researches on organizational learning fall in the second stream which tackles the question "How does an organization learn?" These are academic studies striving for scientific rigor. Nevertheless, they often fail to generate useful implications for practitioners. In the final section of the article, brief suggestions are made to integrate the two streams of research.