Connecting Culture and Learning in Organisations: A Review of Current Themes

Abstract

While the respective literatures on organisational cultures and workplace learning are fairly well developed, the potential insights to be gained from combining the two have been largely ignored. The primary aim of this paper is to connect some of the main themes in the two literatures. In particular, the paper highlights some of the ways in which organisational cultures and subcultures can support – or inhibit – workplace learning. It is hoped that the paper provides a starting point for understanding more precisely the types of assumptions, beliefs and practices that might support workplace learning, thus providing a possible foundation for the construction of a model of a learningsupportive culture.