Organizational learning and the effective management of complexity

An experience of a profound change in the structure of a small non-for-profit private university in Colombia will be used to show the relationship between organizational learning and the need to improve its management of complexity [Beer 1979; 1985; Espejo 1992; Espejo & Reyes 2011]. Organizational learning relates to processes increasing an organization´s capacity for effective action in a particular domain.Organizations learn through their individuals, however, individual learning does not imply (necessarily) organizational learning. Both structure and culture affect this learning. The author´s experience transforming the already mentioned university, over a number of years, is at the core of his presentation. The author uses techniques from variety engineering [Espejo & Reyes 2011] to show how organizational learning needs a requisite structure to happen. At the same time, he illustrates how learning loops contribute to the viability of a project.