Learning from Mistakes. A Study on Maturity and Adaptability to Change

Wioleta Kucharska; Denise A. D. Bedford

Learning from Mistakes. A Study on Maturity and Adaptability to Change

Abstract

Learning culture matters; company culture must support continuous improvement. Organizational learning is a process of identifying and modifying mistakes that result from interactions between co-workers. The article aims to explore the learning power via errors, using the level of organizational maturity as a moderator. Companies need to know how organizational maturity may moderate the adaptability to change via the acceptance of their mistakes. Based on 380 samples gathered from November to December 2019 among Polish employees working in knowledge-driven organizations across various industries, and analyzing the data using PROCESS software, the authors established that employees working in young organizations adapt to changes better than those who work in mature companies. On the other hand, the acceptance of mistakes by mature organizations significantly improves their adaptability to change. The study shows that mature organizations achieve better change adaptability than young organizations when accepting mistakes. The conclusion is that mature organizations may adapt to changes only if they accept errors (learn from their errors). Concerning young organizations' mistakes, their effect on adaptability to change is not significant.