Post-modern perspectives of organisational learning

This paper argues that, under the contemporary development character of society and organisations the rationalist objective-based approach to learning has to be seen anew with a post-modern organisational learning perspective. We outline the alternatives in terms of defining knowledge and learning characteristics across three sets of assumptions under the pre-modern, modern and post-modern eras. The notion of different rationalities in each involving a sequence of links between experiences, ideas and concepts is applied to the design and evaluation of management development programme. This new approach emphasises the interactive and the co-creation of knowledge as a process of negotiation. It points out the rules and categories of management development programmes should be explored in the very nature of the programme as it evolves rather than presented as given. © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.