E-commerce and organizational learning

eCommerce and Organizational Learning

Discuss how utilizing Information Technology in e-commerce could improve both individual and organizational learning.

The accumulation of knowedlge and insight within the context of any online strategy is beneficial to the long-term learning of an enterprise. The breadth and depth of learning that is achievable from the accumulated experiences of initiating, maintaining and continually improving e-commerce strategies is significant both from a financial and operational standpoint (Abrahams, Singh, 2010). Individual and organizational learning is enhanced and strengthened by the accumulated investment of time and resources to improve transaction workflows, increase the level of pricing accuracy, and fine-tune catalog management and merchandising innovation (Fomin, King, Lyytinen, McGann, 2005).

Learning benefits from a personal standpoint accrue rapidly for those involved in the daily management of these initiatives internally, as e-commerce platforms often require an intensive level of cognitive, financial, marketing and Web-based knowledge to succeed. These four areas are where individuals involved in e-commerce discover their innate strengths over time and master specific aspects of e-commerce strategy and system execution. Individual learning is also accelerated from the standpoint of defining which specific strategies generate the highest and lowest levels of trust with potential and existing customers as well (Ratnasingam, 2005). All of these factors contribute to the learning experiences of individuals, and are accelerated and clarified by the role of information technologies used in e-commerce. Over time, organizations move rapidly down the experience curve of their specific e-commerce strategies and gain a core competency in them. Organizational learning is more long-term in scope as the intelligence, insight and knowledge needs to permeate the culture and processes of an organization to make a significant impact on institutional and corporate learning in aggregate (Ratnasingam, 2005).

A secondary aspect of this learning process is the development of core competency and expertise in specific process areas as well. An effective e-commerce strategy is actually comprised of a series of highly complex, integrated and often it-constrained business processes that must work together for the online strategies to function correctly. The need for process-based expertise at the individual level and corporate-wide is also a very strong catalyst of organizational learning. The integration of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems into e-commerce processes and strategies is critical to their success, and presents many opportunities for individual and corporate learning due to the critical and complex nature of these systems (Tsai, Hung, 2008). Individual and organizational learning is therefore achieved by the continual need to translate lessons learned in using these systems to the actual functioning of the e-commerce sites themselves (Gunasekaran, McGaughey, McNeil, 2004). Translating lessons learned into knowledge a company can use also forces a level of discipline and focus on both individuals and organizations to ensure learning is translated into competitive advantage through knowledge transfer at the enterprise system level (Tsai, Hung, 2008).

Describe how e-commerce could help in creating and operating a team learning environment.

The use of e-commerce today including the insights and intelligence gained from integrating systems, processes and extending these platforms to entirely new channels including social media and mobile platforms is delivering exceptional knowledge. These lessons learned are having a major impact on team learning environments in that they are generating tacit and implicit knowledge that is being transferred quickly to business strategists and planners. The accumulation of this knowledge and its use to achieve more effective e-commerce strategies is accomplished due to the long-term learning being achieved by e-commerce, it, lone-of-business and executive management (Morrison, Ganiyu, 2002).

In defining which aspects of e-commerce systems and strategies are delivering the greatest value, the foundational elements of long-term learning first need to be taken into account. Of the many theories and concepts that seek to define long-term learning effectiveness and context, the three factors of autonomy, mastery and purpose are by far the most pervasive in practical, empirical research results (Albright, Burgess, Davis, 2011).

Creating and operating a team learning environments begins by deliberately designing in autonomy, mastery and purpose to ensure the motivation to attain long-term learning is achieved. This is however a secondary concern of many companies building e-commerce systems as the focus is purely on the business strategy and getting it completed. Yet the more forward-thinking forms are designing in scaffolding and online analytics, measurement and performance evaluation applications to ascertain the relative value of tacit and implicit knowledge captured (James, Okpala, 2010) and quickly using it to better plan subsequent strategies (Cappel, Hayen, 2004). Many universities are relying on intern programs with local small businesses to achieve this same net effect in terms of learning for students (Tabor, 2005).