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This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/01437739510097996. When citing the article, please cite: William D. Hitt, (1995), “The learning organization: some reflections on organizational renewal”, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 16 Iss: 8, pp. 17 - 25.

Starts with a general theory of leadership and then specifies 25 leadership competences. These, taken together, define the “model leader”. The term model leader is used as an ideal type to designate the hypothetical individual who possesses all 25 competences in full measure, and who could be described as a fully functioning person. The term “effective leader” is used to designate the real‐world person who is striving to become a model leader. This latter individual is the person who is addressed in the hope that it may serve as a guide to self‐development.

The majority of manager development programmes may be described as “piecemeal”, and the purpose of this article is to present a strategy for a unified programme — in which the various components are working in harmony. The author develops a systems view of a programme, listing eight essential principles. For this programme then to be applied, the support of top management must be gained. The programme itself, in ten steps, is then described.

A learning organization has been defined as one in which the members continually acquire, share, and use new knowledge to adapt to an ever‐changing environment. By incorporating Peter Senge′s principles from The Fifth Discipline within the McKinsey 7‐S framework, presents a systems model of a learning organization. The addition of one “S” yields a model and this systems model is an assemblage of “best practices” in organizational effectiveness. The implementation of these best practices can help transform a traditional organization into a learning organization.

Many organizations now utilize action learning, and it is applied increasingly throughout the world. Action learning appears in numerous variants, but generically it is a form of learning through experience, “by doing”, where the task environment is the classroom, and the task the vehicle. Two previous reviews of the action learning literature by Alan Mumford respectively covered the field prior to 1985 and the period 1985‐1994. Both reviews included books as well as journal articles. This current review covers the period 1994‐2000 and is limited to publicly available journal articles. Part 1 of the Review was published in an earlier issue of the Journal of Workplace Learning (Vol. 15 No. 2) and included a bibliography and comments. Part 2 extends that introduction with a schema for categorizing action learning articles and with comments on representative articles from the bibliography.

Briefly reviews 20 books concerned with all aspects of management including studying for a management qualification, as in S. Cameron′s The MBA Handbook, which offers practical advice on how to study for an MBA. Applies the relevance of such books to the concerns of the library manager and indicates how such publications could help the manager to provide a better library service, improve interpersonal skills and generally overcome most of the hurdles which managers have to surmount.

Briefly reviews 20 books concerned with all aspects of management including studying for a management qualification, as in S. Cameron′s The MBA Handbook, which offers practical advice on how to study for an MBA. Applies the relevance of such books to the concerns of the library manager and indicates how such publications could help the manager to provide a better library service, improve interpersonal skills and generally overcome most of the hurdles which managers have to surmount.

FOLLOWING the talk given by Mr William C. Hitt of the Douglas Aircraft Company last June, which was reported in Aircraft Engineering for July, the S.L.A.E. organized a meeting at which the subject could be further discussed. Mr R. A. Fry was in the chair, and the first paper, by Mr William C. Hitt, was delivered by his son, Mr Lloyd Hitt.

Technological innovation is crucial for businesses to achieve development and profitability through enhancing core capabilities and differentiating competitive advantages. The key to organisational survival is boosting innovation performance focused on technological innovation, as SMEs lack resources and competencies compared to large companies. Entrepreneurship is a topic of active research to overcome SMEs’ resource and size limits. This is because entrepreneurs’ capabilities are considered more important in small and medium-sized enterprises closely related to corporate success than in large enterprises that can receive organisational support. In addition, a company’s holding capacity is a direct driver of creating differentiated competitiveness because it can pursue product differentiation through high levels of market capabilities and technology capabilities. Therefore, this study attempts to demonstrate entrepreneurship and technological innovation for SMEs. Reviewing previous studies, the authors derive the organisational capabilities needed by the organisation for innovation and examine how these organisational capabilities (technological, market, and operational capabilities) relate to entrepreneurship and technological innovation.