Organizational structure and learning : The case of Swedish public transport authorities

• Purpose – The purpose of this article is to explore how organizational structure and information processes frame the abilities of organizations to reach their objectives. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses multiple cases to gain a holistic understanding of the role of organizational structure in learning within public organizations. This study comprises 11 semi-structured phone interviews with 11 respondents each representing a Regional public transport authority (RPTA) in Sweden.Findings –This article argues that the organizational structures and personal or impersonal information processing mechanisms in Swedish public transport influence the search for information and subsequent organizational learning influencing the RPTAs’ ability to reach their objectives.Originality/value – Unlike previous studies, this article shows how organizational structures in public organization, such as Swedish public transport, are decided based on political compromises rather the needs to solve coordination problems. 

Nyckelord

Organizational structure

organizational learning

public transport

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)