Substituting Human Decision-Making with Machine Learning: Implications for Organizational Learning

Inside the Black-box: Analysing the Generation of Core Competencies and Dynamic Capabilities by Exploring Collective Minds. An Organisational Learning Perspective** The paper combines resource-based thinking with perspectives from theories of organisational learning and knowledge management. According to the resource-based view (RBV) strategy can be defined as emergent pattern of interaction generating core competencies and dynamic capabilities. These processes of interaction and their relation to core competencies and dynamic capabilities are of major concern in the presented analysis. A synthesis with learning theories further leads to the basic assumption that processes of knowledge identification, knowledge diffusion, knowledge integration and the enactment of the environment are critical for generating core competencies. Moreover, learning theories show how to approach the causal ambiguityargument that is important in the explanation of core competencies given by RBV. It will be argued that the analysis of the shared mental model of the organisational members is a method to explore critical processes for generating core competencies. A related research instrument will be validated in a case study analysis that was conducted in a medium-sized enterprise aiming at testing the instrument and the aforementioned basic assumption. The instrument can explore the critical processes in which the generation of core competencies and dynamic capabilities is embedded in. It provides a better understanding of the critical processes within the organisation than the RBV. Key words: Causal ambiguity, collective minds, competitive advantages, core competencies, dynamic capabilities, knowledge management, organisational learning, resource-based view, strategic processes 1. Introduction The resource-based view (RBV) of the firm has been thoroughly discussed in strategic management literature. The basic assumptions of this approach have been developed further during the last twenty years, specified for certain organisational functions and validated in hundreds of empirical analyses (see Barney/Arikan 2001; Rouse/Daellenbach 2002; Ray/Barney/Muhanna 2004). As a consequence, the RBV became a leading paradigm in strategic management (Wernerfelt 1995; Bresser 1998). Even though there is considerable theoretical and empirical progress in resourcebased research shortcomings still exist in the theoretical underpinnings of the approach. These restrict related empirical investigations that try to measure critical resources and processes for sustainable competitive advantages. One of the major shortcomings of the RBV is the fact that the organisation remains a black-box even though it is considered as the source of organisational success (Ortmann/Sydow 2001; Priem/Butler 2001). There is a lack in explanations of how heterogeneity arises (Helfat/Peteraf 2003: 997). This is not only a limitation in the eyes of those who regard the RBV as a theory of competitive advantage - if the major interest relies on rules for richness, the causal ambiguity argument of the RBV is somehow dissatisfying. Causal ambiguity means that the link between the resources controlled by a firm, internal processes and sustained competitive advantages can neither be attributed from outside nor from organisational members (Barney 1991). Rather, the causal ambiguity paradox - even though it is inspiring - veils the view on organisational internal processes that might have a strategic impact. The RBV does not only lay emphasis on the internal organisation but also limits a deeper understanding of organisational internal strategic processes. For a further development of strategy research a broader perspective of social action within and between organisations as well as between organisations and environments is essential. As Mintzberg (1978, 1994) points out these processes of forming a pattern of strategic action have been neglected in strategy research (see also Quinn 1984). …

Purpose: The aim of this article is to present differences in approaches to managing personnel risk revealed in a qualitative study of sustainable human resource management practices in the Polish organisational context. The analysis focuses on identifying patterns of managerial actions that differentiate approaches to anticipating, responding to, and learning in the face of human resource-related risks, with particular attention to the gender aspect. Methodology/Research Approach: The study was based on individual in-depth interviews (IDI) conducted using a questionnaire with open-ended questions. The collected data were subjected to thematic analysis in accordance with a documented research procedure. The study was exploratory in nature. The identified patterns are treated descriptively, as hypotheses for further quantitative verification. The empirical section is complemented by a synthetic meta analysis of the literature, organising existing findings on the differentiation of leadership tools between women and men and their links to sustainable HRM practices and personnel risk profiles. Psychological safety and the psychological contract are used in the discussion as interpretive lenses and plausible mechanisms; they are not directly measured in the present qualitative study. Findings: Two distinct patterns of working with personnel risk emerged from the participants’ narratives. The first, preventive-relational, more often characteristic of women managers, involves early detection of soft signals through constant voice channels and individual conversations, systematic “closing” of expectations and cooperation rules, a mediatory approach to disputes, and knowledge onsolidation after events. This style emphasises predictability and procedural fairness. The second, task-reactive, more frequently present in men managers’ narratives, focuses on monitoring hard indicators and operational thresholds, rapid response under time pressure and uncertainty, cascading goals, and consistent enforcement of standards, with an emphasis on execution discipline and readiness to reconfigure tasks. The observed differences manifest throughout the entire risk management cycle: from identification and prioritisation, through response, to organisational learning and communication. Interpretation of the results takes into account contextual factors such as HR process maturity and the specifics of organisational tasks. Originality/Value: The article contributes to the literature on sustainable HRM by highlighting links between gendered leadership patterns and approaches to managing personnel risk— an area still insufficiently explored in HRM research. It combines the perspective of risk management with the logic of sustainable organisational development, showing how different orientations (relational and task-focused) can influence organisational resilience and adaptive capacity. The article concludes with proposed research questions that serve as a starting point for further quantitative studies on the identified patterns. Keywords: Sustainable Human Resource Management (SHRM), personnel risk, human resource management practices, managerial awareness, employee engagement, professional development, gender-differention. Category of the paper: Research paper.

The practices and processes enabling learning within organisations have emanated from the metacognitive abilities of humans that have been ‘agentic’ in creating action plans, adopting goals, visualising outcomes, and providing direction and coherence. Rapid technological advancement has increased the adoption of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), in various Human Resource Management (HRM) domains, which demonstrate agentic behaviour. A perspective of human-centered AI (HCAI) is needed to understand better the development of structures and protocols for learning and development (L&D) practices in organisations with human-centered design, which is poorly understood. Our study adopts a practice lens to examine human and technology agents’ embodying structures and routines in L&D functions within organisations. We adopt an exploratory qualitative approach and analyze 24 HR & L&D leaders’ interviews by deploying Gioia's methodology. We find that L&D practitioners currently use and plan to use AI in various applications, which change protocols and activities of human and technology agents. Based on our findings, we propose a conceptual framework for leveraging AI in L&D, operating with different structures, and encompassing various conjoined agencies.

Treating color patterns in a geometric morphometrics framework reveals rapid rates of color evolution that are explained by a combination of intrinsic organismal features (color variation among patches) and geography within a cosmopolitan radiation of birds.

T HE Report of President's Commission on Higher Education stands as an epochal endeavor in history of American education. It proclaims perennial and precious American dream that race, creed, sex, and national origin shall not stunt personal growth or stand off social progress; and it proffers to President and to people of country a pattern of action to convert dream into operational reality. In common with most documents proposing important social plans, Report interweaves several strands of thought that may be separately identified and inspected. Seven of these seem to me to be paramount: social vision, social demand for upper-level workers and supply of human ability to meet demand, a program for financing recommended expansion of higher education, a plan of governing, that is, of controlling, colleges and universities financed, an educational philosophy, a proposed structuring and intermeshing of educational institutions, and a prospectus of procedures for staffing higher education. Probably few who read Report will disagree with social vision of Commission, and those who do will almost certainly not say so. It voices social conscience of humanitarian seers of all ages, and, in words of Tennyson, it expresses one of the mighty hopes that make us men. In theory almost everyone deplores discriminations based on biological and social differences, but in practice attitudes deeply etched in emotion and solidly built into our institutions stand in path of rapid extension of equality of educational opportunity. Yet beyond doubt these attitudes change for better, and one of many illustrations is statistic quoted ten days ago by

Differentiation and Syntax in the Evolution of Behavioral Flexibility