This presentation takes its cue from the observation that the existing literature on organizational learning, culture, and innovation suffers from two major drawbacks. First, there is considerable confusion in this literature between the terms learning, learning cultures, organizational learning, organizational culture, and learning organizations, with many of these terms used interchangeably. Second, this literature tends to view learning culture primarily as a particular manifestation of organizational culture, leading to the assumption that organizations have a single organizational culture and therefore maintain a homogeneous and monolithic learning culture. In the qualitative study on TELT (Tunnel Euralpin Lyon-Turin), a binational Italian-French organization responsible for the construction of a tunnel between Lyon and Turin, Prof. Taran Patel addresses these drawbacks. Using 23 semi-structured interviews with managers directly involved in innovation at TELT, artifact collection, and a field study, she finds that organizational learning can be described in terms of five sub-constructs: Knowledge development, knowledge sharing, propensity to train, propensity to collaborate with external partners, and attitude toward mistakes. In addition, four distinct learning cultures can be identified within the organization, referred to as "Tower", "Enclave". "Bazaar" and "Backwoods."

Prof. Patel not only presents the four learning cultures in their "pure" form, but also shows their mutual hybrids that coexist at TELT. The study offers three distinct contributions. First, it resolves the confusion around the terms "organizational learning" and "learning culture" that is prevalent in the literature. Second, it challenges the assumption that an organization has a homogeneous and monolothic learning culture. Instead, she shows that there are up to four different learning cultures in organizations, some of which are more active than others and manifest in both pure and hybrid forms. Finally, she contributes to the innovation literature by showing the different motivating factors of the four learning cultures for innovation and also their reasons for rejecting some innovations and accepting others. In conclusion, the paper and the underlying study offer insights into how the inclinations of members of different cultures can be harnessed for optimal innovation outcomes and how their resistance to innovation can be overcome.

Prof. Taran Patel is a senior professor in the Department of People, Organization and Society at Grenoble École de Management. Her teaching interests include cultural issues in international business, human resource management, organizational behavior, leadership and followership, and qualitative research methods. Professor Patel has published scholarly articles in numerous internationally recognized journals and presents the current IBSS paper, a study she co-authored with Matteo Opizzi (PhD student, GEM) and Chirag Patel (Professor, GEM).