[go: up one dir, main page]

IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v2y1991i1p1-13.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Learning from Samples of One or Fewer

Author

Listed:
  • James G. March

    (Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305)

  • Lee S. Sproull

    (Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215)

  • Michal Tamuz

    (Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903)

Abstract
Organizations learn from experience. Sometimes, however, history is not generous with experience. We explore how organizations convert infrequent events into interpretations of history, and how they balance the need to achieve agreement on interpretations with the need to interpret history correctly. We ask what methods are used, what problems are involved, and what improvements might be made. Although the methods we observe are not guaranteed to lead to consistent agreement on interpretations, valid knowledge, improved organizational performance, or organizational survival, they provide possible insights into the possibilities for and problems of learning from fragments of history.

Suggested Citation

  • James G. March & Lee S. Sproull & Michal Tamuz, 1991. "Learning from Samples of One or Fewer," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 1-13, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:2:y:1991:i:1:p:1-13
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2.1.1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2.1.1
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.2.1.1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:2:y:1991:i:1:p:1-13. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.