Studying the Effect of Suggestions Sys-tem on Organizational Learning (Case study: Shahid Tondgooyan Petrochem-ical Co. (S.T.P.C))

The purpose of this paper is to study of the casual effect of implementing sug-gestions system on three major aspects of organizational learning known as knowledge acquisition, knowledge distribution and knowledge utilization. Since organizational learning is becoming more important in the world of knowledge-based businesses, managers are more interested to know which management systems & procedures make organizational learning easier in their companies. We are entering to an era that application of knowledge is the main factor to create added-value & wealth for organizations. Therefore, mangers are strongly interested in discovering effective methods and management systems that create maximum added-value from knowledge “. Companies that set up effective suggestion systems are finding that employees have great ideas that can lower costs, increase revenues, improve efficiency, or produce greater quality. Considering the remarkable influence of “suggestions system” on various as-pects of organization and considering the importance of “organizational learn-ing” as the process of creating added value from knowledge in three steps of “knowledge acquisition”, “knowledge distribution” and “knowledge utiliza-tion”, we decided to “evaluate the effect of suggestions system on organizational learning”. Therefore, the case study was Shahid Tondgooyan PetroChemistry (STPC) company which its suggestions system is certified by Tuv-Nord. The company has been received 28000 suggestions by the employees in less than 4 years of implementing suggestions system that indicates good perform of suggestions system. “Structural equation modeling” (SEM) is the statistical method used in this study and the main software for this purpose has been Lisrel 8.53. In summary, the results of study are as follows:The direct casual effect of suggestions system on continuous improvement was 0.680, on problem solving ability 0.720, on organizational commitment 0.520, on knowledge acquisition 0.57, on knowledge distribution 0.66, and on knowledge utilization 0.63.Sum of direct & indirect casual effects of suggestions system is as follow: on knowledge acquisition it is 0.605, on knowledge distribution 0.700, on knowledge utilization 0.682, and on organizational learning 0.66.