LEARNING ORGANISATION FOR ORGANISATIONAL RESILIENCE IN TIMES OF UNCERTAINTY: EVIDENCE FROM QUANTITY SURVEYING CONSULTANT FIRMS IN MALAYSIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21837/pm.v24i44.2305Keywords:
Learning Organisation, Organisational Resilience, Quantity Surveying Consultant Firms, Organisational Learning, Knowledge Sharing, InnovationAbstract
In today’s rapidly changing business environment, organisations must navigate through various disruptions, including pandemics, geopolitical conflicts, economic uncertainties, and other unforeseen events. These challenges highlight the need for resilience, adaptability, and continuous learning to maintain business continuity. For Quantity Surveying (QS) consultant firms, valuable knowledge and expertise are often embedded within experienced professionals. Therefore, developing a Learning Organisation is essential to support knowledge sharing, employee development, and organisational improvement. This study examines the key characteristics, critical success factors, and benefits of Learning Organisation practices among QS consultant firms in Malaysia. A quantitative approach was adopted using a questionnaire survey distributed to QS consultant firms registered with the Board of Quantity Surveyors Malaysia (BQSM). The survey achieved a 38% response rate, providing sufficient data for analysis. The findings identified Dynamic Learning as the most prominent characteristic, high personal competencies as the key success factor, and continuous improvement and innovation as the main organisational benefit. This study contributes to existing knowledge by providing empirical evidence on Learning Organisation practices within the QS profession, which remains limited in current research. The findings also provide industry practitioners with key areas to strengthen organisational resilience, particularly through employee capability development, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement.
Downloads
References
Abd Rahim, M. H. I., & S Kannan, A. (2025). Digital Technology Empowerment for the Future Construction Industry. PaperASIA, 41(4b), 494–507. https://doi.org/10.59953/paperasia.v41i4b.744
Basten, D., & Haamann, T. (2018). Approaches for Organizational Learning: A Literature Review. SAGE Open, 8. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244018794224
Board of Quantity Surveyors Malaysia. (n.d.). Board of Quantity Surveyors Malaysia. Retrieved March 14, 2026, from https://www.bqsm.gov.my/en/
Broekema, W., Louisa, H., & Schmidt, E. (2026). Why organizations forget or retain lessons learned from a crisis over time: Tracking COVID-19 lessons in an academic hospital in the Netherlands. BMC Health Services Research, 26. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-026-14429-x
Dulaimi, M., & Ang, A. F. (2009). Elements of Learning Organisations in Singapore’s Construction Industry. Emirates Journal of Engineering Research.
Furxhi, G. (2021). Employee’s Resistance and Organisational Change Factors. European Journal of Business and Management Research. https://doi.org/10.24018/ejbmr.2021.6.2.759
Gaines, J. (2022). Pandemic driving older workers to call it quits early. Retrieved from https://www.dayton.com/what-to-know/pandemic-driving-older-workers-to-call-it-quits-early/VECSRKRIDJERBA5YTYJEPC2ZWQ/
Hoa, D., Pawan, B., Helen, S., Hai-Dang, N., & Bach, N. (2022). Building organizational resilience, innovation through resource-based management initiatives, organizational learning and environmental dynamism. Journal of Business Research, 141, 808–821.
Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607–610.
Marquardt, M. J. (1996). Building the learning organisation: A system approach to quantum improvement. New York: McGraw-Hill Co.
Orych, M., & Patora-Wysocka, Z. (2026). The Impact of Organizational Learning on Dealing with Crisis Situations in a Logistics Company: Toward Organizational Change. Journal of Intercultural Management, 17, 80–116. https://doi.org/10.2478/joim-2025-0016
Piderit, S. K. (2000). Rethinking resistance and recognizing ambivalence: A multidimensional view of attitudes toward an organisational change. Academy of Management Review, 25(4), 783–794. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2000.3707722
Ramdan, M. R., Abd Aziz, N. A., Abdullah, N. L., Samsudin, N., Singh, G. S. V., Zakaria, T., Fuzi, N. M., & Ong, S. Y. Y. (2022). SMEs Performance in Malaysia: The Role of Contextual Ambidexterity in Innovation Culture and Performance. Sustainability, 14(3), 1679. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031679
Senge, P. M. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation. London, United Kingdom: Cornerstone.
Stewart, K. (2019). The importance of becoming a learning organisation. Retrieved from https://www.cuinsight.com/the-importance-of-becoming-a-learning-organisation/
Tan, J. L., & Aziz, N. M. (2022). Embracing the Digital Twin for Construction Monitoring and Controlling to Mitigate the Impact of COVID-19. Journal of Design and Built Environment, 22(3), 40–59. https://doi.org/10.22452/jdbe.vol22no3.3
Teece, D. J. (1998). Capturing value from knowledge assets: The new economy, markets for know-how, and intangible assets. California Management Review: Special Issue on Knowledge and the Firm, 40(3), 55–79.
Tortorella, G., Fettermann, D., Cauchick-Miguel, P., & Sawhney, R. (2019). Learning organisation and lean production: An empirical research on their relationship. International Journal of Production Research, 58. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2019.1633028
Tsang, E. W. K. (1997). Organisational learning and the learning organisation. Human Relations, 50(1), 73–89.
Yap, P. X., & Aziz, N. M. (2020). Teaching Strategies in Integrating BIM Education for the Quantity Surveying Courses in Malaysian Higher Education Institution. Malaysian Construction Research Journal, 9(1), 126–133. https://www.cream.my/data/cms/files/MCRJ%20Special%20Issue%20_Volume%209%20No_1%202020.pdf
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright & Creative Commons Licence
eISSN: 0128-0945 © Year. The Authors. Published for Malaysian Institute of Planners. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.
The authors hold the copyright without restrictions and also retain publishing rights without restrictions.