The influence of organisational culture on e-learning design in the Australian Army

This article describes a research based case study that identified that organisational culture is significantly influencing e-learning design in the Australian Army. For organisations with hierarchical and authoritarian management and training cultures, e-learning provides opportunities for standardising content, delivery and course management while challenging traditional priorities, beliefs and practices. This case study focussed on the perspectives of key stakeholders in the Army involved in e-learning, including senior training managers, instructors, instructional designers and trainees. Within this context e-learning design was found to be explicitly designed to enculturate learners and to reflect the priorities in organisational culture. An inductive approach was used to develop a model, which maps the sources of organisational cultural influence on e-learning design. Implications of these findings for further research in different contexts are provided.