Survival or Dissolution: Organizational Learning in the IRO and WFP

• In Event: Organizations, Occupations, and Work Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 10: Organizational Change and Survival

Abstract

Existing research on the survival of international organizations tends to attribute institutional persistence primarily to the continuity of external demand, paying less attention to the role of internal adaptive mechanisms. This paper addresses a core puzzle: when an organization’s original mandate is fulfilled and external demand declines, why do some international organizations successfully transform and persist, while others dissolve? To answer this question, the paper introduces organizational learning theory and develops an analytical framework distinguishing between single-loop and double-loop learning. It applies this framework to a comparative case study of the International Refugee Organization (IRO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

The analysis shows that divergent survival outcomes among international organizations are closely linked to differences in organizational learning paths. The IRO remained confined to single-loop learning, making only technical adjustments within an existing institutional framework without critically reassessing its organizational mission and goals. As a result, a growing misalignment between its mandate and changing environmental conditions led to a gradual erosion of legitimacy and eventual organizational termination. In contrast, the WFP exhibited double-loop learning by engaging in reflexive reassessment of its organizational objectives during periods of crisis and by pursuing institutional and functional innovation. Through this process, the WFP expanded its role from emergency food relief to development-oriented food assistance, enabling sustained organizational survival and role transformation.

This paper contributes to the study of international organizations by systematically incorporating organizational learning theory into analyses of institutional adaptation and survival. It demonstrates how internal learning capacity functions as a mediating mechanism linking external structural change to divergent institutional outcomes, thereby complementing existing explanations that emphasize power structures or functional demand alone. More broadly, the findings suggest that the survival of international organizations is shaped by the interaction between external constraints and internal learning processes, offering a new perspective on institutional resilience and adaptive change in global governance.

Author

• Minxue Hu, Tongji University