This research addresses the influence of leadership and communication on learning within an organisation by direct mutual interactions in dyads. This is done in combination with multilevel organizational learning as an alternative route, which includes feed forward and feedback learning. The results show that effective communication (triggered by the active team leader, and/or by natural, informal communication), leads to a faster learning process within an organization compared to the longer route via feed forward and feedback formal organisational learning. However, this more direct form of bilateral learning in general may take more of the employee's time, as a quadratic number of dyadic interactions in general is less efficient than a linear number of interactions needed for feed forward and feedback organisational learning.

Multilevel organisational learning concerns an interplay of different types of learning at individual, team, and organisational levels. These processes use complex dynamic and adaptive mechanisms. A second-order adaptive network model for this is introduced here and illustrated.

This paper addresses formalization and computational modeling of multilevel organizational learning, which is one of the major challenges for the area of organizational learning. It is discussed how various conceptual mechanisms in multilevel organizational learning as identified in the literature, can be formalized by computational mechanisms which provide mathematical formalizations that enable computer simulation. The formalizations have been expressed using a self-modeling network modeling approach.

Within organisational learning literature, mental models are considered a vehicle for both individual learning and organisational learning. By learning individual mental models (and making them explicit), a basis for formation of shared mental models for the level of the organisation is created, which after its formation can then be adopted by individuals. This provides mechanisms for organisational learning. These mechanisms have been used as a basis for an adaptive computational network model. The model is illustrated by a not too complex but realistic case study.

This paper describes how the recently developed self-modeling network modeling approach for multilevel organisational learning has been tested on applicability for a real-world case of a project-based organisation. The modeling approach was able to successfully address this complex case by designing a third-order adaptive network model. Doing this, as a form of further innovation three new features have been added to the modeling approach: Recombination of selected high-quality mental model parts, refinement of mental model parts, and distinction between context-sensitive detailed control and global control.