Team Based Learning Organisation (TBLO) Definition The term indicates a convergence of the following concepts used in organization development: Team Based Organization Learning Organization Team Based Learning It emerged in an approximately 40 years long process of changes in the industrial world which evolved from an industrial society into a knowledge society. Context The shift from an industrial society, to information society and from information society to knowledge society brings profound changes in the way of looking at workforce and corporate culture in organizations. The blue collar concept prevailing in taylorism (scientific management) and the white collar concept of for information workers seemed to become increasingly obsolete according to many authors starting with William Deming and his method of quality circles. Since the 1970s, Chris Argyris' contributions about organizational learning paved the way to new concepts in considering and managing human resources. More particularly, Argyris introduced the concept of "Double Loop Learning". He intended that not only workforce had to learn from the organization in order to perform properly their job, but the organization had to learn from the workforce, including in strategic issues. In 1990, Peter Senge published “The fifth discipline” together with a field book intended to show practical applications. Amongst four other disciplines in management, the fifth which was intended to be systems thinking, a skill highly appreciated by Senge and, according to him, missing in most top management teams. At the same time Edgar Schein stressed the importance of values, organizational culture and of leadership as key elements for success. In a latter publication, Schein seems to agree with Argyris in taking into serious consideration contributions bottom up. In the industries HP was an early mover. Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard had an early and thorough understanding about the role organizations should play in society and about how to integrate in the most positive way the knowledge and the relational network of their workforce. “The HP Way” was probably a concept which made the difference in setting up a very effective organization culture at HP. Teamwork was a key skill people who joined HP had to learn quickly. To do so, coaches and trainers took care of teams and of newly joined workforce. In this context was coined the term “Team Based Organization”. Origin of the term In Europe, it was the newly created University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland which charged one of its professors