The Learning Organisation
Question: What is meant by 'the learning organisation'? to what extent do u regard this concept as realism and significant?The idea of the learning organisation is one which has captured the imagination of trainers and a whole host of others. Organisational learning means the process of improving actions through better knowledge acquisition, clearer understanding and improved performance. It is a method of detecting and correcting errors. A learning organisation is not just an organisation which carries out extensive training but rather an organisation which facilitates the learning of all it's members and continuously evolves itself. Thus a learning organisation could be defined as 'an organisation that learns and encourages learning among its people. It promotes exchange of information between employees hence creating a more knowledgeable workforce. This produces a very flexible organisation where people will accept and adapt to new ideas and changes through a shared vision.' The idea of the learning organisation is based on three main issues which are referred to as the 3 M's: -Meaning: here the organisation needs to pocess the well grounded definition, it must be actionable and easy to apply.
-Measurement: better tools for accessing an organisation rate and level of learning to ensure that gains have infact been acquired, it should also pocess mechanisms which access the rate and level of learning. 'Many organisations are not doing well today because they simply do not change quickly enough to respond to their rapidly changing markets. They seem to have an "organisational learning disability"' (Senge, 1990) stemming from fundamental flaws in organisation design and management, poor job design, and deficiencies in the ways people in those organiza- tions--especially managers--think and interact. It has been long observed in several consulting works that far fewer organisations achieve synergy than aspire to do so. The goal of synergy--in which the results of a group's efforts surpass those of its members individually--is one of the reasons underlying most mergers, acquisitions, and cross-departmental projects. The expectation is that two plus two will equal more than four. The reality is, all too often, that two plus two equals three or less! This is referred to as 'negative synergy'. On an organisation-wide basis, negative synergy results from culture clashes between various units, lack of a shared vision, unclear missions, internal competition, poor communication, and inadequate leadership. At the team level, similar negative factors are evident, although on a smaller scale. Value clashes replace cultural ones. Lack of clarity about the team's charter replaces lack of an organisational mission or an overreaching organisational vision. In both situations, however, negative synergy is the direct result of being unable to learn and to improve performance efficiency as a result of this learning. There is also a flow of innovation and creativity. As more people in every level of a company engage in continual learning a valid contribution can come from any member of the company, and from any part of the company. Being innovative and creative is the responsibility of the whole workforce and allows learning organisations to adapt to changes in the state of the market, technology and competition efficiently. There is also improved social interaction. Learning requires social interaction and interpersonal communication skills. An organisation based on learning will ensure members become better at these activities. Teams will work better as a result. anisation needs to have clearer guidelines for practice, filed with operational advice as to high aspirations also shows evidence of learning in a double-loop manner, systematic problem solving, experimentation and internal information transfer. Moreover, this creativity gives rise to an increased synergy. The interaction between high performing teams produces a result which is higher than was planned or expected of them. A learning organisation is not merely an organisational system, it is an active philosophy; it believes that it's only competitive advantage is it's ability to learn; it encourages people to learn to produce results which they desire; it nutures creative and innovative patterns of collective learning; it develops fresh organisational capabilities all the time. New ideas are essential if learning is to take place. Whatever their source, these ideas trigger and set off organisational improvement.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Learning Organisations, Learning Organisation, , Systems Thinking, Creates Trust, Learning Labs, learning organisation, learning organisations, Learning Companies, nurturing learning, rapidly changing, organisation people, develop learning organisation, creating nurturing learning, negative synergy, performing teams, learning means, organisational learning, level learning, rate level learning, idea learning organisation,
Approximate Word count = 2225
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
|