Learning Organization Draft

Published on June 2017 | Categories: Documents | Downloads: 29 | Comments: 0 | Views: 267
of 12
Download PDF   Embed   Report

Comments

Content

Cavan Jefferson
Travis Schiller
Steve Carter
MGT 483
The Learning Organization
Task Brief
The purpose of this program is to aid management in the understanding and development
of a learning organization. The emerging need for a learning organization stems from the quickly
developing and ever-changing business world and the gaps in knowledge created by stagnant
companies that have neglected to update their processes of business. The learning organization
creates a business atmosphere that is people oriented because the employees within an
organization are the most important asset. Employees in a learning organization are capable of
creating, acquiring, and sharing knowledge, cultivating an open environment that fosters quicker
innovation and adaptation, and giving the organization an advantage over competitors. Through
implementation of a learning organization, managers and executives will have a better
understanding of how to nurture a continuous learning environment for their own success.
Needs Analysis
When attempting to construct a learning organization, there are many factors that need to
be considered. By conducting this needs analysis, the discovery and identification of the
necessary elements of a learning organization are easily portrayed for management to implement
within an organization. Fortunately, there are multiple helpful resources for assisting the
transition and designing of a learning organization environment. Though there is a great deal of
information on the topic, researchers and writers on the topic do seem to advocate vagueness in
creating a concrete structuring of what a learning organization is, according to Anders Ortenblad.
He states that, “they like that the learning organization as a tentative road map, still indistinct and

abstract and a never-ending journey” (Ortenblad, 2004). Several essential resources will be
examined in this literature review to demonstrate key features, strategies, and information for a
successful implementation of the program. After reviewing these materials, the reader should be
able to identify specific learning objectives, including the creation of “knowledge workers,”
building a supportive learning environment throughout the entire organization, design and
implement proactive and continuous learning processes relating to specific skill sets and jobs,
and how to build a culture of reflection, development, and sharing of expertise.
What is a Learning Organization?
The basic definition of a learning organization is one that learns continuously and proactively,
using the knowledge gained and integrating it with work. In a learning organization, employees
are encouraged and required to continuously learn as they produce. This type of learning can
occur on three major levels, including single-loop, double-loop, and deuterolearning (Werner &
Randy, 2012). Single-loop learning focuses simply on identifying problems and taking corrective
action, whereas double-loop learning emphasizes understanding and altering basic assumptions
and major ideas that lead to a particular problem. Deuterolearning is concerned with the
improvement of how the organization performs its‟ single and double-loop learning processes.
With these three types of learning, single-loop focuses on day-to-day performance of an
organization, double-loop encourages deep reflection and changing actions to challenge
recurring or new problems within the organization, and deuterolearning is the process of learning
to learn. Deuterolearning encourages constant adaptation of the organization and its programs to
meet the ever changing needs of today‟s business world (Werner & Randy, 2012).
According to Ortenblad, a professor at Halmstad University, School of Business and
Engineering, “the learning organization cannot be precisely described because the situation of

each single organization is unique...each organization therefore should be given the necessary
flexibility to develop its own, unique version of the learning organization” (Ortenblad, 2004).
With this in mind, it is crucial that executives wishing to adopt this form of an organization
match their efforts to their own specific needs and industry to best execute the advantages of a
continuous learning environment. Doing this will be possible by incorporating the following
research and information.
Knowledge Workers
In today‟s economy, the business environment is changing at an ever-increasing rate,
forcing businesses to search for new ways to operate. When it comes to the success of an
organization one of the most important factors is human capital. Organizations have recently
come to realize how big of an impact employees can have on organizational success, and because
of this they have been putting much more time and effort into training and development. As
noted by Sloman (2007), “The acquisition of relevant knowledge and skills of employees, if
properly harnessed and directed, has become a crucial difference between organizations” (p. 4).
Unfortunately, training and development may not be enough to remain competitive anymore.
Today, in order for organizations to succeed, they need to obtain employees who are skilled at
creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge. According to the article titled Is Yours a
Learning Organization by Garvin, Edmondson, and Gino (2008), “Leaders may think that
getting their organizations to learn is only a matter of articulating a clear vision, giving
employees the right incentives, and providing lots of training. This assumption is not merely
flawed – it‟s risky in the face of intensifying competition, advances in technology, and shifts in
customer preferences” (p. 1).

With this idea, Michael Marquardt, author of Building the Learning Organization, also
emphasizes that the most important asset of any organization are the people within the
organization. ”Empowered workers are able to make decisions as good as, if not better than, the
decisions made by managers because the workers, in fact, possess the best information”
(Marquardt, 1996). Therefore, empowering employees gives them the ability to apply their own
knowledge and skills learned by experience on-the-job, reflect on their performance, learn from
their successes and failures, and share with their peers.
If an organization is looking to push forward and remain progressive, they must be willing
to go out and search for employees that fit their system accordingly. If an employer can
successfully build an employment team to be compiled of individuals who are skilled at creating,
acquiring, and transferring knowledge, then the organization will have a much better chance at
success. As noted by Garvin et al. (2008), “These types of people could help their firms cultivate
tolerance, foster open discussion, & think holistically and systemically. Such learning
organizations would be able to adapt to the unpredictable more quickly than their competitors
could” (p. 1). When it comes to employees, organizations need what Martyn Sloman calls
„knowledge workers‟. Knowledge workers are the type of people who want to learn for their own
personal benefit. To do this, employees must go out and seek solutions out for themselves. The
most popular way that knowledge workers learn on the job is from one another. Knowledge
workers within an organization develop a network in which they share acquired knowledge with
their colleagues, enabling the organization to take exponential strides. Fortunately, with the
technology that exists today, employees can easily develop a network across the globe with
individuals who work in the same field through social media, enabling cross-cultural business
learning.

The downside of developing an employee‟s knowledge, skills and abilities is the fact that they
can leave the organization whenever they please. The skills that an employee acquires over time
working with an organization are often portable and can transfer over to the employee‟s next job.
Although the skills that they acquire make them more attractive to other organizations, it is more
cost efficient to develop and lose employees than to not develop employees at all. Creating
knowledge workers makes employees huge assets to the company as they are more aware, think
critically, and are efficient in problem-solving skills and communication.
Developing a Supportive Learning Environment
There are four distinguishing characteristics that decide whether or not an environment
supports learning. These characteristics include psychological safety, appreciation of differences,
openness to new ideas and time for reflection. All of these are all extremely important when it
comes to building a successful learning organization. Garvin et al. (2008) explains that
“employees must feel comfortable expressing thoughts freely without ridicule, they should be
encouraged to take risks and explore the unknown, and they should be aware of and appreciate
opposing ideas” (p. 111).
In order to develop a learning organization, it is necessary that employees feel important
and respected within their respective companies. Psychologically, they must feel safe.
Knowledge workers will all have their own different viewpoints, all of which are useful to the
organization. If employees are worried about being belittled for their perceptions, they will not
feel comfortable sharing their ideas and experiences and the organization will miss out on these
learning opportunities. As globalization continues to rise, it is becoming more and more
important that organizations have a high degree of openness to new ideas. They must be willing
to listen to opposing viewpoints in order to remain competitive within the global market. Garvin

et al. (2008) explains that “Recognizing the value of competing functional outlooks and
alternative worldview increases energy and motivation, sparks fresh thinking, and prevents
lethargy and drift” (p. 111). If an employee takes an abstract route when trying to find a solution
to a problem and they end up failing, they should not be criticized or rebuked, instead they
should be praised for their ability to take risks. The failure must be turned around to a positive
learning experience for all. All of these are key parts of creating a supportive learning
environment, but the most important and often overlooked aspect is proper time for reflection.
Henry Mintzberg described thoughtful reflection as the most powerful tool we have for
management education, and this is true in many ways. Reflection allows one to step back and
truthfully assess their actions, and it allows management to focus on regulating behaviors,
redefining values and figuring out the true identity of their group/team. Gavin et al. (2008) points
out “When people are too busy or overstressed by deadlines and scheduling pressures, they
become less able to diagnose problems and learn from their experiences. Supportive learning
environments allow time for a pause in the action and encourage thoughtful review of the
organization‟s processes” (p. 110).
Constructing Organizational Learning
The task of building learning throughout the organization can be both complex and
difficult to manage. Further, organizational learning implies that an organization must both be
aware of the need for different levels of learning and the storing of knowledge gained within an
organization (Ortenblad, 2004). Keeping ideas and lessons learned close within an organization
will create competitive advantages in a firm‟s industry over competitors. In this same context,
learning is built through personal experiences. Michael Marquardt explains, “Our ability to learn
and the quality and openness of our relationships determine what we can know” (Marquardt,

1996). There are three different learning subsystems that an organization can build upon to
improve learning that follow, including individual, team, and organizational.
Since learning is fostered by the quality and openness of our relationships, the first level
of learning occurs at the individual level. The individual is the heart and soul of the
organization. Individuals make up the departments and groups within an organization, and
managers should be aware of many factors and practices that can contribute to individual
learning. Individuals in a learning organization learn as agents for the organization, and what
each individual learns is stored in the memory bank of the organization. Having employees and
management develop personal development plans builds relationships between the employees
and organization. Most employees know that companies cannot always employ them for their
entire careers, but they can help with long term employability. With a personal development
plan, an alliance is created between the parties to help with long-term career development and to
help the employee see through to their full potential.
Individual learning in an organization is often informal, “on the job” learning. This type
of gained knowledge is context-dependent, and formal training programs cannot teach this
efficiently. Josh Bersin coins “formalizing the informal learning process” as a key to the success
of an organization as it provides a creative environment that supports rapid, on-the-job learning.
Bersin also states that businesses that implement this type of open-learning training program
outperform those that focus on formal training systems 3 to 1 (Bersin, 2012). The best way to do
this is to place training content in hands-on job experience and only giving small, “easy to use
chunks of content” as needed by the individual to help them progress through their issues. Doing
this will allow people to make mistakes, which Bersin insists is the best type of learning situation
for both the individual and the organization as a whole.

The second level of learning within an organization occurs at the group or team
level. Individual employees must work together to accomplish tasks and in some ways are
forced to work together to create and learn as one. Marquardt insists that learning through a
team environment is best done when “teams share their experiences with other groups in the
organization” (Marquardt, 1996). This connects to the earlier concepts of creating knowledge
workers and fostering an environment of shared learning.
The final level of learning occurs at organization level. Since an organization is built
with individuals comprised of teams, the learning process at this level is affect by a much larger
set of variables. The experiences and abilities are contained within the entire group of
employees. So, in order for learning to occur, the organization learning must have overlap from
both the team level and from the individual level. Organization learning can occur through, “the
shared insights, knowledge, and mental models of members of the organization and builds on
past knowledge and experience, which depends on institutional mechanisms” (Marquardt, 1996).
Once the organization has built upon the individual, team and group levels of learning,
they must distinguish which type of learning will work best for them. Many types of learning
require reflection and learning from hands-on experience. The first type in which an
organization can learn is through adaptive learning. Adaptive learning focuses heavily on
reflection and critiquing the action, outcome, and results. Adaptive learning could be considered
single-loop learning, where the focus is maintaining and stabilizing the current system, but could
also be considered double-loop learning, which involves questioning the system as a whole and
defining why the results occurred in the first place (Marquardt, 1996). An additional way in
which organizations learn is through anticipatory learning. This type of learning is done through
forecasting of the future. There is a lot of reflection applied to this style because it forces the

organization or individual to look towards performance in the future. The opposite is seen in
deuterolearning, as this happens when an organization learns from reflection concepts that it had
previously accepted. The final approach to organizational learning is active learning, where
departments work on actual problems that can occur in the workplace by centering focus and
implementing direct solutions (Marquardt, 1996). Incorporating all of these styles of learning
would be advantageous to an organization as each provides new perspectives on past actions,
present problems, and future performance.
The final subsystems that Marquardt has defined that organizations can use to build
learning are the five organizational learning skills: systems thinking, mental models, personal
mastery, team learning, and shared vision. Systems‟ thinking is building the skill “for seeing
interrelationships rather than linear cause-effect chains” (Marquardt, 1996). This emphasizes that
changes made within an organization not only affect individual departments, but also associated
departments. Mental models are skills that an organization uses to take certain viewpoints of an
event, situation or activity and organizing them efficiently for use. Personal mastery, as defined
by Marquardt. is, “a special level or proficiency that is committed to continually improve and
perfect skills... a discipline of continually clarifying and deepening one‟s personal vision,
energies and patience” (Marquardt, 1996). Team learning is a skill that develops the team‟s
ability to learn and develop the results each member seeks. The more individuals that the team is
able to incorporate into this skill, the higher intelligence the group can achieve. Finally
developing the skill of shared vision gives the group, “focus, direction and energy for the
members of an organization” (Marquardt, 1996).
A Proactive and Continuous Learning Environment

Facilitating a positive atmosphere that makes learning easy and natural is one of the
greatest challenges and advantages of a learning organization. This process requires finding the
fine line of providing structure for space for learning without controlling and inhibiting it
(Ortenblad, 2004). Continual learning requires flexibility to learn from customers‟ changing
needs, wants and demands. Allowing knowledge workers to determine which actions to take to
quickly satisfy consumer needs and expectations is crucial and can only be achieved through a
proactive learning environment. As mentioned by Garvin et al. (2008), “The U.S. Army‟s After
Action Review (AAR) process, now widely used by many companies, involves a systematic
debriefing after every mission, project, or critical activity. This process is framed by four simple
questions: What did we set out to do? What actually happened? Why did it happen? What do we
do next time?” (p. 112). By answering these questions, an organization can determine which
activities to sustain, stop, and which to improve. Taking the time to diagnose what went wrong
or what was executed properly will present the opportunity to put formal programs into place to
improve performance even further.

Building a Culture of Reflection, Development, and Sharing of Expertise
As suggested earlier in the section, “Knowledge Workers,” the people within an organization
are its most powerful and most important asset. So, creating an encouraging company culture
that promotes the ideas of reflection, development, and sharing of expertise is a key component
to creating and maintaining a learning organization. Josh Bersin emphasized this portion of
designing a learning organization as one of the most important. Bersin stated that focusing on
these three aspects will allow the organization to stay close to customers, use mistakes of
employees as advantages learned by all to outdistance competition, and thrive in the face of huge

market change. Building expertise and allowing an open, sharing environment for the successes,
failures, and lessons learned promotes a stronger organizational environment that will encourage
employees to take more on more personal and organizational responsibility for the continued
success of the firm (Bersin, 2012). In conclusion, the creation and nurturing of knowledge
workers, construction of a supportive learning environment, and designing proactive and
continuous learning processes will build an unstoppable learning machine that will leave
competitors behind as the organization advances.

Learning Objectives:


Managers will be able to communicate effectively with their peers in a manner in which
they share and spread knowledge.



Managers will be able to effectively construct a supportive learning environment that
supports learning and spans throughout the entire organization.



Managers will be able to design and implement proactive and continuous learning
processes relating to specific skill sets and jobs.



Managers will be able to effectively build a culture of reflection, development, and
sharing of expertise that encourages learning throughout the organization.

References

Bersin, J. (2012). 5 keys to building a learning organization. Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2012/01/18/5-keys-to-building-a-learning-organization/
Garvin, D., Edmondson, A., & Gino, F. (2008). Is yours a learning organization?. Harvard
Business Review, Retrieved from http://hbr.org/2008/03/is-yours-a-learning-organization/ar/1
Marquardt, M. (1996). Building the learning organization. Retrieved from
http://www.anahitaz.com/uploads/4/5/6/6/4566124/refermarquardt.pdf
Ortenblad, A. (2004). The learning organization: Towards an integrated model. Emerald Insight,
11(2), 129-144. Retrieved from http://libweb.uwlax.edu:2823/journals.htm?articleid=882681
Sloman, M. (2007, November 12). Knowledge rests on wanting to learn. Financial Times.
Retrieved from http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7467b0ac-8e1e-11dc-8591-0000779fd2ac.html
Vikineswaran, M. (2013). The link between management success perceptions and organization.
The XIMB Journal of Management , 10(1), pg 67. Retrieved from
http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/86725607/link-between-managers-career-successperceptions-learning-organization
Werner, J., & Randy, D. (2012). Human resource development . (6 ed., pp. 503-506). Mason,
OH: South-Western.

Sponsor Documents

Or use your account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Forgot your password?

Or register your new account on DocShare.tips

Hide

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive a link to create a new password.

Back to log-in

Close