Learning Organization
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Fred Luthans Orgnaisational Behaviour chapter-2
A learning organization is the term given to a company that facilitates the learning of its members and continuously transforms itself.[1] Learning organizations develop as a result of the pressures facing modern organizations and enables them to remain competitive in the business environment.[2] A learning organization has five main features; systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, shared vision and team learning.[3]
Organization that acquires knowledge and innovates fast enough to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing environment. Learning organizations (1) create a culture that encourages and supports continuous employee learning, critical thinking, and risk taking with new ideas, (2) allow mistakes, and value employee contributions, (3) learn from experience and experiment, and (4) disseminate the new knowledge throughout the organization for incorporation into day-to-day activities.
A simple definition for the Learning Organisation.
"A Learning Organisation is one in which people at all levels, individuals and collectively, are continually increasing their capacity to produce results they really care about."
(Fred Luthans)
Two types of learning applied to organizations are single-loop learning and double-loop learning. Single loop learning involves improving the organization’s capacity to achieve known objectives. It is associated with routine and behavioral learning. Under single-loop, the organization is learning without significant change in its basic assumptions. Double-loop learning reevaluates the nature of he organization’s objectives and the values and beliefs surrounding them. This type of learning involves changing the organization’s culture.
Types of Learning Organizations (Explain from the Table)
There are four types of learning organization.
1. Knowing
2. Understanding
3. Thinking
4. Learning
Benefits
The main benefits are;
- Maintaining levels of innovation and remaining competitive[6]
- Being better placed to respond to external pressures[6]
- Having the knowledge to better link resources to customer needs[1]
- Improving quality of outputs at all levels[1]
- Improving corporate image by becoming more people oriented[1]
- Increasing the pace of change within the organization
Characteristics
There is a multitude of definitions of a learning organization as well as their typologies. According to Peter Senge, a learning organization exhibits five main characteristics: systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, a shared vision, and team learning.[3]
Systems thinking. The idea of the learning organization developed from a body of work called systems thinking.[5] This is a conceptual framework that allows people to study businesses as bounded objects.[3] Learning organizations use this method of thinking when assessing their company and have information systems that measure the performance of the organization as a whole and of its various components.[5] Systems thinking states that all the characteristics must be apparent at once in an organization for it to be a learning organization.[3] If some of these characteristics is missing then the organization will fall short of its goal. However O’Keeffe[2] believes that the characteristics of a learning organization are factors that are gradually acquired, rather than developed simultaneously.
Personal mastery. The commitment by an individual to the process of learning is known as personal mastery.[3] There is a competitive advantage for an organization whose workforce can learn quicker than the workforce of other organizations.[7] Individual learning is acquired through staff training and development,[6] however learning cannot be forced upon an individual who is not receptive to learning.[3] Research shows that most learning in the workplace is incidental, rather than the product of formal training,[2] therefore it is important to develop a culture where personal mastery is practiced in daily life.[3] A learning organization has been described as the sum of individual learning, but there must be mechanisms for individual learning to be transferred into organizational learning.[7]
Mental models. The assumptions held by individuals and organizations are called mental models.[3] To become a learning organization, these models must be challenged. Individuals tend to espouse theories, which are what they intend to follow, and theories-in-use, which are what they actually do.[3][5] Similarly, organisations tend to have ‘memories’ which preserve certain behaviours, norms and values.[8] In creating a learning environment it is important to replace confrontational attitudes with an open culture[6] that promotes inquiry and trust.[2] To achieve this, the learning organization needs mechanisms for locating and assessing organizational theories of action.[5] Unwanted values need to be discarded in a process called ‘unlearning’.[8] Wang and Ahmed[7] refer to this as ‘triple loop learning.’
Shared vision. The development of a shared vision is important in motivating the staff to learn, as it creates a common identity that provides focus and energy for learning.[3] The most successful visions build on the individual visions of the employees at all levels of the organization,[6] thus the creation of a shared vision can be hindered by traditional structures where the company vision is imposed from above.[2] Therefore, learning organizations tend to have flat, decentralized organizational structures.[5] The shared vision is often to succeed against a competitor,[7] however Senge[3] states that these are transitory goals and suggests that there should also be long term goals that are intrinsic within the company.
Team learning. The accumulation of individual learning constitutes Team learning.[2] The benefit of team or shared learning is that staff grow more quickly[2] and the problem solving capacity of the organization is improved through better access to knowledge and expertise.[6] Learning organizations have structures that facilitate team learning with features such as boundary crossing and openness.[5] Team learning requires individuals to engage in dialogue and discussion;[2] therefore team members must develop open communication, shared meaning, and shared understanding.[2] Learning organizations typically have excellent knowledge management structures, allowing creation, acquisition, dissemination, and implementation of this knowledge in the organization.[7]
Barriers
Even within a learning organization, problems can stall the process of learning or cause it to regress. Most of them arise from an organization not fully embracing all the necessary facets. Once these problems can be identified, work can begin on improving them.
Some organizations find it hard to embrace personal mastery because as a concept it is intangible and the benefits cannot be quantified;,[3] personal mastery can even be seen as a threat to the organisation. This threat can be real, as Senge[3] points out, that “to empower people in an unaligned organisation can be counterproductive”. In other words, if individuals do not engage with a shared vision, personal mastery could be used to advance their own personal visions. In some organisations a lack of a learning culture can be a barrier to learning. An environment must be created where individuals can share learning without it being devalued and ignored, so more people can benefit from their knowledge and the individuals becomes empowered.[2] A learning organization needs to fully accept the removal of traditional hierarchical structures.[2]
Resistance to learning can occur within a learning organization if there is not sufficient buy-in at an individual level. This is often encountered with people who feel threatened by change or believe that they have the most to lose.[2] They are likely to have closed mind sets, and are not willing to engage with mental models.[2] Unless implemented coherently across the organization, learning can be viewed as elitist and restricted to senior levels. In that case, learning will not be viewed as a shared vision.[6] If training and development is compulsory, it can be viewed as a form of control, rather than as personal development.[6] Learning and the pursuit of personal mastery needs to be an individual choice, therefore enforced take-up will not work.[3]
In addition, organizational size may become the barrier to internal knowledge sharing. When the number of employees exceeds 150, internal knowledge sharing dramatically decreases because of higher complexity in the formal organizational structure, weaker inter-employee relationships, lower trust, reduced connective efficacy, and less effective communication. As such, as the size of an organizational unit increases, the effectiveness of internal knowledge flows dramatically diminishes and the degree of intra-organizational knowledge sharing decreases.[9]
Case Study
Motorola continues to grow at a significant rate, with 20000 associates hired each year. With this growth, Motorola has the need to train people for their own hiring. Jeff Oberlin, director of Motorola University's Department of Emerging Technologies and Human Resource Trends explained:
"We can't keep using traditional classroom methods of instruction to spread the message for Motorola. Our reach isn't far enough to get to everybody. We must find creative ways to help new associates, world-wide, become productive members of a team and receive consistent messages about how we do business; the core values of Motorola, and the tools and techniques we use."
Jeff's charter is to closely re-examine MU's methods of spreading information, delivering training, and determining new and better ways of providing Motorolans with the knowledge and skills required to meet the ever-changing demands of the industry.
He went on to say, "The use of CD-ROM, Internet applications, wireless data, and a host of other emerging technologies must be fully explored. Our intent is to find those situations where alternative training delivery is the best way to transfer information."
Multimedia training would allow Motorola to:
Get training to all Motorolans world-wide, including emerging markets
Reduce training times and costs
Increase knowledge of the firm
The first step is to build a department of technology to research, develop, and eventually teach the how-to aspects of multimedia based learning.
"Once we determine how to use the various technologies available to us, we want to share that knowledge with the business." Motorola is looking for associates with expertise in a number of areas:
Computer based training
The Internet
Satellite and business television
Wireless communication
Corporate education departments
Software
Video
Motorola University was started in 1981 as the Motorola Training and Education Centre. It was created to provide training needs and established itself as a corporate department.
During the 1980s, Motorola University's original aim was to help its company build a quality culture which would then develop an internal training system. In addition, they set up corporate-wide training plans and training investment policies.
By 1990, Motorola University had expanded its operations in the United States, Eastern Europe, South America and the Asia-Pacific region. The Galvin Centre for Continuing Education was opened in 1986 while the Singapore Training Design Centre was opened in 1989.
Today, many mangers, supervisors and employees from all parts of Motorola have attended diversity training. This training helps participants to have more opportunities to develop and achieve their full potential
Until 1989, Apple Japan, the Japanese arm of the multinational Apple Computing corporation, held only 1 percent of the country's personal computer market. The appointment of a new company president marked the beginning of an era -- he started the drive to increase Apple's presence in the market and accelerated change. The company was to achieve annual sales of $1 billion by the end of 1995.
To meet this challenge the corporation approached the management consultant firm, Arthur D. Little, who have built up a wealth of experience in information technology and company restructuring. Apple Japan requested a sweeping plan to penetrate the market and increase efficiency within the company. In order to do this, they planned to reposition the brand, expand the range of distributors, improve customer management, and introduce the concept of the Learning Organisation into the workplace.
In order to implement Learning Organisation techniques, Apple was advised to tackle the Five Disciplines which are essential to a learning organisation: Team Learning, Shared Visions, Mental Models, Personal Mastery and Systems Thinking.
Although group meetings were a regular part of company practice, more time was allowed for group discussions and team education. This kept the work teams well informed and increased every individual's input to their project. With the increased emphasis on team learning, a shared vision was naturally introduced, allowing each member to work towards the same goal irrespective of their position.
Each employee of the company had their own mental model of how the organisation, their managers and team colleagues operate. By trying to bring each person's mental model into line with the rest of the team, the learning process was made more efficient and teams acted more coherently. Personal Mastery was also addressed by encouraging managers to set their staff challenging but reasonable goals, and introducing training programmes.
The crucial discipline was Systems Thinking, which brought all the other factors together. This enabled each employee to make decisions, taking the whole system into account, instead of focusing specifically on their own problems.
These disciplines were implemented by moderate restructuring and a program of education that was applied to everyone in the organisation.
The re-organisation resulted in a marked improvement in the company's sales, with growth exceeding the most optimistic projections:
Market Share grew to 15% in 1995 from 1% in 1989.
Annual sales soared to $1.3 billion in 1994, with the sale of 520 000 computers
Although not all of the success can be attributed to the introduction of the Learning Organisation concept, the results indicate an unprecedented improvement. The learning organisation was a major player in instituting this growth.
YPF, the largest company in Argentina, is today a focused, highly productive oil and gas company involved in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. It also refines, markets and distributes oil and petroleum products.
In 1989, the company employed 52 000 permanent and temporary staff, and included holdings in fields as far away from its main business as hospitals and cinemas. The challenge facing the company was to transform itself from an inefficient state-owned bureaucratic centre into an efficient private company that could attract international investment.
In order to facilitate this change, the company went about re-designing its organisational structure and culture. They turned to the American management consultant firm, Arthur D Little.
From the outset, the Arthur D Little team worked with the YPF management in re-organising their business. It was felt important that this re-design be only the first step in a long term aim of becoming a dynamic and modern organisation. The concept of the Learning Organisation was introduced.
The establishment of a measurement system was perhaps the biggest step -- this enabled the employees to evaluate and review what was going on in the company, thus learning about current processes and seeing what worked well. The introduction of working groups also benefited the business, as ideas could be discussed, and perceptions aired. Everyone in the business became more aware of the company's purpose and the collective effort reaped dramatic results.
Losses of almost $579 million in 1990 were transformed into profits of $256 million in 1992 and $706 million in 1993
The number of staff was reduced from 52000 to around 6000
In July 1993, 44% of YPF was offered on the New York and Beunos Aires stock exchanges, raising $3 billion for the Argentine government. $1 billion has since been raised with the sale of further 13 %
This entire restructuring was completed in just two years, leaving the company with a strong framework and tools for continuous learning and improvement.
