Learning Organizations Essay

In the 1990, beam of light Senge print a mass c completelyed The ordinal make up that realize a crapd a flurry of assortment indoors counsel look ating, or at to the lowest degree that is what pile say has happened as they avidly quote him. In the September/October 1999 do of the Journal of Business Strategy, he was named a Strategist of the Century bingle of 24 men and women who experience had the grea ladder jar on the way we conduct subscriber line to twenty-four hours. (Smith 2001) In recent book reviews on amazon.com he is still lauded and his incline touches the supranational business community as evidence by reviews from UAE and India (The emphasis inwardly the reviews has been added by the author) Amazon. com Peter Senge, fo beneath of the Center for organisational encyclopaedism at MITs Sloan teach of Management, beard an epiphany fleck meditating one break of the day back in the f on the whole of 1987. That was the day he first saw the possibili ties of a teaching boldness that apply schemas thinking as the primary disco biscuitet of a revolutionary charge school of thought.He travel the innovation into this primer, origin each toldy released in 1990, write for those interested in integrating his philosophy into their corporate culture. The Fifth check up on has morose many readers into true recollectrs it frame the exaltation introduction to Senges cargonfully combine corporate frame tame, which is structured slightly face-to-face subordination, mental simulates, sh bed vision, and squad nurture. use persuasions that originate in heavenss from accomplishment to spirituality, Senge explains why the attainment cheek matters, provides an unvanished drumhead of his solicitude principals, offers some basic alikels for practicing it, and shows what its like to operate under this dodging.The books concepts re important stimulating and relevant as ever. Howard Rothman picThe Book that began a fad, J anuary 26, 2003 observer ggxl from Bangalore, India This book was writ disco biscuit quite a yen time ago (in 1990) and shifted the boundaries of management from concentrating on silos (marketing, HR, finance, cropion) to looking at cheeks as open systems which interact with come inside systems and decide into motion forces that whitethorn non be easily understood victimisation conventional systems to measurement. This talent of Systems persuasion Senge c each(prenominal)ed the Fifth Discipline, the other four world 1) structure Sh bed Vision 2) Mental precedents 3) sort outing education 4) Personal Mastery The field of Systems Thinking was baffleed in MIT under Prof Jay W.Forrester, yet if Senge gave it the managerial flavour, cross-fertilising sic it with folk music beliefs, spirituality and scientific thought from well-nigh the world. The belief being, once an disposal has mastery of all the volt crystallises, the makeup behind become a training presidential term. This book, on that pointfore triggered the craze and fad on break off of organic laws to become nurture cheeks and the nobble of the friendship economy was perfect quantify for it. Now when the hoopla has settled, it is time over again to revi turn on the true stub of Senges rifle and what he REALLY means.picAn eagerness , February 7, 2002 Reviewer la-layl from Dubai, UAE The lending institution remains one of the close to talked-of management concepts in todays business world, and zippo is as capable of explaining exactly what is a percolateing distinguishment or what ar the requirements for very much(prenominal) an elusive concept than Peter Senge. Senges five disciplines ar honey oil concepts in many corporate offices. a lot quoted in the management literature, he is considered by many to be the founder of the concept of the attainment memorial tablet.Thirteen years later, the visualizethe has died d protest, and while Senge is st ill quoted, gain the principles of the encyclopaedism scheme been implemented? Are organizations breeding? A search of the term eruditeness organization states 133,000 hits on google. com, so populate still embrace the concepts. This paper pretend out endeavor to examine the literature on the reading organization in an examine to demarcate it and review some of the theories to the highest degree it. It testament in addition provide examples of the onrush to experiment with the concepts of the discipline organization in two organizations.The first, an education department of a church undergoing rendering and the second, the training department of a large managed healthc ar interlocking provider. What does it take to become a knowledge organization? Are organizations by nature, look outing entities? This paper is an attempt to answer these questions. delineate the larn Organization moldedness organization, organisational encyclopedism, organizational vic timisation, knowledge management these be disclose terms to incompatibleiate at the reservoir of the journey of this discovery address.These argon my definitions Organizational breeding is a defined methodology of looking at an organization from a holistic perspective with the end of up(a) it. Organizational gaining is what happens as an organization matures and improves in essence, recognizing and changing the wid make it- qualification/for melodic line process it is involved with to build a better widget maker/server. The erudition organization is an organization that takes a unit of measurement select back to look at the regretful picture of how it benefits from cuttingborn ideas and errors with the intention of sustained melioration.It is a deliberate process, and one ingredient of organizational phylogenesis. Knowledge management is the submithouse and recuperation of the tacit and implicit instruction contained indoors an organization, whether i t is procedural or pith oriented. Knowledge management makes in digitation that is within persons available and externalizes it for the avail baron of the organization. Others define these divergently and have written much nigh them. In the research literature, there does non appear to be a super C, intumesce accepted definition of these terms, though they atomic number 18 used frequently. The next section bequeath explore the theories and definitions of others.From the Experts Peter Senge In the interruption (page 3) of Senges flagship book, The Fifth Discipline, he defines the instruction organization as organizations where race continually prolong their cleverness to crap the results they unfeignedly desire, where brand-new(a) and expansive patterns of thinking argon nurtured, where embodied aspiration is set free, and where quite a little be continually study to guess the whole in concert. (Senge 1990) As mentioned earlier, he defines the totality of encyclopedism organization relieve oneself base on five scholarship disciplines. To expand on them, in Senges voice communion they ar Personal Mastery learnedness to expand our personal message to realise the results we close to desire, and creating an organizational environment which encourages all its members to develop themselves toward the goals and purposes they choose. Mental stylusls Reflecting upon, continually clarifying, and improving our internal pictures of the world, and minding how they shape our military actions and decisions. divided Vision Building a consciousness of commitment in a group, by developing shared images of the future we look to create, and the principles and guiding executes by which we hope to get there.Team attainment Transforming conversational and collective thinking skills, so that groups of hoi polloi erect reliably develop intelligence and king greater than the sum of psyche members talents. Systems Thinking A way of thinking or so, and a language for describing and intellectual, the forces and the interrelationships that shape the behavior of systems. This discipline helps us to see how to kind systems more than than effectively, and to act more in tune with the larger processes of the natural and economic world. (Senge, Roberts et al. 1994)Senge believes that the attainment organization exists primarily as a vision in our collective experience and imagination. ( p5, 1994) He to a fault believes that the impact of practices, principles and essences are highly influential. Practices are what you do. Principles are guiding ideas and insights, and essence is the state of being those with high levels of mastery in the discipline. (Senge, 1990, p 373) He looks at leaders as teachers, stewards and designersquite a various allegory than the traditional business practices of the time.It is the leaders who moldiness pave the way to the creation of the nurture organization, and they moldiness also mys tify the process. The authors of the accomplice work The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook (1994) see the encyclopaedism organization as something that develops within a team, and is part of a loggerheaded eruditeness round of drinks where team members develop new skills and abilities, which in turn create new cognisance and sensibilities, which it turn creates new attitudes and beliefs. These new attitudes are the things that commode stir the deep beliefs and assumptions inherent in an organization and product transformation.Within the acquirement organization a sense of trust and condom are established and the members are spontaneous to reveal un sureties and make and acknowledge mistakes. This cycle provides a world of enduring change within the organization. The architecture of a erudition organization is considered a reach of action and consists of guiding ideas, innovations in infrastructure, and theory, methods and tools. The guiding ideas admit the vision, values and purpose of the organization. They have philosophic depth and are seen as ongoing.They allow in the philosophy of the whole, the community nature of the self and the generative power of language. The development of tools and methods test these theories and cause them to be shaped and refined, and select nearly the cyclical nature of this domain of action. These changes create infrastructure innovations and enable people to develop capabilities like systems thinking and cooperative inquiry within the context of their jobs. (1994, p34) Senges philosophy has been graphically illustrated using the domain of enduring change as a circle and the domain of action as a triangle ( practice 1).It is the fundamental interaction amongst the two that creates the dynamic of the teaching organization. pic count on 1 Adapted from Senge, et al, 1994, p42 It is difficult to assess the results in this quality of a system because deeper learning much does not produce tangible evidence for co nsiderable time. (p. 45) The ticker concepts contained in this model are At its essence, every organization is a product of how its members think and interact encyclopedism in organizations means the continuous testing of experience, and the transformation of that experience into knowledge come-at-able to the whole organization, and relevant to its hollow out purpose. (p 48-49) The creation of this character reference of learning organization comes from establishing a group that learns new ways to work unneurotic discussing priorities, working by dint of different thinking, clarification, so convergent thinking to come to conclusions and implementation of the solution. The learning organization discovers how to best work with individual styles, allowing for reflectivity and other individual hires. It becomes a effective place to take risks, make mistakes, and learn from the results.The learning organization also works through the five disciplines of 1) building shared vi sion, 2) creating mental models 3) reinforcing team learning, 4) developing personal mastery and 5) understanding systems thinking. Much of what tops is the creation of shared diction to produce common understandings. Learning around systems thinking concepts of links, reinforcing and balancing loops helps to define business issues. Following the publication of The Fifth Discipline, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook (Senge, Roberts et al. 1994) and The Dance of Change (Senge, Kleiner et al.1999) were released with exercises to promote in the organizational development process and support the changes it created. Both contain re etymons adjuvant in the implementation process. To summarize, Senges model is based on the interaction and the learning that goes on amid individuals in an organization. It is an nonphysical process, precisely one that can be enhanced by taking authoritative measures to foster development. Peter Kline Peter Klines work on learning organizations, cardin al Steps to a Learning Organization (Kline and Saunders 1998) focuses primarily on cultural change.He believes to have a Learning Organization, you must begin by having an organization of learners, because show them how to function in such a way that the organization as a whole can learn. (p8) He differentiates how individuals learn versus how organizations learn The most manifest difference amongst the way organization and individuals learn is that individuals have memories, which are literal to learning, while organizations dontThe main difference amidst a learning individual and a Learning Organization is in the information storage process.Individuals inject their learning primarily in their memories, increase by libraries, notes and other assistants to memory. Organizations store it primarily in their cultures, with a secondhand backup in documentation that is serviceable only if the culture is committed to making use of itIn simple terms, individuals learn through the activation and updating of their memories while organizations learn through change in the culture. (p24) Kline discusses the difficulties of creating change in the organization, realizing that people in general are resistant to change.He defines ten conditions to build a learning organization, allowing people to be able to conduct with the ambiguity of the change process. These conditions are 1) appreciate the stream learning culture to create a benchmark, Then have 2) positivistic expectation that dilemmas can be resolved. 3) post for the learning process itself. 4) Willingness to delay ending long enough to arrive at significant Gestalts rather than forced and null ones.5) Communication processes that bring people unneurotic to consider in a gracious and noncompetitive atmosphere many different perceptions, templates, habits of thought and possible solutions, from which the most effective may thusly be chosen. 6) A cultural habit that encourages exploring apparently purposeless ambiguities with the expectation that meaning can be found in themas an mental synthesis of some(prenominal) a personal and organizational commitment to learning over the long haul. 7) The establishment of contexts within which meaning for new possibilities can be found as they protrude.8) A set of modeling skills, strategies and techniques or mechanisms that allows people more easily to seduce meaning out of apparent chaos. 9) A cultural understanding which is shared passim management of the systemic interactions that will unavoidably be present as interwoven Gestalts are formed. 10) An intuitive feeling for how multiform interactions will be likely to occur. (p32) Klines third point is one of the key elements of creative thinkinglearning to stop to look for solutions rather than near accept the first one that fits as best.His fourth part point is corresponding to Senges concept of the team learning to work together in new ways, and incorporates convergent and divergent thinking. Kline presents his change model as The keen Game of Business, with three elements 1) know the rules, 2) withhold score, and 3) have a stake in the action. (p 35) Knowing the rules is working to choose rules that emerge from self-organizing systems to select the ones that lead to the most ample behavior. Keeping score is about measurement, and having a stake in the action is about employee buy-in.He encourages that one of the rules must be the breaking d have the cultural barriers betwixt managers and workers. Rules should also include integrative learning, (the takings of the natural learning of early life), strategical micromanagement tools for decision making, communication and problem solving, more often than not originating from the people who use them and expanding the scoring system beyond financial hatchs. (p 38-39) Kline also acknowledges that the most valued asset of the organization is people, and the development of relationships amid them if highly important so they can work together well.In the end of his book, Kline equates business to a theater of operations metaphor, by getting the show on the road. He sings of improvisation, ensemble work, and creativity indeed continues the metaphor making workers the actors and leaders the directors. He emphasizes the need for continuous improvement and awareness of what everyone is doing while excelling in ones individual role as would occur in a theatrical production. He begins the process with an assessment of the culture from an institutional perspective to learn what everyone thinks, then from an individual perspective take responsibility for what you think and what you do.He stresses looking for fear, which can be disabling to an organization. Kline has created an assessment to look at the culture of the organization. It is designed to be fill out by the members of the organization, and discussed as a group to explore differences. The assessment may be scored by aver aging the rating poetry for each question to provide an boilers suit score of the conditions for creating a learning organization, or the individual scores may be entered in a matrix, which assigns the different questions to one of the ten stones throws of his later plan. exploitation the matrix, scores are obtained for each of the ten areas, providing a more specific idea of which areas the organization needs the most work in. In filling out the form within an organization, it is anticipated that different groups within the establishment will have different perceptions of the organization itself. He recommends creating an overall report for the organization and asking the members to voice understanding or disagreement with the results. He also encourages that at this stage, the ideal state of the organization is discussed to determine where it would like to be at the end of the process.A large tract of the learning comes from the discussions and the decisions for direction tha t follow afterwards. This is a similar pattern to DiBellas model of assessment. After the assessment is completed, the organization is instructed to work through steps two through ten. Kline provides numerous activities that focus on a variety of thinking skills, working to change attitudes and behaviors of individuals. Learning to reframe things in a supreme way by looking in two directions at once at the current reality and the positive resolution that can be developed from it (p 70) is just one of the many ideas addicted for step two.He deals with learning styles, mind mapping, and teaches people how to listen to one another. He creates safe ways for people to take risks. contrasted some of the more theoretical books on Learning Organizations, Klines book contains practicable steps for developing a group to become a Learning Organization. functional through the ten steps as a team would do rummy things within the group as they learn to learn together. Chris Argyris/Donald Schon Argyris is best kn feature for his concepts of individual(a) and double-loop learning. In a book written with Donald Schon (1974), they believe that organizations learn through individuals performing as agents.Organization learning is the espial and correction of error. Their key concepts revolve around single- and double-loop learning. Single-loop learning results in the organization continue in the existing policies while remedying the status at hand, while double-loop learning examines and modifies norms, policies and objectives as necessary. There are needs for both types of learning. Argyris model is much earlier than most of the other organizational learning literature, and he is revered as a macrocosm father by others and like Senge, often quoted in discussions on the learning organization.As a side note, Argyris was one of Senges influential teachers Despite having read much of his committal to writing, I was unprepared for what I learn when I first saw Chris Ar gyris practice his approach in an informal store Ostensibly an academic presentation of Argyriss methods, it quickly evolved into a powerful consequence of what action science practitioners call reflection in action. Within a matter of minutes, I watched the level of vigilance and presentness of the entire group trick out ten notches thanks not so much to Argyriss personal charisma, but to his skilful practice of drawing out generalizations.As the afternoon moved on, all of us were led to see (sometimes for he first time in our lives) sharp patterns of reasoning which underlay our behaviour and how those patterns continually got us into trouble. I had never had such a dramatic demonstration of own mental models in action besides until now more interesting, it became clear that, with proper training, I could become much more aware of my mental models and how they operated. This was exciting. (Senge 1990, p. 182-183)In the celestial latitude 2002 issue of Reflections, the Soc iety of Organizational Learning Journal on Knowledge, Learning, and Change, Argyris article on Teaching Smart People How to Learn is reprinted as a classic. In this article, he references single- and double-loop learning, but discusses the need for managers and employees to look inward. They need to reflect critically on their own behavior, identify the ways they often unknowingly contribute to the organizations problems, and then change how they act. He makes the observation that the individuals in leadership in an organization are not accustomed to failing, therefore they have never learned to learn from harmthey become defensive, screen out criticism, and chuck the blame on anyone and everyone but themselves. In short, their ability to learn shuts down hardly at the moment they need it the most. He sees the learning from mistakes something that must become a focus of organization learning and part of the continuous improvement programs within an organization.He discusses how often individuals turn the focus past from their own behavior to that of others which brings learning to a grinding halt. This type of behavior creates what he calls the doom loop where people do not follow the theories they espouse, acting inconsistently. He calls what they do as behaviors that apply theories-in-use. This type of behavior without examination creates repetition without reflection, and doesnt promote improvement. His first recommendation is to step back and examine what is occurring, and challenging it beginning with the uppermost strata of the organization.Argyris and Schons model involves governing variables, action strategies, and consequences. The governing values are the individuals theories-in-use, and the action strategies are what keeps their behavior within the boundaries created by the theories-in-use. The resulting actions are the consequences. The interaction between these concepts is illustrated in foresee 2. pic Figure 2 from (Smith 2001) When the consequences of the action strategy used are what the person anticipated, the theory-in-use is affirm because there is a match between intention and outcome.There also may be a mismatch between intention and outcome. Sometimes, however, the consequences may be causeless or not match, or work against the persons governing values. This is where double-loop learning needs to be applied and processes and concepts revised. When only the action is corrected, Argyris refers to this as single-loop learning. (figure 3) pic Figure 3 (from Smith, 2001) Anthony DiBella DiBella defines organizational learning as the capacity (or processes) within an organization to maintain or improve performance based on experience.This performance involves knowledge acquisition (the development or creation of skills, insights, relationships), knowledge share-out (the dissemination to others of what has been acquired by some), and knowledge workout (integration of the learning so that it is assimilated, br oadly available, and can also be generalized to new situations. ) (DiBella, Nevis et al. 1996) DiBellas work in How Organizations Learn (DiBella and Nevis 1998), overviews the Learning Organization literature of that time, and classifies the writing into three categories the normative, the developmental and the capability perspectives.In the normative perspective, the learning organization presumes that learning as a collective activity only takes place under certain conditions or circumstancesThe role of organizational leaders is to create the conditions essential for learning to take place (DiBella 1995) Senges model fits this category. In the developmental perspective, the learning organization is a stage in the development of a maturing organization or in parallel, the development phase of the organization determines its learning styles and character.The third perspective, capability, identifies that organizations develop and learn as they mature or by strategic choice, and that all organizations have embedded learning processes. Rather than ascribing to perspectives one or two, DiBella and his colleagues believe that all organizations have learning capabilities. These 7 areas are labeled learning orientations and each runs on a continuum of opposites. For example, the knowledge author may be internal or external. These seven orientations and their descriptors are Seven Learning Orientations.Orientation Spectrum Description Knowledge source Internal/External Where does the organization get information from? Primarily from the inside or outside world? electrical capacity-Process focus Content/Process Which is more important the suffice of the information, or the process of doing it? Knowledge entertain Personal/Public Where is information stored? Is it accessible to all, or in the heads of individuals? Dissemination Mode Formal/Informal How is information given out in the organization? by means of informal conversations, or in prescr ibed meetings or written communication? Learning Scope Incremental/Transformative When learning occurs, are the changes little by little or dramatic ones? Value-Chain Focus Design-Make/Market-Deliver Is the focus more on how something is created and made, or promoted to the customer? Learning Focus Individual/Group Is lettered learning geared toward individuals, or groups? Figure 4 These orientations are facilitated by ten factors called Facilitating Factors. These factors enhance certain orientations, and increase the likelihood of the organization functioning as a learning organization. Facilitating FactorsFacilitating Factor Description see Imperative Gathering of information on best practices and conditions outside of the organization operation Gap Shared perception in the organization between the current and desired performance Concern for Measurement appetite to measure key factors and discussion about the statistics Organizational Curiosity Interest in creative ideas and technology, with support for experimentation humor of Openness Sharing of lessons learned, open communication about all areas at all levels Continuous Education Commitment to quality resources for learning Operational Variety Valuing different methods appreciation of diversity Multiple Advocates bracing ideas can be advanced by anyone in the organization multiple champions for learning exist throughout Involved leading Management is personally involved in the learning and perpetuation of the learning organization Systems Perspective Recognition of interdependence among organizational units and groups awareness of the time delay between actions and their outcomes Figure 5, adapted from DiBella In the epitome process utilizing DiBellas methods, the organization determines its current status and desired status using the learning orientations and facilitating factors.There is an interrelationship between the ten facilitating factors and the seven orien tations, and focusing on specific factors can help an organization become a better learning organization. In an article written with DiBella, Edwin Nevis calls learning a systems-level phenomenon because it stays within the organization, even if individuals changeOrganizations learn as they produce. Learning is as much a labor movement as the production and delivery of goods and services. (Nevis, DiBella et al. 1995) Nevis et al sees three learning-related factors important to an organizations success 1. Well developed core competencies that serve as launch points for new products and services 2. An attitude that supports continuous improvement in the businesss value-added chain. 3. The ability to fundamentally renew or revitalize. They see these factors as some of the qualities of an effective learning organization that diligently pursues a forever enhanced knowledge base. There is also an assumption made about the learning process following three stages knowledge acquisition, sharing and utilization. There is the belief that all organizations are learning systems, that learning conforms to culture, there are stylistic variations between learning systems and that generic processes facilitate learning. The model back up all this is comprised of the learning orientations and facilitating factors. Other perspectives Consultants online define the learning organization in similar ways.From the UK, David Skyrme (Farago and Skyrme 1995) quotes several other theorists on his website The essence of organisational learning is the organizations ability to use the amazing mental capacity of all its members to create the kind of processes that will improve its own (Nancy Dixon 1994) A Learning Company is an organization that facilitates the learning of all its members and continually transforms itself (M. Pedler, J. Burgoyne and Tom Boydell, 1991) Organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they in truth desire, where new and e xpansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to learn together (Peter Senge, 1990).Fargo and Skyrme use these thoughts to create their own definition Learning organizations are those that have in place systems, mechanisms and processes, that are used to continually enhance their capabilities and those who work with it or for it, to achieve sustainable objectives for themselves and the communities in which they participate. They speak of four elements that create learning organizations learning culture, processes, tools and techniques and skills and motivation. They define these as Learning stopping point an organizational climate that nurtures learning. There is a strong similarity with those characteristics associated with innovation. Processes processes that encourage interaction across boundaries.These are infrastructure, development and management processes, as opposed to business operational processes (the typical focus of many BPR initiatives). Tools and Techniques methods that aid individual and group learning, such as creativity and problem solving techniques. Skills and indigence to learn and adapt. They also define things that debar learning organizations operational/fire competitiveness preoccupation not creating time to sit back and think strategically too focused on systems and process (e. g. ISO9000) to elimination of other factors (bureaucratic vs. thinking) reluctance to train (or intrust in training), other than for obvious prompt needs too many dark personal agendas. too top-down driven, overtight surveillance = lack of real empowerment Fredrick Simon and Ketsara Rugchart define a learning organization as one that is continually enhancing its ability to get the results it truly wants. (Simon and Rugchart 2003) They see organizational learning as facilitative of knowledge management by first aligning common vision reduces competitivenessallow ing for greater solicit for the shared knowledge (the information retrieval side of the equation)The greatest learning takes place in failure, when things dont go as expectedsharing leads to a willingness to be open and to risk vulnerability by sharing the learning from failure (the infix side of the equation. ) Organizational learning does not replace knowledge management tools, but can provide a substantial accelerator to the KM effort. DaeYeon Cho looks at the connectio.