WHAT IS A LEARNING ORGANIZATION?

“A learning organization is a group of people working together to collectively enhance their capacities to create results they really care about.”

Peter Senge

The Fifth Discipline

“Continuous improvement requires a commitment to learning”

David Garvin, C. Roland Christensen Professor of Business Administration,

Harvard University

An organisation able to adapt and compete at low cost through learning

Common definitional ground→ multi-level concept: individual-team-organisation→ role of learning cultures: beliefs, norms and values supportive of employee learning→ specific HRM policies supportive of learning culture

What is a learning organisation? (1)

Organizational Learning -DefinitionProcess through which an organization or

individual acquires knowledge and abilities necessary to compete in its surroundings

Collectively create an environment of productivity, creativity and openness

The detection and correction of error Argyris & Schön

THE WHEEL OF LEARNINGMastering the Rhythm of a Learning Organization

REFLECTINGCONNECTINGDECIDINGDOING

Doing

Reflecting(thinking and feeling)

DecidingConnecting

Individual

Moreconcrete

More abstract

More reflection

More action

Five Requirements of aLearning Organization

SHARED VISIONTEAM LEARNINGSYSTEMS THINKINGORGANIZATIONAL

LEARNINGPERSONAL MASTERY

SHARED VISION

“Not an idea…. rather a force of impressive power. It lifts us out of our existing aspirations, and opens the doors to new ones.”

Peter Senge

The Fifth Discipline

INDIVIDUAL VISION IS NOT ENOUGH

Share your vision. See through each other’s eyes.

Create a shared vision that everyone can support.

A TRUE SHARED VISION

Draws out the commitment of people throughout the organization…IF developed with everyone’s input.

Not shared unless it has staying power and evolving life-force that lasts for years.

Tradeoffs in organisational design → stimulate dynamic properties / provide stability in the organisational structure → standardisation/routine versus mutual adjustement/innovation

Scientific and technical skills deal with an employee participation contraint to

innovation in order to avoid conflicts between vested interest in the organisation → characteristics of the innovative idea → socio-demographic characteristics of the workforce → soft skills → group processes → customer focus → transparency and fairness

What is a learning organisation? (2)

Systems Thinking

interdependency and changefocus on whole not individual

partslong-term goals vs. short-term

benefitsbetter appreciation of systems

leads to more appropriate action

ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING

“It is team learning, not individual learning,

that adds to organizational learning.”

Peter Senge

The Fifth Discipline

HOW ORGANIZATIONS LEARN

Organizational Learning

Team Learning

Individual Learning

ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING IMPACTS EFFECTIVE

ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY

“An effective community college leader strategically improves the quality of the institution, protects the long-term health of the organization, promotes the success of all students, and sustains the community college mission, based on knowledge of the organization, its environment, and future trends.”

AACC Competencies for Community College Leaders

Mental Modelsdeeply ingrained assumptions

and generalizationshonest and critical scrutiny of

entrenched mental models transcend mental models in

order for change to take place

Team Learning

Team learning starts with ‘dialogue’= the capacity of members of a team to suspend assumptions and enter genuine ‘thinking together’

Allows the group to discover insights not attainable individually

Shows group how to recognize the patterns of interaction that undermine learning

(Senge 1990: 10)

A Learning Organization Is...

Where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire

Where new patterns of thinking are nurtured Where collective aspiration is set free Where people are continually learning to see the whole together “When you ask people about what it is like being part of a great

team, what is most striking is the meaningfulness of the experience. People talk about being part of something larger than themselves, of being connected, of being generative.”

(Senge 1990: 13)