Learning Organisations

- Learning organisations [are] organisations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expensive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together (Senge 1990)

- Learning company is a vision of what might be possible. It is not brought about simply by training individuals, it can only happen as result of learning at the whole organisation level. A learning company is an organisation that facilitates the learning of all its members and continuously transforms itself (Pedler et al 1991)

Why Learning Organisations?

• “the rate at which organisations learn may become the only sustainable source of competitive advantage”

Senge, P, 1990: The Fifth Discipline

- Learning organisations are characterised by total employee involvement in a process of collaboratively conducted, collectively accountable change directed towards shared values or principles (Watkins & Marsick 1992)

- a firm that purposefully constructs structures and strategies to enhance and maximise organisational learning (Dodgson 1993)

Learning Organisations

Five Disciplines• Personal Mastery

– Continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience and of seeing reality objectively

• Mental Models– Generalisations assumptions etc; Learning to unearth our

internal pictures of the world to bring them to surface and hold them to scrutiny

• Shared Vision– Capacity to hold a shared picture of the future we seek to create

• Team Learning– Synergy, individual growth

• System Thinking– Conceptual framework to make the full patterns clearer and help

us see how to change them effectively

Characteristics of Learning Organisations

• Learning culture: an organisational climate that nourishes learning.– futuristic or external orientation, – free exchange and flow of information,– commitment to learning or personal

development, – valuing people– Climate of openness and trust– Learning from experience

• Processes – processes that encourage interaction across boundaries– Strategic and scenario planning (thinking beyond box)– Competitor analysis– Information and knowledge management– Capability planning– Team and organisation development– Performance management– Reward and recognition system

Characteristics of Learning Organisations

• Tools and techniques: methods that aid individual and group learning e.g. creativity and problem solving techniques– Inquiry: interviewing, seeking info– Creativity: brainstorming, associating ideas– Making choice– Observing outcomes: recording, observation– Reframing knowledge: embedding new knowledge into mental models– Skills

• Communications• Listening and observing• Mentoring and supporting colleagues• Taking a wholistic perspective• Coping with challenge and uncertainty

• Skills and Motivation: to learn and adapt

Adapted from Frago and Skyrme, 1995 : The Learning Organisation

Characteristics of Learning Organisations

Designing training and Development Programmes

• Training: Imparting job specific knowledge skills and abilities

• Education: General learning in specific subject area in a structured manner

• Development: Learning opportunities designed to help employees grow by acquiring knowledge and attitudes (management principles, human relations, industry analysis

etc)

Knowledge

Knowledge is defined variously as (i) expertise, and skills acquired by a

person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject,

(ii) what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information or

(iii) awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation.

Learning

• Change in behaviour (Watson J, 1900?)• Knowing that and knowing how (Ryle, 1949)• Process of behaviour change through

experience (Maples and Webster 1980)• Gaining knowledge or ability through experience

– Task conscious or acquisition learning and/or– Learning conscious or formalised learning

• Life-long learning– Learning continually throughout life if we are to make

informed choices about our lives and the societies we live in (Field, J. 2000)

Knowledge Management

• “a discipline that promotes an integrated approach to identifying, managing and sharing all of an enterprises information assets. The information assets may include database, documents, policies and procedures as well as previously unarticulated expertise and experiences resident in individual workers” (Gartner Group Inc, 1996)

• Knowledge management is the explicit and systematic management of vital knowledge and its associated processes of creating, gathering, diffusion, use and exploitation. It requires turning personal knowledge into corporate knowledge that can widely be shared throughout organisation and appropriately applied” (Skyrme, D 1997)

KM Applications

• A movement towards explicit knowledge from tacit knowledge

• Applications– Knowledge databases & repositories(explicit

Knowledge)– Knowledge route-maps and directories (tacit and

explicit): pointing to people, documents collections and data-sets, e.g yelow pages, competency profiles, research interests

– Knowledge net-works and discussions (tacit Kowledge): face to face contacts, electronic interaction, chat facilities, talk rooms, learning groups

OL, LO AND KM LINK• HR practices enhance organisational performance by

promoting inimitable attributes in human resources• These attributes are end products of KM and OL

processes• OL constitutes infrastructure of organisational knowledge

base creation• KM constitutes needed strategies to maintain and

leverage it• These processes lead to knowledge based assets which

develop OC that could drive a company to superior sustainable performance

• Theriou and Chatzoglou- 2008

KM and Public Service• 69% of public sector organisations in developing countries are

examining the need• Recognised as central to info sharing and access• Key barriers include lack of time and understanding• Goals indicated are sharing of knowledge, access to knowledge and

expertise and retaining knowledge in-house• IT service, Corporate Planning Group, CFT’s and CEO’s office

taking the lead• Capturing lessons learnt, best practices, document/content manager

system and enterprise portal are chief types of KM activities• KM techniques include sharing forums, organisational learning

programs, after action review and knowledge mapping • KM technologies include document mapping system, online

discussion forum, search engine and learning management system

– Yuen Y, 2003, Overview of KM in public sector