Management Tips:

The learning organization

Dr. K. Kuhathasan, CEO, CENLEAD

A learning organisation can be defined as "an organisation which facilitates the learning of all its members and continually transforms itself". The activities of the company as a whole are continually monitored to provide feedback which is used to learn how to improve performance.

Barriers to learning

1. Feedback is distorted by the filters of power, status and authority.

2. Success leads to complacency "We have nothing to learn".

3. Failure leads to a which hunt "Who was to blame? Who's silly idea was that?" Organisational versus individual learning

Only individuals can learn, but as a result of learning behaviour in groups or organisations, we can speak of group or organisational learning.

But there is also learning within the organisation, which can be:

1. Direct and immediate: e.g.training courses, counselling, appraisal, coaching

2. Indirect and deferred: systems and procedures for dealing with commonly recurring situation, policy statements, manuals etc.

As a result, organisational learning is greater than the sum of the learning of individual members.

Affective In-house Learning demands:

1. Personal mastery

2. Mental models:'surfacing' challenging and adapting them

3. Buildings a shared vision

4. Team learning:teams are the 'fundamental learning unit in the modern organisation'

5. Systems thinking:think in terms of the whole rather than the component parts.

Characteristics of a learning organisation

1. The word 'learning' is part of everyday language.

2. Managers see development of their people as a key element.

3. Appraisal documents make provisions for learning plans to be mutually discussed by the individual and the manager.

4. People are trained to give/ receive regular feedback.

5. Managers can select preferred learning method from a variety available.

6. Individuals are proactive in developing their own learning methodology.

7. People constantly analyse events, searching for improvement.

8. It is unacceptable to look for scapegoats. The emphasis is on 'what can we learn from this?'

9. People focus on the learning opportunities offered by jobs rather than on the status that goes with them.

10. The 'not invented here' attitude is rejected. Ideas and experience are shared across teams.

11. The organisation has an accessible, user-friendly, up-to-date base.

12. The organisation continually benchmarks itself against 'best practice'.

13. Spontaneous and informal networks exist and are seen as legitimate.

If the learning organisation is to become a reality, certain conditions must be in place.

1. Top management must act as a good role model for learning: by being seen both to be learning themselves and involved with the learning of others.

2. Effective horizontal and diagonal as well as vertical communication channels.

3. Rewards which reinforce the motivation to learn.

4. Effective systems for 'scanning the environment'

5. Active involvement in joint ventures, strategic alliances, etc.

6. A culture fostering openness, sharing of information. Hard truths should be allowed to surface and be confronted.

7. Employees are empowered to apply their learning to the way they do their jobs.

Factors which inhibit organisational learning include:

1. Fixation on short-team results and exclusively on 'bottom-line' indicators of performance.

2. The assumption that experience by itself automatically leads to learning.

3. A long history of success (e.g. IBM)

Learning and organisational effectiveness

1. Few investments pay off in the first year.

2. There are many hidden costs of not learning.

3. People are assets, even if not on the balance sheet.

4. Study the hidden costs and lost revenues that come from failing to learn.

5. Measure the added value created by individuals and teams and show how this is increased by learning.

6. Improve induction procedures so as to transfer knowledge and experience to new recruits.

7. Compare the costs and benefits of formal learning processed with other options.