LEARNING ORGANISATION

Learning Organisation and its Core Tenets

Learning Organisation and its Core Tenets

Learning organizations

Many leading statistics indicate that the change management success rates range between a mere 20 to 50% (Dawson 2005, 385-402). In fact, Pritchett (1996) noted that change as a term has become synonymous with upheaval and chaos in the business world (Casey 2005, 131-147). However, the ability to change, adapt, and evolve and to do it better than the competition is considered to be a sustainable competitive advantage today (Nohria 2000, 12-25). As a result, Mossholder (2003) suggested that it has become critical for companies to understand how to manage better and cope with change. While there is a variety of sources of change, and plentiful literature on how to manage change, it remains a difficult area for those managing the change and those affected by it. The management of resistance to change has often proved to be a complicated task because of its ubiquitous nature (Armenakis 2002, 169-183). Casey (2005) rightly suggested that change agents should take a proactive approach by attempting to resist the resistance rather than purposively managing it (Casey 2005, 131-147). Inspired by the famous study of Nohria (2000) proposed that instead of dealing with the complexities associated with the resistance to change, organizations can and should avoid it by creating a state of readiness for change (Nohria 2000, 12-25).

Mossholder (2003) provided a formalized characterization of learning based on a similar notion by noting that the concept of learning tends to be twofold:(a) the acquisition of skills or physical ability to perform a task, and (b) the acquisition of concepts or articulating ability of a conceptual understanding of a certain experience (Mossholder 2003, 681-703). Behavioural-Level Learning Control organization when it adjusts to the environment, and make decisions for routine work Strategy-Level Learning Focus on cognitive development and adjusting overall rules and norms March (1991) Exploitation Focus on learning by using, developing, or refining the existing competences Exploration Learn by pursuing new knowledge, experiment with new alternatives. Learning occurs merely to adjust parameters in a fixed structure to varying demands Meta level Learning occurs to change norms, values, and world views (Armenakis 2002, 169-183).

Generally, organizations adopt both forms of learning with more or less focus on one type over the other. Nohria (2000) argued that both forms of learning are important lower-level/adaptive/single-loop learning in routine, repetitive situations, and higher-level/generative/double-loop learning in complex situation (Nohria 2000, 12-25). Lower-level learning and the other types of learning from the same group can be considered doing things better, as a result of incremental changes in knowledge structures (Casey 2005, 131-147).

Importance for learning organizations

Casey (2005) identified three important reasons for team learning within organizations. First, team learning allows for both collective thinking and learning, which establishes the potential for greater insight for engaging difficult problems. Second, team learning generates actions among team members that coordinate and complement the actions of others within the team (Casey 2005, 131-147). This in turn establishes an efficient alignment among members of the ...