THE LEARNING ORGANIZATION

The learning organization



The learning organization

Introduction

Learning organization refers to "an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights" (Garvin, 1993). A learning organization involves an environment in which organizational learning in an organization structured so that teamwork, collaboration, creativity, and knowledge processes have a collective meaning and value. The learning organization is a relatively recent development, becoming popularized with Peter Senge's book, The Fifth Discipline, published in 1990. The interest in organizational learning has deep roots going back decades, with more contemporary developments beginning in the 1970s with Don Michael's 1973 book On Learning to Plan - And Planning to Learn and Argyris and Schon's 1978 book Organizational Learning: A Theory of Action Perspective (Senge, 1990).

Since the publication of these books, and as knowledge been increasingly recognized as a strategically significant resource of organizations and a means of maintaining competitive advantage, numerous articles and books related to organizational learning and the learning organization published. Given the large number of articles, and books relating to the topic, interest in the learning organization are continuing to grow and the theory, concepts, and practices of the learning organization are developing in significance and credibility (Watkins, 2003).

Much of the discourse related to the learning organization located within the fields of industry, business and management in response to the needs, to adapt and respond to change resulting from rapid technological advances, fierce competition, the explosion of information and knowledge and the need for continual improvement, to compete (Senge, 1990)

Organizational Factors Impacting Evidence Based Practice Implementation Rosenheck (2001) sees 'organizational process as a largely unaddressed barrier and a potential bridge between research and practice' (p. 1608). Organizational factors have been emerging in the literature of EBP implementation as having a significant impact on, and being impacted by, implementation of evidence-based programs and interventions. They have been found to be present within all stages of implementation and interacting with core implementation components and influence factors throughout the stages.Exploration and Adoption Stage

The first stage of implementation, exploration and adoption, begins when the potential adopter (individual, group, organization or community) seeks out, acquires, or otherwise exposed to an evidence-based practice and assesses the potential match between community needs, evidence-based practice, and community resources. Adoption occurs when the potential adopter has made a choice proceed with implementation. It commonly assumed that the decision-makers will act rationally based on the evidence presented to them; however, decisions whether or not to adopt an evidence-based practice influenced by emotions, perceptions and cognitions. 'Many new technologies adopted for extraneous reasons independent of empirical validation or in the absence of such validation'.Characteristics of Learning Organization

Peter Senge (1990) described his vision of the learning organization in The Fifth Discipline, defining He outlined five component technologies, or 'disciplines', that are essential to building a learning organization: systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision and team learning. Each discipline provides a vital and inter - connected dimension of the learning organization (Garvin, 2003).Systems Thinking

Senge (1990) based model of the learning organization on ...