LEARNING ORGANISATION

Senge's learning organisation and the role of organisational culture and team structure

Senge's learning organisation and the role of organisational culture and team structure

Introduction

Organisational learning and learning organisation have been two dominating concepts in relation to learning in an organisation. Studies and researches have been highlighting the importance of the two and have provided various aspects surrounding them. Organisational learning is among the most significant issues for corporations as well as governmental institutions and is described to be a construct that explains aspects surrounding the learning processes and various learning activities. On the other hand, 'learning organisation' is one which has certain characteristics that facilitates learning and where learning is taking place (Love & Heng, 2000). The phrase 'learning organisation' can be traced back to Peter Senge who popularised the concept in his landmark book 'The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of Learning Organisation'. The paper thus examines the concept that Senge has presented about organisational learning and the role that organisational culture and team structure play in enhancing learning within an organisation.

Discussion

Since the past few decades, there can be seen a growing attention towards the incorporation of the concept of learning within an organisation and various authors and researchers have proposed a significant number of models and suggestions for approaches to change and learning and possibilities for action. Peter Senge is also one of those authors who have been instrumental in providing an organisational model that could help in the direction of bringing change within an organisation. His contribution with regard to popularising the concept of learning organisation and in initiating a plethora of studies, in the later years, surrounding the concept has also been a vital one.

According to Senge, “Organizations learn only through individuals who learn. Individual learning does not guarantee organisational learning. But without it no organisational learning occurs” (1990, 129). Senge's statement can be found to be aligning with what Peters (1996) called action learning. Peters asserted that a learning organisation is created by action learning and that an individual learns best 'about work, at work and through work, within a structure that promotes learning'. This implies that if a person wishes to improve his assembly of a monitor then they have to get out a soldering iron on a real line. Similarly if a person wants to learn the creation and implementation of a marketing plan then it is required for them to create one. This action will only help in revealing the knowledge gaps which will then ultimately help in improving the knowledge a person has on a particular subject. Senge also advocates the same notion with regard to individual learning (Martinette, 2002, p. 14). For such kind of individual learning to occur or in Senge's terms to acquire 'personal mastery' it is required that the organisation provides a learning environment. This brings in the concept of culture and structure of the organisation which will be discussed later in the paper.

This claim of Senge is one of the most important ones ...