Learning Organization
Objective: To gain an understanding of the importance of learning organizations.
Time: About 25 minutes
Activity: Break the class into small groups and have them read and discuss "What is a "Learning Organization"?" that is shown below. Once they have finished, bring the small groups back together and discuss learning organizations. You can use these questions to start and keep the discussions going:
- Is this the type of organization that you would want to work for? Why?
- How would being a learning organization benefit us?
- How far are we from becoming a learning organization?
- What steps can you take to start the process of turning your department into a learning organization?
- What are the first steps that the company needs to perform to start down the path of becoming a learning organization? NOTE: Do not ask this question unless you are going to use their advice or pass the information on to someone who will.
What is a "Learning Organization"?
A learning organization is one that:
- Seeks to create its own future.
- Assumes learning is an ongoing and creative process for its members.
- Develops, adapts and transforms itself in response to the needs and aspirations of people, both inside and outside itself.
- Allows people at all levels, individually and collectively, to continually increasing their capacity to produce results they really care about.
Why should organizations care? Because, the level of performance and improvement needed today requires learning, lots of learning. In most industries and government, there is no clear path to success and no clear path to follow.
At the heart of a learning organization lies the belief that enormous human potential lies locked and undeveloped in our organizations. Central to this belief is the conviction that when all members of an organization fully develop and exercise their essential human capacities, the resulting congruence between personal and organizational visions, goals and objectives will release this potential.
Peter M. Senge's book, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of a Learning Organization, contains one of the best descriptions of a learning organization. According to Senge, a learning organization is one that is structured in a manner consistent with the essence(s) of human nature. Senge is concerned with what he calls the "higher" human essences, and believes that learning gets to the heart of what it means to be human.
Real learning is not just limited to understanding what is necessary to survive ("adaptive learning"), but also includes what he calls "generative learning." Generative learning expands a human being's capacity to create the results he or she truly desires.
Though learning may be a fundamental human essence, the process of learning is quite complex. Learning itself includes three different activities: thinking, communicating and cooperating. When our capacities to think, communicate and cooperate are enhanced, so is our ability to learn. Thus, a learning organization is one which fosters and enhances these activities for its members and members of the community in which it exists.
Traditional organizations change by reacting to events. Their "reference points" are external and often based in the past or on the competition. They are often change-averse. Learning organizations, by contrast, are vision-led and creative. Their reference points are internal and anchored in the future they intend to create. They embrace change rather than merely react to it.
Traditional organizations sort people into "thinkers" and "doers." Essentially, the doers are prohibited from thinking. Learning organizations truly engage everyone. Their fundamental challenge is seen as tapping the intellectual capacity of people at all levels, both as individuals and as groups.