Contribution of Organizational Learning - Essay Example

Contribution of organizational learning to contemporary understandings of workplace practices Table of Contents Introduction 3 Discussion 3 Focus on knowledge management 4 Focus on Strategies 8 Conclusion 10 References 12 Introduction The process of transferring, creating and retaining knowledge insidean organization is organizational learning. The process of organizational learning is centered on application of knowledge for a drive of learning from the consequence and from the procedure. The gaining of experiencehelps to improve organization. This experience enables to generate knowledge. It is believed that knowledge covers any subject that can be better for any firms. In recent years, there has been rapid upsurge of interest among policy makers, researchers and employers in learning process and facilitation of organizational learning within workplace.The conception of learning process in the workplace practices is not new. Critics such as Sommerlad and Stern believe that the notion of learning within workplace has acquired saliency and visibility.This is primarily because as it connects at the stage of new thinking process. This thinking process is concerned on the process of learning about the modern enterprise, the alteration of nature work and new systems of knowledge. It is understood that the process of workplace practices is moving through the period of social, economic and political change. The prime purpose of the report is to present vivid explanation about the significance of organization learning towards understanding the workplace performs. Furthermore, examples are provided to illustrate the contribution of organization learning. Discussion The learning is viewed as interpretative device that cannot be divided amongst different scientific corrections and compartmentalized into different levels to create zones of inter-organization, organizational, group and individual learning processes. According to Gallacher and Reeve, the rapid advancement in technology and increase globalization has helped in the rise of skill and level of organizational workforce. The application of organizational learning process within workplace practices is viewed as flexible system of learning that enables employees working in an organization to engage in continuing professional development and consistent process of updating. In the world of globalization of acceleration of change, organization and approaching strategy are interconnected and execution of practical events is regarded as more effective activities. The idea of implementation of learning process within organization settings has been from the time of Industrial revolution. Since the time of revolution, the crucial element of organizational operative process is training of employees in practical skills. The skill enhancement and individual learning practices are vital element to meet job requirement. Moreover, this can benefit employees to develop their career. This process of organizational learning can appear in forms of audio teleconferencing, computer-mediated learning process and designed classroom training conferences. In last decades, there have many researches on importance of implementation of learning processes within workplace. Furthermore, workers, enterprises and government have increased their concern regarding the development and maintenance of workplace competence on individuals. Additionally, there is a mounting consciousness about ongoing development and constant change on working life and occupational requirements. Focus on knowledge management In organization context, the learning is regarded as important for the cause of inimitability, suggesting path-dependency and enhancement of core capabilities. It is believed that organization learning have three interconnected sub processes such as transferring knowledge, retaining and creation. Three sub processes are all interrelated with each other. The transfer of knowledge requires certain unit of knowledge persistence. Furthermore, during of attempt of knowledge transfer, new knowledge is created. Constant transfer of knowledge among organizational members strengthens the total knowledge base of an organization (Andreu and Ciborra, 1995, p.115). The application of organizational learning process in workplace enables to increase national economic goals and business efficiency. In ever-changing competitive environment, the organization learning benefits organization to stay competitive and enhance workforce efficiency. If there is any occurrence of changes in knowledge within organization, then it results in to organization learning. Two specific areas selected for explaining contribution of organizational learning are knowledge management and strategy. Furthermore, examples are provided to explain the importance of organization learning. It is vital to notify that the determining factor for professional development of employee is job requirements and workplace activities. The variety of sources such as self-study, apprenticeship and training enables to acquire new skills. In learning organization, the factors of managing and gathering knowledge are viewed as diversified. In this changing world, it is crucial for organization to maintain flexibility and adaptability. An effective workplace practices is implement within business environment to build and enhance productivity and morale of employee. Moreover, this application of workplace practices benefits organization to build their business reputation. It is pivotal for every organization to ensure that apprentices and employees are gratified and satisfied with workplace environments. Additionally, it is required to balance the desire and need of employees. The organization learning allows workplace practices to be relevant towards specialties and specific tasks. This enables team member to work together and accomplish target goals. The overall progress of work is required to be completed within allocated time. The organizational learning process acts as an effective learning technique to improve flexibility of a business. The knowledge management is one specific area that can effectively present the contribution of organizational learning. The knowledge management is described as the practice of sharing, developing and capturing to achieve objectives of organization. The generative and adaptive learning are part of knowledge management. It is believed that increase in adaptiveness can be initial stage towards the organizational learning. According to Shell study, the examples provided on old-fashioned authoritarian are legion. It is supposed that instinct to learn is an instinct to be generative. This can enhance the power of capability of employees. This is the prime reason for Multinational Corporation to implement adaptive and generative learning within workplace environment. The example of implementation of total quality movement in Japan exemplifies the importance of changing the process of adaptive learning to generative learning process. It is understood that lack of opportunity can create negative impact towards employees. This can reduce the motivation of employees. Therefore, it is critical for organization to reward and apply new ideas to motivate employees. This is prime objective for execution of effective workplace practices. The learning culture of organization can be heavily influenced by attitude of employees. The workplace environment is regarded as dynamic. Each employee working on certain organization can have unique combination of skills and knowledge. The introduction of organizational learning initiatives consists of many factors which enable to foster learning process within workplace environment. The continuation of feedback and experiment helped towards the evolution of total quality movement from adaptive to generative learning. It is supposed that learning organizations has been effectively built by the total quality movement. There have been rapid evolvements towards the serving of customers by Japanese firms. The generative learning is to understand the best possible solution towards understanding needs and requirement of customers and business. It is true that workplace practices resemblethe importance of employee and employer towards success of a business. For years, the manufactures of United States have created competitive advantage over other rivals in aggressive controls on incentives and inventories. Despite having the advantage of incentives and inventories, the Japanese firms have effectively eclipsed the performance. The Japanese firms believe that the prime solution towards reduction of challenges and improvement of cost by elimination of delays in the production procedure. This approach of generative learning has been regarded as fruitful tactic by Japanese firm (Senge, 1990, p.8). This organization learning method is viewed as pivotal for Japanese firm for improvement of customer loyalty and cost. These minor changes in the production process can be crucial towards development of any organization. The Japanese firm understood that the process of distribution, materials procurement, manufacturing schedule, order entry and production as integrated system in production processes. According to Schon and Argrys, theory-in-use and espoused theory are two mode of operations that help to understand the approach of organization learning towards workplace performs. The knowledge management includes the sustainment and creation of communities, creating trusted content and concentrating the cultural aspects of employees. The knowledge management practices or organizational learning can be implemented within workplace practices by collaboration technologies. The situated learning theory is based on thinking about practice and learning of education and examining the social dimensions (Fox, 1997, p.728). The situated learning theory of organization learning process attempts to construct theory that is based on encompasses of mind and overpowering the mind-body dichotomy. The notion of community of practice perceptions has been established on the book by Wenger and Lave. This organizational learning processes draws attention towards the process of learning in work places. Lave and Wenger believes that the learning process within organization is established though social interaction by communities of people (Fox, 2000, p.853). Furthermore, Lave and Wenger cite examples of quartermasters in the United States navy and meat cutters in a supermarket to explain the involvement of group of people in shared practice perspectives. Moreover, they also claim that the power dynamics of dyadic relations and triadic relations are different from each other. This means that there is a considerable amount of difference between new comer employee and old-experience employee. Both these employees have different perspective and perception of workplace practice. They also believe that it is vital for new-comers to contribute towards successful completion of work. As time passes by, these employees become more experienced from this peripheral performs. Additionally, this enables to increase legitimacy within the group members. Employees can identify their norms and objectives and classify personally in much broader way. This can be proved that effective execution of workplace practices requires successful application of knowledge management and organizational learning process. Focus on Strategies Strategy is another specific area that provides vivid explanation about the contribution of organizational learning. In United States, the rise of hyper-competitive industries is tracked by Thomas and D’Aveni (Whittington, Molloy, Mayer and Smith, 2006, p.617). During the late 1990s, the Dell Company has introduced new strategies to regroup every quarter. The prime reason behind the reorganization is constant evolution of strategies. The integral element for tools of reorganizing, mastery of skills and strategic development is reorganizing. This rapid acceleration of change within organization has led to the promotion of practice perspective on organization and strategy. The need of organization learning within workplace is vital all stages of employment. There are certain aspects which resemble the importance of organizational learning are fast-changing technology, innovations, global competiveness, quality management, demographic changes and upgrade technology. These factors enable workplace to adapt new practices which is beneficial for the development of employer and employee. Therefore, the understanding of importance of organizational learning is essential to learning culture of organization. There are certain organizations which try to implement change management within organization to increase productivity of the organization and maintain sustainability. It is believed that application of change management has become inevitable factor to enhance present performance of the business. This requires constant change in skill and knowledge requirements. One of the best examples of organization with successful application of change management is Tesco. The Tesco introduced self-checkout system to improve customer shopping experience. It can be notified that continuous process of learning is necessary for organization. According to Michael Mayer, Anne Smith, Eamonn Molloy and Richard Whittington, the emphasis on practical craft action is viewed as one of the important innovation practices to replace traditional formal strategy of organizing (Whittington, Molloy, Mayer and Smith, 2006, p.624). It is believed that skills required for application of practical craft activity should be adaptive, artful and creative. It is vital work of senior managers to command the skills involved during the workplace practices. It is important to create sustaining and developing occupational competence of for workers, furthermore, the educational goals of employee and employer should support professional and personal progression. The consideration of importance of organizational learning process is viewed as growing field of education for businesses. The extent of which learning process is being distributed within workplace determines the importance of organizational learning process dimension in businesses. For example, a collective memory can be developed by organization for distribution, retrieving and remembering of information. Consequently, the learning process dimension should be effectively spread in workplace practices. The development of effective work culture is vital towards the production of new products and ideas. In the era of uncertainty and economic volatility, it is critical for organization to be competitive and gain prominence in the market. The best workplace practices are creation of positive work environment, effective staff training, grievance procedures and appraisal to boost morale of employees. The introduction of organizational learning process is vital to prosperity and survival of company. One of the important aspects of organizational learning is implementation of sustainability. It can be notified that an organizational learning can benefits employee to adjust and change their belief is accordance with problems. The maturity level of organization is determined by the ability of engaging in organizational learning. Conclusion This can be concluded that the involvement of organizational learning dimension is vital for explanation of workplace practices. The creation of learning organization is not a complete solution to nullify problem. But it is important towards removing past difficulties of organization towards future growth. The knowledge management and strategy are crucial areas to determine the importance of organization learning. In the process of organizational learning, there is a rapid shift from skills development of classroom training to informal learning setting in workplace practices. The establishment of communities of practice, supportive relationships and providing skill development through action learning can help to accomplish the execution of organization learning technique within workplace practices. The ultimate goal for application of organizational learning procedures is to explore the impact of embedded learning and enhance workplace performance. Most of the businesses are interested to execution of workplace learning practices for its beneficial contribution towards the effectiveness of organization. Furthermore, providing developing and learning process enables employees of organization to carry out current objectives. References Andreu, R., and Ciborra, C., 1995. Organisational learning and core capabilities development: the role of IT. Journal of Strategic Information system, 5(1), p.115. Fox, S., 1997. Situated Learning Theory versus traditional cognitive learning theory: Why management education should not ignore management learning. Systems Practice, 10(6), p.728. Fox, S., 2000. Communities of Practice, Foucault and Actor-Network Theory. Journal of Management Studies, 37(6), p.853. Senge, M. P., 1990. The leader’s New York: Building Learning Organizations. Sloan Management Review, 32(1), p.8. Whittington, R., Molloy, E., Mayer, M., and Smith, A., 2006. Practices of Strategizing/Organizing. Long Range Publishing, 39(1), P.617. Read More