Some of the Possible Learning Disabilities that Face Organizations - Assignment Example

 Some of the Possible Learning Disabilities that Face Organizations In his book, The Fifth Disciple, Peter Senge is keen to illustrate some of the possible learning disabilities that commonly face organizations in modern business today. These problems are often as a result of the complex organizational systems which have over time been instrumental in causing the occurrence of complex problems in the systems. Some of these learning disabilities include: I am My Position According to (Senge, 2006) this is a common mentality among employees who view it as the culturally expected norm for one to be extremely loyal to their jobs and the organizations that they happen to work for. As the employees strives to enhance his loyalty with the organization that he currently works with, it is often seen that over time the employee will result to unintentionally confuse his job with his own personal identity. This will create a situation where the inability by the employee to separate his own personal identity from that of his job creates the learning disability that Senge describes in his book as “I am my position.” Experience Illustrating this Disability A personal experience illustrating this disability was evident in my uncle who after a long period of being unemployed, he finally managed to get a good well paying job that offered great benefits and handsomely rewarded any extra input that a person made to the organization beyond the normal working hours. In a few short weeks, all of his conversations were quickly characterized by his constant referral to his new job. He never missed the opportunity to speak highly of his new job and what he was doing for his company. After a while the novelty of being forced to constantly hear about his new job, quickly wore off. It became apparent to the entire family that my uncle was equating his success at his job to his own personal achievements; this was despite his losing out on the social front and was quickly becoming a pariah among friends and family who were making efforts to avoid him and his tedious story. Possible Solution A possible cure to this learning disability can be achieved by my uncle following the 11th law of the Fifth disciple. According to (Senge, 2006), this law basically states that “There is no one to blame”. People often tend to blame their circumstances for the difficulties and challenges that they happen to experience. My uncle needs to realize that the cure to this problem lies in the relationship with his “enemy”, which happens to be himself. He should actively take steps and measures that will ensure that he effectively manages to separate his own personal life from his job and views them differently. The Boiled Frog According to this parable, if one were to take a frog and proceed to place it in a pot of boiling water, the frog would respond to the sudden change in heat levels by immediately hopping out of the pot. But if one was to place a frog in a pot of cool water and the proceed to gradually and casually turn up the heat levels, the frog will remain totally unaware of the rising heat levels and would proceed to grow groggier and groggier as the water heats up and will remain in the water until it is eventually cooked to death (Senge, 2006). This main objective that is to be learnt from this parable is that if one wishes to see the more often than not slow and gradual changes that always seem to occur in each and every organization, it is imperative that one must ensure that they force themselves to slow down completely and concentrate on paying careful attention to not only the dramatic changes that occur in the organization but also the subtle changes that are occurring in the organization. Illustration Demonstrating this Learning Disability A common occurrence in most business organizations is for people to tend to ignore harmful changes that might be happening in their businesses at their own risk and expense. Changes in company policies and management that the employees try to implement with disastrous results should not be merely ignored, but should be quickly acted upon and amended. Failure to this, an organization might find itself facing catastrophic consequences that might lead to its overall failure and eventual closure. Possible Solution to this Learning Disability A possible solution to this learning disability is proposed in the embodiment of 4th law of discipleship as put forth by Senge in his book “The 11 Laws of the Fifth Disciple”. The Law states that “The Easy way out usually leads back in”. According to this law, if an organization enacts policies that do not appear to be functioning, and result to ignoring the failed results of the implementation of these policies, the problems that were initially to be solved by the policies will not go away by themselves and the exact same problems will tend to reappear and afflict the company in the future. There is basically no easy way out and companies should take the bull by its horns and amend failing policies for the overall good of the company. The Delusion of Learning from Experience According to (Senge, 2006), it is a naturally basic occurring trend for people to learn best from the direct experiences that happen to occur in their lives. In contrast to this, people often do not get to learn directly from the consequences of their decisions. This has been majorly attributed to the functional Silos that seem to exist in the organization and which have been blamed by Senge, as causing a general impediment of the flow of vital information and feedback among people working in a given organization. This has resulted in a general weakness by the organization when it comes to critically analyzing subsequent complex problems that may seem to arise. Illustration Demonstrating this Learning Disability Personnel working in the same organization are often seen to hold on to information that they deem as putting them in an advantageous position. This advantageous position is mostly in terms of increased work performance on their part as a result of adequately using the feedback obtained to solve work related issues. Possible Solution to this Learning disability A possible solution to this disability would be for the board members to try and always take into account the opinions of all its members and employees. They should not just rely on the opinions of the Key management but should promote and encourage open communication channels throughout the organizations intended to ensure the uninhibited flow of information and opinion. Persons who are seen to ask probing questions get an equal chance of voicing their opinions without the fear of prosecution. This will be in line with Senge’s 10th Law of discipleship that states “Dividing an elephant in half does not produce two elephants”. The law deals with how organizations are basically designed with the aim of preventing people from experiencing important interactions. Their designs are planned in such a way that they seem to enforce some internal divisors that happen to inhibit any inquiries that might be made across the existing divisional boundaries (Senge, 2006). The Myth of the Management Team This is a reflection of an organization’s desire to promote the image of the company’s management team as being an extremely cohesive group that is well tuned and is keen on working to achieve the same objectives and goals. The actual reality on the ground is that most of the management “teams” in an effort to present this united front, end up largely frowning on any dissent by any of the team members who may happen not to agree with some of the company’s goals and objectives. The team is forced to make joint decisions which may be looked upon as being merely “watered – down compromises”. The basic trend in most organizations is for persons who are seen to promote the senior management’s view and opinions to be rewarded by the organization while those perceived as attempting to rock the boat or happen to pose any probing questions are effectively penalized. Illustration Demonstrating this Disability It is no hidden matter that most of the management teams running different organizations have members who tend to disagree with the policies of the organization. Even though these organizations try and portray a united front to their employees, rumors always abound as to the disagreements within the board. This situation often leads to favoritism by the employees of some of the board members at the expense of others who the employee’s deem as favoring the implementation of polices which the employees do not generally agree with. Possible Solution to this Learning Disability Companies experiencing this disability should try and make adjustments to their overall decision making mechanism. They should realize that “Small changes can produce big results” (Senge, 2006), although at first they might question the authority of suggestions that did not come from the company’s top leadership. They should try and start considering these suggestions on a small scale as they continually assess their impact. This will be seen to be in line with Senge’s 8th Law of discipleship. References: Peter M. Senge. (2006). The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, Currency/Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-51725-4. Read More