Implementing The Learning Organization - Case Study Example

Implementing The Learning Organization The Learning Organization The concept of the Learning Organization is an evolution of the Japanese philosophy of quality circles and employee empowerment. As these principles have evolved, so has our work environment. No longer a strictly brick and mortar manufacturing economy, business has become more reliant on the service and information aspects of the enterprise. Reaction time has replaced long term strategic planning and management has been supplemented with leaders at all levels. To be successful, an organization needs to do more than respond to a problem and put the fire out. The Learning Organization is a group that prepares its workers to be ready to anticipate, adapt, and change as the situation warrants. One of the key components of a Learning Organization is a commitment to lifelong learning (Stinson, Pearson, & Lucas, 2006, p. 309). The rapid pace of change in technology, medicine, and education demands that a successful organization places a value on learning and makes adequate time for it to take place. Placing learning at the forefront of an organization's priorities characterizes it as a Learning Organization. At Booz Allen, a strategy consulting firm, they have a program called Discover Booz Allen. Senior executives have informal chats with junior colleagues on management techniques and insights into career success throughout a yearlong immersion process (Holistic approach to learning, 2006, p. 28). According to Stinson et al. (2006) to facilitate this type of learning, "[...] learning time must be protected" (p. 311). This commitment to learning creates an atmosphere for the successful Learning Organization to cultivate the key disciplines that are at the heart of the philosophy. The Learning Organization: Its Principles and Disciplines The Learning Organization revolves around the principles of not just what we learn, but how we learn. To motivate people to learn in this new environment, the needs of the organization need to be kept central to the process. A common shared vision among all members is the ability to envision a mutual goal which provides the framework, force, and energy for all learning to take place (Kezar, 2005, p.12). This vision is not a strategic plan or management mission statement. It is a vision that is created by the mutual understanding of all the members of the group, and contributes to the picture of the future of the organization (Giesecke & McNeil, 2004, p. 58). In this way each individual member of the group will be able to incorporate the vision into their daily activities. When there is a common view of the future and a mutual understanding of the purpose of the organization, learning can begin to take place. Though learning takes place at the individual level, it is team learning that is most effective. According to Senge (1990), ‘Team learning is vital because teams, not individuals, are the fundamental learning unit in modern organizations. . . unless teams can learn, the organization cannot learn" (as cited in Stinson et al., 2006, p. 311). In the team environment, individuals must put aside assumptions and previously held notions and be open to new ideas as more creativity can come from a team than can be generated by the individuals (Giesecke & McNeil, 2004, p. 58). Within the structure of the team, each member must be open to self-examination and begin the process of critically evaluating what they believe to be true. Through the discipline of mental models, the individual turns inward and begins as Stinson et al. (2006) states, "learning to unearth our internal pictures of the world, to bring them to the surface and hold them up rigorously to scrutiny" (p. 310). This is an ongoing process that that is a part of lifelong learning. It is the understanding of our own vision and views, yet takes into account that others may have alternative views that are valid, valuable, and can contribute to the shared vision (Kezar, 2005, p. 19). Only when the limitations and barriers to learning are broken can true acceptance of new ideas take place. When an organization begins to mature towards its goal of becoming a Learning Organization, it takes on the feature of self-mastery. This is the discipline that allows the individual to open their mind to criticism and develop a clarity of what is important from a "creative rather than a reactive viewpoint" (Stinson, et al., 2006, p. 310). It is through self-mastery that the individual makes the connection between the current situation and the shared vision. Creativity is unleashed to bridge that gap and in doing so the individual discovers the common commitment that both they and the organization have to the success of the organization's goals. Personal mastery teaches us not only how to accomplish a given task, but also provides enlightenment as to how to use that knowledge to move the organization forward in other areas (Giesecke, J., & McNeil, 2004, p. 57). The individual literally becomes a component of the organization's learning process. The discipline of systems thinking is where Organizational Learning begins to bear its greatest benefits. It is this feature that allows the individual to see the relationship of all their knowledge to the goal of the group. Stinson et al. (2006) states that systems thinking is, "[...] the ability to think in context and appreciate the consequences of actions on other parts of the system" (p. 310). It is the idea that there are complicated relationships that govern outcomes that reach beyond the most obvious, and failure to understand these results in "[...] misdiagnosing issues and prevents learning" (Kezar, 2005, p. 12). Though all the disciplines are connected, it is systems thinking that is at the center of the process. It is this process that managers strive to accomplish as they shed old ways of thinking and begin to trust the organization. Management and the Role of Strategy In a manufacturing environment with a strict hierarchical structure, management makes the decisions and the workers follow the orders. Tasks are isolated and information is meted out on a need to know basis. Decisions are made in boardrooms where the long-range strategic plan takes shape. In the Learning Organization, strategy is devoted towards the learning environment. Shell Oil decided it was folly to predict the long-range future in the oil business. Shell's strategic planners realized that "We no longer saw our task as producing a documented view of the future business environment five or ten years ahead. Our real target was the microcosm (the 'mental model') of our decision makers" ( Malhorta, 1996). In the Learning Organization, it is the learning process that becomes central, not the knowledge that it brings but the process by which it is derived. When responsibility is spread out across the Learning Organization, employees are more empowered to make decisions and generate results. Where does management fall in under this system and what are its responsibilities? One of their primary duties is to facilitate an environment that is friendly to learning and to promote the concept of lifelong learning. Malhorta (1996) states that the, "[...] leader's role in the Learning Organization is that of a designer, teacher, and steward who can build shared vision and challenge prevailing mental models". Managers can facilitate this by instituting new ways of learning. One of the methods that Learning Organizations use to learn is called double-loop learning. Double-loop learning, "entails challenging existing assumptions and beliefs to align the institution to the environment and therefore requires transformational change" (Kezar, 2005, p. 10). Senge et al. (1994) recounts a project at a Chrysler automobile plant based on double-loop learning. The idea was to find out how management could better inform the workers to help them understand their individual contribution to the department's performance. They designed a series of daily performance reports "giving them immediate feedback on performance [...] in terms that they could understand" (Senge et al., 1994, p. 291). This was facilitating the employees by allowing them to participate in the shared vision of the organization. The manager is also responsible to insure that knowledge is being shared effectively. This is especially true in the health care industry. "Learning is more than formal qualifications. Much of the most important knowledge in service delivery is ‘tacit-knowledge’ that is gained by experience, often presenting itself as no more then intuition" (Rushmer et al., 2004, p. 378). Management needs to maintain an open atmosphere where everyone can comment on any aspect of the organization's operation. According to Senge et al. (1994), "The health care industry is blessed with many leaders who are driven simply because they are fascinated by learning" (p. 483). This curiosity can be harnessed to extract the intuition and pass it to other employees so the knowledge is not lost or remains hidden. The Boundary Free Environment The benefits of the open atmosphere for learning, the willingness to share knowledge, and the elimination of individual barriers to accept lifelong learning are numerous. The organization may find itself with overlapping duties, above capacity manpower, and a redundancy of skills. This duplication of qualifications and duties runs counter to the traditional thoughts on efficiency theory. However, in a health care system, "Giving staff multiple skills allows them to be more productive, in a greater number of places and increases the flow of patients through the system" (Rushmer et al., 2004, p. 377). What on the surface seems to be an inefficient use of skills turns out to be an effective covering of obligations through the overlapping of learning. The redundant skills and overlapping duties requires that the bureaucratic organization break down the barriers and boundaries that are generally laid out in policy. It is too often the case that an employee knows how to correct the problem for the patient or client, but does not have the authority or access. Boundaries that prevent people from working toward the shared vision need to be eliminated. In a Learning Organization, strict hierarchies and task specific boundaries can inhibit the sharing of knowledge and the creation of unique solutions (Rushmer, 2004, p. 377). When the boundaries are eliminated the organization can begin to function as a unit instead of a chaotic mass of individual endeavors. Putting it All Together Without a plan to implement the strategies of becoming a Learning Organization, the philosophy will remain just a theory and be discarded like so many other management fads. Primary to implementation is a commitment on the part of management and workers to devote the time and the expense to undertake becoming a Learning Organization. The initial investment can be quite extensive, but it can also reap some very unique profits. The Herman Miller Company has rich tradition of learning. As an international group with a presence in the US, Europe, Japan, and Mexico they sought out a point of reference for global excellence. It became mandatory for them to learn diversity. Herman Miller "[...] realized from the beginning that this was a journey, not a quick fix, and that the concepts of quality, diversity, and change could not be learned in isolation from each other" (Senge et al., 1994, p.418). They used the principles of the Learning Organization to establish diversity workshops and promote the uniqueness of each of their employees. Herman Miller understood that quality and excellence rode on the prerequisite that each individual felt like a valuable member of the team. The knowledge and the benefits of a Learning Organization can also reach far beyond the walls of their offices, factories, and warehouses. Motorola not only educates its own employees, but reaches out into the community where it shares its vast knowledge with school districts that they hope to one day utilize for future employees. Motorola retirees often participate and share their wealth of lifelong learning (Senge et al., 1994, p. 511). Steelcase has used their experience with the Learning Organization to create informal groups and working areas where business and product teams can work closely together. According to Senge et al. (1994) this encourages, "[...] the kind of informal kind of conversation and collaboration that we associate with small towns" (p. 511). These companies have utilized the Learning Organization to approach their unique needs from a new and creative perspective. Conclusion Moving from a traditional manufacturing mindset and into the world of the Learning Organization requires that there be commitment, trust, and faith. Management needs to commit the time and resources. Employees need to invest their personal trust in the five disciplines. Everyone needs to take a leap of faith that it can turn an inefficient and archaic bureaucracy into a successful thriving enterprise. The key to the process is the understanding by management that they are in the business of building an organization. Shell does not sell oil. Shell builds an organization and the organization sells oil. The long-term attitude toward lifelong learning within an organization can lead to solving company specific problems such as the case at Herman Miller. If it is pursued with totality of purpose, it can become the solution for a business that is faced with obstacles in today's global market where unique and flexible solutions are knowledge driven. References Giesecke, J., & McNeil, B. (2004). Transitioning to the Learning Organization [Electronic version]. Library Trends, 53(1), 54-67. from Thomson Gale. Holistic approach to learning [Electronic version]. (2006). T+D, 60(10), 28-30. from Thomson Gale. Kezar, A. (2005). What campuses need to know about organizational learning and the learning organization [Electronic version]. New Directions for Higher Education, 7-22. from Ebsco Host. Malhorta, Y. (1996). Organizational learning and learning organizations: An overview. Retrieved November 8, 2006, from http://www.kmbook.com/orglrng.htm Rushmer, R., Kelly, D., Lough, M., Davies, H., & Wilkinson, J. (2004). Introducing the learning practice – I. The characteristics of learning organizations in primary care. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 10(3), 375-386. from Ebsco Host Senge, P. M., Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Smith, B., & Ross, R. (1994). The fifth discipline fieldbook. New York: Doubleday. Stinson, L., Pearson, D., & Lucas, B. (2006). Developing a learning culture: twelve tips for individuals, teams and organizations [Electronic version]. Medical Teacher, 28(4), 309-312. from Ebsco Host. Read More