Benefits of Becoming a Learning Organisation - Assignment Example

 A Learning Organisation What are the benefits of becoming a ‘Learning Organisation’, especially with regard to knowledge management? Critically discuss, supporting your argument with relevant theory. Introduction Organisational Learning and the application of the relative learning to improve the chances of an organisation meeting its stated objectives has become one of the buzzwords for modern business. While it may seem that an organisation seeks to improve the knowledge levels of its employees to help them improve their skills, the business objective behind being a learning organisation is simple since it allows a company to grow in terms of implicit knowledge assets. While every company seeks competence when it recruits HR, the additions made by the company to that competence of their human resources translates directly to a competitive advantage in terms of the total knowledge which a company can call on. Thus a company can become a learning organisation if it continually seeks to improve the level of knowledge which is distributed amongst its employees. This knowledge can be explicit in terms of certain procedures, laws and regulations which are commonly known to all members of a certain position within the company or it can be implicit such as a management style or leadership skills which are held by only a few within the company. What is a Learning Organisation? It is not easy to define a learning organisation since all companies at one or more levels are connected to how they train their employees formally or informally. Some definitions have been given by experts such as Senge (1999) and Dixon (1994) who suggest that a learning organisation makes considerable efforts in improving the knowledge base of its employees and then uses that increased knowledge to help along its own business processes and procedures. Pedler et. al (1991) go one step further to say that the learning company not only focuses on training and knowledge management, it also changes itself rapidly to ensure that the learning done by the employees is applied as quickly as possible without waiting for their learning to become common knowledge. With these definitions, it is easy to see that a learning organisation only comes into being when the management as well as the employees are willing to work with each other as they seek improvements in all areas of business including the concept and business application of knowledge management. Therefore, learning organisations are quick to adapt to the environment as it changes around them. They are also focused on continued enhancement of both their employees and their systems which they base on individual as well as collective learning (Gibb, 2002). Finally, learning organisations are able to manage and quantify the knowledge which is distributed as a tacit asset throughout their organisation and can use the knowledge to gain competitive advantages. Benefits of Being a Learning Organisation Given that a learning organisation can obtain competitive advantages which come from having a higher quality of human resources than other companies which are not learning companies, there are quite a few benefits of being a learning company. In the modern world, businesses continually seek ways in which they can improve their output in terms of both products and services. Therefore a company may seek several avenues and theoretical frameworks which promise business level improvements such as Total Quality Management (TQM), Business Process Reengineering (BPR), or Knowledge Management (KM) to improve efficiency or productivity. Adapting to Situations However, such initiatives can be difficult to sustain without the organisation being a learning organisation because only a learning organisation can cope with the requirements of such paradigms. Such initiatives and programmes depend on the level of human commitment and willingness to change which a learning organisations can create at a much faster rate than others. This means that the company has to distribute knowledge and information to the employees, the information must be assimilated by them quickly and then the resulting application of that information must be accepted by all concerned parties. The learning organisation is more able to change since it has a culture which supports change and flexibility. While an organisation can train some employees with preset response mechanisms to certain situations, the modern business environment dictates that employees should be able to handle rapidly emerging situations on the front lines without continued intervention from higher management positions. If the employees have learnt how to cope with emerging situations, the guidance required from top management will be minimised and the company as a whole will be able to gain out of an environment in flux rather than lose out by being slow (Harrison, 2005). Training Newcomers It is unreasonable to expect that an incoming employee would be able to jump in the middle of things and start performing from the get go. In fact, it is more likely that a person would require some training and education which helps them come to terms with the rules of the office and the general layout of the office culture. Even knowing something as small as where the water cooler is located can help an employee come to grips with the office. For this purpose, a learning organisation can provide incoming individuals with the required support from the first day (Cornelius, 2000). Even if the job is for the short term, a mentor can be assigned to a group from which feedback can be taken to see if any employees from the group show the promise of continued employment and further development. Not only does the learning company teach its employees, it also learns about them and manages the knowledge they have towards its own business advantage. Managing Knowledge In fact, Knowledge Management was one of the tools successfully used by Ernest & Young who hired programmers for the short term to work on their Y2K readiness plan and built a database of the skills shown by these short term workers. From that group, the human resource managers spotted individuals which could be useful for permanent placement within the company and thus the company was able to benefit from the addition to the HR since it meant that top quality programmers could be retained without expensive recruitment drives (Barker, 2005). This is just one of many examples of how knowledge management of the employees skill set from the HR team can result in benefits for the company. However, there is a risk of the organisation focusing its training only for newcomers to the company and ignoring others. A company must not forget about the people who are already on the payroll since training and learning can be as important for them as the newcomers. Osborne (2005), reports that a lack of career development opportunities is one of the focal reasons for employees leaving their company. If a company does not have a training program for new or existing personnel, it certainly needs to create one before it the absence of the program turns into a competitive disadvantage. The learning given to the employees of the firm does not require expensive consultants or external trainers since it can often be handled by senior colleagues and can be developed by the input received from the line manager or employee mentors (Osborne, 2005). Staff input is also valuable since they can tell what areas they must have help with and what they are able to handle on their own. A learning survey to estimate learning requirements can therefore be very useful in making the company aware of the skills or education which the present employees might lack. Campbell (2005) provides some interesting facts about organisational learning and the corporate training situation in Great Britain. He says that there is a complete lack of focus on organisational learning as far as skilled personnel are concerned and that is actually having negative effects on the productivity as well as the economy of the country. Mike Campbell is the director of research at Skills for Business, and has said that the productivity level of employees in Great Britain is 8% less than the employees working in the rest of the European Union and the situation could be improved with government supported organisational learning policies. It is also suggested that one of the reasons behind this problem is the lack of relevant training which can improve the productivity of a person. Employers appear to disregard the training requirements of their employees and a survey of 13,000 employers show that nearly 8,000 do not have an established organisational learning plan (Campbell, 2005). This means that the employees do not get the chance to enhance themselves or their skills and whatever they learn on the job are the only skills they can apply to the job. Without personal growth and the acquisition of new skills a company should not expect too many of its employees to attain a very high level of performance (Harrison, 2005). On the other hand, for those who do attain a high level of performance, it is important for the company to help them maintain that level and keep them within the company. This may require things like reward management, salary increases or bonuses to be given to employees. Even a good recognition program can be a great help in keeping the top performers of a company within the company (Trumble & Overstreet, 2006). In short, the performance of the employees has to be managed on both ends of the scale with regard to being a learning organisation. Those who are low performers have to be brought up the charts while those who are high performers have to be rewarded positively to ensure that their performance remains at the highest level. Frauenheim (2006) cites two surveys conducted by Salary.com and MetLife insurance which suggest that the two main reasons for employees leaving a company are inadequate salary and the lack of connections between colleagues or clients. The cost of replacing a trained, developed and mature member of the company is more than lost productivity; it can affect the morale of others, reduce the output of the team and can also entice other people to look for better opportunities (Wilkinson & Marchington, 1996). This situation is certainly something to be avoided but it must be noted that an employee who has received training at the expense of a company is an investment made by the company. That investment can quickly turn into a total loss if the same employee takes their knowledge with them and goes to work with a competitor. While this may seem like a risky proposition to a manager who is not sure of employees staying with his/her company, it must be noted that investment in terms of training is not for one individual alone but for the company as a whole. Surprisingly, firms have done very little in the past to ensure that employees stay with them through thick and thin. However, the situation may be changing now since Rawe (2006) reports that recently bosses have been giving far more attention to retaining key players and ensuring that their career growth remains positive. While this includes measures which ensure that salaries are not lagging behind the competition (Benefits Quarterly, 2006) it also includes the simplest steps like making sure employees do not feel snubbed or belittled by the attitude of the boss (Rawe, 2006). Conclusion Does that reflect the lessons which have been learnt by executives in the past? It would certainly seem so because companies as well as individuals have come to have a better understanding of learning at an organisational level. At the same time, the importance of knowledge management in relation to being a learning organisation can not be denied since it is only with both these facets of management that a company can present itself as a learning organisation. Word Count: 2,195 Works Cited Barker, J. 2005. ‘How to Pick the Best People (And Keep Them)’, Potentials, vol. 38, no. 11, pp 33-36. Benefits Quarterly. 2006. ‘Critical Issues in HR Drive 2006 Priorities: #1 Is Talent Management’, Benefits Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 1, pp 64-65. Campbell, M. 2005, ‘Skills? What skills?’, Credit Management, vol. 11, no. 1, pp16-17. Cornelius, N. 2000, Human Resource Management: A Managerial Perspective, Thomson Business Press. Dixon, N. 1994, The Organizational Learning Cycle, McGraw-Hill. Frauenheim, E. 2006. ‘Studies: More workers look to switch jobs’, Workforce Management, vol. 85 no. 3, pp 12-13. Gibb, S. 2002, Learning and Development, Palgrave. Harrison, R. 2005, Learning and Development. CIPD. Osborne, G. 2005, ‘How to treat your staff’, Caterer & Hotelkeeper, vol. 195, no. 4398, pp 60-61. Pedler, M. et. al. 1991, The Learning Company: a Strategy for Sustainable Development, McGraw-Hill. Rawe, J. 2006. ‘Why your boss may start sweating the small stuff’, Time, vol. 167, no. 12, pp80-81. Senge, P. 1994, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization, McGraw-Hill. Suff, R. 2005, ‘Nottingham taps into socially excluded groups’, IRS Employment Review, vol. 11 no. 835, pp. 42-43. Trumble, R. and Overstreet, S. 2006. ‘Effectively motivating and retaining employees: Options other than money’, Journal of Compensation & Benefits, vol. 22, no. 1, pp 12-19. Wilkinson, A. and Marchington, M. 1996, Core Personnel and Development (People and Organisations), Hyperion. Read More