Organization Learning and Healthcare - Essay Example

Health and Social Care First Name, Last Name Institution Professor Course Date of Submission Health and Social Care Introduction Learning organization refers to the firm or company that provides its staff members with training and learning such that it keeps transforming itself and its activities. In most cases it is undertaken with the intention of increasing the competitive advantage of the organization. The concept of a learning organization is something, which many consultants and firms have come to see as a phenomenon, which is of a rather significant effect. The main reason for this is that it is perceived that organizational learning is a way of providing a way that will ensure that the staff and the other stakeholders find a way of managing the stresses and pressures that are associated with the work environment. Under this concept of organizational learning, people are seen to be continuously learning with the intention of improving their capabilities and skills. Health care is of focus in this case. Organization Learning and Healthcare Organizational learning that is related to healthcare is done with the intention of keeping the members associated with this field equipped with knowledge which is up-to-date for the purpose of producing competent personnel who also exercise safety in their undertakings and finally delivering quality healthcare to all the people. Organizational learning is a concept which is driven by practitioners and it is to be implemented as a strategy which can be used if the health care institution is to achieve its mission objectives. Healthcare organization is a result of several changes that have to be exhibited in the organization under focus. Professional healthcare is developed to provide the personnel in the healthcare field with information that will ensure their knowledge and skills are up to date. There are two ways of doing this. It may either be through theoretical classes of practical programmes. Training is something, which is of great importance because it helps the individuals to learn new concepts and at the same time, it helps in shaping their inspirations and ideas. In actual sense, one of the most efficient ways of learning is through training. Actually, it should be noted that individuals are very different when it comes to learning. This can have some rather beneficial outcomes such as improved motivation, a change in attitudes towards the positives not forgetting improved self-confidence. Knowledge management is another phenomenon, which seems to be running in parallel rather when comparing it with organizational learning. The professionals that are involved in this particular field are required to be having these skills in order to gain the required professional skills. It should be appreciated that organizational knowledge is the knowledge, which is partly stored in the knowledge base of the individuals. At the same time, it is stored partly in the organization’s secondary sources in the form of records, rules, policies among various others. A learning environment ought to be created in this case in order to create a semblance of synchronization between the knowledge that is possessed by these two stakeholders. The learning organization once again emanates in this case. There are five main characteristics which are exhibited by a learning organization. They include the following: Personal Mastery - this refers to the commitment which an individual may be having in relation to the learning process. The main thing that is stressed more in this case is that the members of the institution must be in a position to learn faster in comparison to other organizations. This has the effect of bringing about competitive advantage. However, it should also be recognized that learning is something that cannot just be forced on an individual who seems to be rather non- receptive. In the work environment, the learning process is incidental as opposed to that which will involve tutorials and training. Take a health institution for example, the practitioners there in are able to learn new ways of carrying out their activities. these new insights are acquired gradually as opposed to being simultaneously developed. Mental models – these are the assumptions which may be held by either the organization or the individuals. In order to create a learning organization these assumptions will have to be questioned and opposed in most cases. This is usually achieved through the various theories which are brought up in relation to the different subjects of study. For a learning environment to be well developed there has to be a generally free and open atmosphere without much confrontations. For this reason, the organizational beliefs and attitudes will have to be done away with. Shared vision – having visions in most cases has proven to be a strategy which always works when it comes to motivating the members of staff to work even harder for the purpose of achieving the set goals and objectives. There are both individual visions and organizational visions. An example of a shared vision may be to succeed against another competing firm. This is a vision which should be shared by the individual members of staff and the organization at large. Team Learning – the major advantage of having teams that collaborate and work together is that the individuals in them will be able to grow even more quickly and with diverse knowledge. This also serves to improve on the expertise which the people have. In this case there has to be management structures which allow the acquisition and implementation of the knowledge which will be of benefit to the organization. Systems Thinking – there ought to be systems within the organization which are tailored to assess the performance and achievements of the organization as a whole together with its components. If there are some components which are failing then the organization will fail in one or more of its objectives. There are various benefits that are associated with organizational learning. This act is aimed at imparting more knowledge into the members of staff in the health institution. This will be beneficial in their undertakings. More experience is gained by the practitioners involved in it. This will be rather essential in the field since the person will be able to associate the situation at hand with that which he or she learnt. The Negatives of Organizational Learning can be outlined at different levels. The first and most crucial one in this case is that the people involved in the organizational learning are sort of forced to take in what the organization wants. In some cases due consideration is not put to those who are slow learners or those that are non-responsive to the learning. There may be some conflicts between the interests of the individuals and those of the organization. This brings about the conflict of interest between the organization and the individual practitioners. It waters down the concept of first-time experience, which most people would want to experience. In this case, the medical person may be met with a situation for the first time but he or she will already have known about it. It is more appealing if the situation can be experienced firsthand. This may give an individual experience in the future. Organizational learning largely brings about predictability in healthcare. In most cases the medical cases are different. Through organizational learning, a medical practitioner may tend to carry out the same procedures on the patient and this may be rather detrimental. It is not an entirely easy affair when seeking to establish a learning organization. Various hurdles present themselves and in the process make it rather hard to transform an organization into a learning organization. The first challenge that can be met is the fact that the individuals in the organization may be having their own different priorities which may be different from those of the organization. This may bring about conflict of interest between these two parties and in most cases the members of staff will tend to pursue their own personal agendas at the expense of the organization. The other challenge that may be met is that the organization may not have the requisite tools and techniques that are required to train and help the members of staff. Creation of a communication system that will bring about informational exchange. This information is the most important thing if a learning organization is to be achieved. Technology also comes into effect as it brings about various changed due to its dynamic nature. In this case, a questionnaire has to be developed in order to establish the performance of the organization. A comparison is to be made with regards to the current performance and the expected future performance. To develop, maintain and also facilitate an atmosphere that encourages the learning and one that will be more favorable to the learners. The main idea in this case is to create a vision for the organization and development of a mission statement, which will be achieved by collaboration with the employees. There ought to be strategies which will serve to help the employees develop their skills and the skills they have towards understanding of concepts. This is of the essence especially when the employees are to understand the goals and objectives of the organization and be in a better position to work with these set goals. Communication of company culture through the integration of the technical systems together with the human ones. It will be very important for the employees to understand the foundations upon which the organization is standing on. This will make sure that they uphold these fundamentals and culture even in their activities. Conclusion A learning environment is one that can encourage the members of an organization to improve on the personal skills which they have. This is of the essence if they are to learn and develop in their undertakings. A learning organization provides even greater opportunity to be able to gain more creativity. This technique comes in handy especially when the individual is faced with a rapidly changing environment. Even though technological change seems to be a force which is here to stay, human resource is still a very vital component in some fields of relevance here being the healthcare sector. This is the main reason that explains why there is soaring demand for health practitioners all over the world as other areas focus more on the application of improved technology. References Bray, D. (2007). "Literature Review - Knowledge Management Research at the Organizational Level", Social Science Research Network. Castells, M. (2001) ‘Information technology and global capitalism’ in W. Hutton and A. Giddens (eds.) On the Edge. Living with global capitalism, London: Vintage. Easterby-Smith, M. , Crossan, M., and Nicolini, D. 2000. Organizational learning: debates past, present and future. Journal of Management Studies. Flood, R.L. (2009). Rethinking the Fifth Discipline: Learning within the unknowable. London: Routledge Nonaka, Ikujiro; von Krogh, Georg (2009). "Tacit Knowledge and Knowledge Conversion: Controversy and Advancement in Organizational Knowledge Creation Theory". Organization Science O’Keeffe, T. 2002. Organizational Learning: a new perspective. 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