Organizational Learning and Culture - Assignment Example

Organisational learning and culture There has in the recent past emerged a need to develop skills especially with regard to being literate or more literate. This has been taken as a major tenet of an organisational culture in bid to develop the capital development and subsequently respond to the pace and effects of globalisation. There exists a close relationship between an organisation’s culture, identity and the learning opportunities offered to employee in a bid to change the work place environment positively. Work-based learning contributes enormously when programmes are initiated to allow the participating learners to gain experience and have a strength discourse. The observation herein has been that many policies that endeavour to improve the organisation environment have pointed out that indeed human capital development and subsequent organisational development is highly hampered the lack or minimum levels of illiteracy. It therefore not an option that organisations should build up their skills of the existing employees. Other strategies include identifying the employability levels of job seeks by making a distinction between the high knowledge-skilled and the low knowledge-skilled workforce. It has also emerged that there is need for organizations to impose effective ways of learning that are less traditional in a bid to be on the forefront in the competition line. Some scholars such as Lance and Dorothy Berger term this process of building skills in the workforce as the creation of a culture of excellence. This paper takes into account four case studies relevant to the subject matter. In essence it shall analyse, compare and contrast the organisational strategies put in place in each with the other three. The paper shall embark on the critical use of theoretical frameworks and concepts of organisational learning culture. Case Study 1 – State Government Department There are various facts that can be identified in this case. The employees who number 3000 are scattered all around the State. It has offices in both rural and semi-rural towns of the state. The workforce consists of older staff employed in the department just after leaving school. The median age of the employees is 40s. The technical staff consists of a highly qualified workforce with diplomas, degrees and/or post graduate qualifications. The major reason of joining the government department is the lack of opportunities for employment from the much sought private sector. The administrative staff on the other hand consists of those transferred from other departments or those who have been there since leaving school. As the older workers retire, there are other administrative workers who have few post-school qualifications. The retirement has also caused the department to offer a two-year training program for the new workforce. The system aims at determining the performance and the future learning and developmental needs of the workforce. Traditional organisational learning is offered whereby compliance training is conducted together with other developmental programs. Case Study 2- Global Accounting Plan This firm is fairly a large one with over 140,000 employees all over the globe. The workforce consists of young graduates in accountancy, general business and law disciplines. The workforce is taken through a program of induction and training in the first few years of employment. Such organisational learning activities involve sitting for exams to be ascertained as Charted Accountants. A relatively adequate amount of the total payroll is spent in organisational learning activities. Case Study 3 – A Profit Making State Government Authority This organisation is a semi-government type of organisation whose employees are at a median age of 34. It consists of divisions who are diverse with regard to technical and non-technical activities. Initially, the organisation provided traditional modes of organisational learning activities. The resultant effect was a kind of non-appreciation and non-response from the workforce. This has changed over time whereby the organisation culture and management is freshly designed. It has since won an “Employer of Choice”. With a change in management, the performance has since dropped and the organization has a compliance driven approach to learning. Case Study 4 – Credit Union This is a voluntary organization with over 151,000 members. It operates its own Workforce Agreement which benefits employees by giving them performance based pay increases, leave benefits, superannuation and flexible working hours. The Learning Situation Due to the changes in the economy, demography, occupation and workplace, the need for skill level enhancement is evident. It is therefore a norm that an employer requires in addition to technical skills, other generic skills. These generic skills range from communication, decision and problem solving skills. The learning situation at the workplace must have met a certain criteria. Firstly, it must be understood that the learning is aimed at increasing the levels of innovative capacity in an organisation. The organisational culture as practiced in the organisation must be one that supports and highly values the concepts of learning and training. The training and learning activities must be taken as an integral part of the organisation. The training on the other hand must be customized to fit the individual even as the main purpose is to increase capability in the workplace. Analysis, Comparison and Contrast Competence with regard to workforce performance is not only measured by the possession of the necessary knowledge and skills, but also by an employee’s ability to perform adequately and flexibly in diverse situations, both known and unknown. In this context, there has emerged a need to review traditional learning processes. The theory of learning is based on the assumption that learning includes that external interaction that exists between the learner and the environment, be it social, cultural or material. It is also argued that learning must include three aspects including cognitive aspect (knowledge and skills), emotional aspect (feelings and motivation) and the social aspect (communication and co-operation). Case 1 involves a performance management system which incorporates a mentoring scheme in its learning activities. This involves pairing up. This works to involve the younger workforce in the daily activities of the organization and be in a position to face challenges that have been overcome by the experienced lot. There is also compliance training for those seeking promotion. This approach is the form of an expansive framework that offers a diverse range of formal, informal and even non-formal approaches to learning opportunities. It is therefore not a limitation to the learning opportunity offered to the workforce. This framework works well in this case due to the fact that is proves to be effective in training employees who have record keeping requirements. The administrative sector of this organisation is therefore bound to benefit greatly. The framework recognises the need for employees to acquire reading and writing skills to be able to have knowledge on best practices with regard to administrative roles. It is an aspect of continuing professional development (CPD) which basically advocates for workplace learning and training. Continuous learning in this organisation is bound to result into what is referred to as a snowball effect whereby colleague interaction is enhanced through helping and encouraging one another. The issue of pairing the old experienced workers with the new experienced workers is of great significance. This is because when older workers are encouraged to “go back to school”, they feel intimidated as they perceive their experience as enough. They believe that the learning and training they have achieved over the years is enough. The mentoring scheme therefore becomes the organisation’s flexible approach towards the dissemination of knowledge, skills and experience from the older workers to the young ones. The informal approach is involves giving the older workers the right to disseminate this information in a less “intimidating” way. The major advantage of this approach is the workforce seeing themselves in the bigger picture. Case 4 is based on the Workplace Agreement where employees are highly appreciated and rewarded. The benefits include pay increases and flexible working hours. The learning culture in this organisation impacts highly on the type of learning and training that is offered. It can be compared to one based on the Fuller and Unwin (2004) framework. This framework is based on an analytical tool that paves way for the evaluation of the quality of learning environments. There are three dimensions emphasized in this framework with regard to participation of the workforce. The first dimension is the engagement in multiple/overlapping communities of practice at the work place and even beyond. Secondly, it has an aspect of a multidimensional approach for the purposes of the acquisition of expertise in the tasks of the organisation. The third aspect is that opportunity to purse course that are knowledge-based and are related to they type of task at the organisation. This learning culture is sometimes seen as restrictive as it limits learning. With regard to the case in question, the employee is involved in the decisions of the organisation as family members are encouraged to apply for employment. The multi-dimensional aspect is seen when the employees are involved in such programs as work-life balance and healthy lifestyle programs in the Human Resource department. The underlying belief by the management is that everyone can learn. The assumption is that with the knowledge earned from the short courses offered will ultimately benefit the organisation. It is also an opportunity for the employee to develop as they progress in their career aspirations. The credit union case involves a Workplace Agreement and therefore can be termed as a project-based learning approach. It is a sort of one learner-driven strategy that endeavours to enhance both the individual and organizational development. Keegan and Truner (2001) defined project-based learning as the creation and subsequent acquisition of knowledge initially within a given a project and ultimately to other sections of the organisation. It is an experience based approach which can be in the workplace or other social environments (Roberson & Merriam 2005). It takes three forms; it is time bound, theme based and is often carried out in a group setting. The drive to conduct project-based learning is guided by an individual’s motivation which ultimately results into organizational improvement. There are two conceptual frameworks that can be used to get an insight on project-based learning. The first one is the actor-centred learning networks framework and the second, action reflection learning framework. Proponents of project-based learning such as Illeris (1997) made a distinction between the tacit and explicit knowledge as key concepts as well as the theoretical and practical knowledge. The above can be observed from both an individual and a collective level. Project based learning therefore involves the combination of the above six aspects into the work context. This has been the application of the triangulation theory which advocates for the implementation of different perspectives in a bid to identify gaps in specific situations. The learning network perspective allows for individuals or groups to take centre stage in addressing their views and interests. The critical pragmatist perspective on the other hand involves transformative learning. The organisation needs to look at how a new talented workforce can be recruitment to offer expertise to the organisation and a competitive advantage. The latest discussion in this issue lies in the argument on whether talent management is important especially in a restricted market place. This is because in such a market, there appears to be no need for the attraction and retention of talent. Some are also opposed to the idea of the identification and subsequent nurture of a group of individuals selected on talent merit. More so, there are others who argue that such a notion of nurturing a group is responsible for the current troubles in the financial sector. The argument is however is brought out more clearly that if there is an organisational culture for this ‘elite’ group and if not, their success must be acknowledged. The solution lies in developing a wider pool of talent by the management since when several are rewarded and promoted, such an action may lead to de-motivation of those who now view themselves as the underclass. This talent management is also practised by case two that involves a global accounting firm. It is through an individual’s success that promotion is granted. The strategies and practices that an organisation puts in place with regard to identifying, developing and attracting skilled workers into the workforce and their subsequent retention is what entails talent management. It is important to note that these strategies and practices are dependent on an organisation’s culture. The holistic approach involves creation of planned opportunities for development and the retention and development of this key staff. The other aspect involves the management of the performance of the staff and the development and assessment of their tasks in the workplace. An adequate plan for succession of previous employees must also be considered. Above all this, there must be an adequate plan in the recruitment process to ensure that only the highly qualified that possess talent are considered. While the global accounting firm has taken a formal approach to learning in the workplace, the credit union takes an informal approach. Julie Norquist Roy (2010) asserts that metrics is a very convenient way of formalizing this informal learning methods and activities while at the same time achieving the desired results. She embarks on a strategy based on collaboration, knowledge sharing and network building. The various types of organisational learning in the above case studies seem to overlap each other in that no one type stand alone in a given case. The sustenance of learning in the workplace is significant due to the fact that it maximizes the profits of an organisation. It does this through several ways. Firstly, there is maintenance of competitiveness of the organisation in the market. The performance momentum is sustained in the organisation which results in raising the competitive advantage. The lack of development of employees inevitably leads to failure of an organisation to climb at the top of competitiveness ladder. Learning enhances the employee engagement and commitment when the organisation faces hard times. The reduction of slowdowns through learning results in building the capability of the workforce. The process of learning cannot be overlooked as it maintains the knowledge and skills attained when a turnover is not as good or is downsizing. Every organisational has a culture that is driven by specific strategies and practices. It is through learning that this organisational culture is maintained. The proposition of the employer attractiveness with regard to the employee value can only be enhanced through learning. Indeed, learning shortens time taken by the employee with regard to creation of a culture of effectiveness. As employees learn, the organisation is in turn building leaders who grow in turn to teach leaders on the culture of an organisation which is responsible for the effectiveness and competitive advantage of an enterprise over others. Learning encourages employees to have a culture of innovation and an external orientation that is bound to help them not only as they work in the organisation, but also in their future career growth and advancement. References Argyris, C, & Schön, D. A. (1978). Organizational ¡earning: A theory of action perspective. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Arthur, M. B., DeFillippi, R. J., & Jones, C. (2001). Project based learning as the interplay of career and company non-financial capital. Management Learning. 32 (1), 99-117. Berger, Lance & Berger, Dorothy. (2011)Talent Management. Leadership Excellence. 28 (1). 14 Dennis, C. B., Cederholm, L., & Yorks, L. (1996). Leaming your way to a global organization; Grace, Cocoa. In K. E. Watkins & V. J. Marsick (Eds.), Creating a Learning Organization (pp. 165-177). Illeris, Knud. (2003). Workplace learning and learning theory. Journal of Workplace Learning. 15 (4). 167. Keegan, A., & Turner, J.R. (2001). Quantity versus quality in project based learning practices. Management Learning, 32 (1), 77-98. Mathison, S. (1988). Why triangulate? Educational Researcher, 17(2), 13-17. Roy Norquist Julie. (2010). Transforming Informal Learning into a Competitive Advantage. www.astd.org. Read More