How to be an effective learning organization - Essay Example

Effective Learning Organizations Effective Learning Organizations Discuss what it takes for an organization to be an effective learning organization An effective organization is one that continuously transforms itself and promotes the learning of its employees. Such organizations have developed as a result of the increasing competition in the modern business environment. There are five aspects that determine whether an entity is a learning organization. These include team learning, a shared vision, mental models, personal mastery and systems thinking.

Team learning requires that effective learning organizations should adopt shared learning for its staff members. Secondly, such organizations have a common vision that results to the creation of s shared identity and this is important in motivating the employees (Jones, 2010, p. 23). Thirdly, these organizations have mental models that are the beliefs and assumptions held by the employees. Fourthly, effective learning organizations have personal mastery and this requires the employees to learn faster than in other organizations.

Finally, these organizations must have a system thinking that requires the employees to work as joined objects. Furthermore, effective learning organizations should perform the following actions. They should promote training and employee development programs. Facilitate learning as an important aspect in the organizational culture (Jones, 2012, p. 23). Act as an example to other companies in the nature of effective case studies. Extend the learning to their partners to create profit centers.

Base learning to establish a competitive edge. Finally, they should provide learning their clientele as an additional service.Approach to organizational theory The best approach that can be used to explain my perspective with regards to the learning organizations is the classical theory. This theory was formulated at the start of the 20th century and presented a merger between the administrative theory and the scientific theory of management. It can also be noted that this theory was highly based on facts of Max Weber’s bureaucratic theory in 1947.

This theory states that organizations should set up well defined structures that help define authority within an entity. This theory mainly focused on limiting diversity and ambiguity within organizations. It states that power within an entity should be hierarchical. This approach is important and made a crucial blue print of other theories that were formulated later (Daft, 2010: 23). This theory supports learning organizations that believe in the effectiveness of specialization while training their employees.

This requires organizations to have asset of well-established formal rules. Finally, it notes that a hierarchical structure is imperative in organizations to facilitate functional unity and stability. Potential limitations of the selected theory It can be noted that the classical organizational theory has a couple of imitations in its application in international, multi-cultural and diverse organizations. The theory assumes that employee motivation is based on economic rewards and disregards the fact that it is influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic factors.

Secondly, in this theory, employees have minimal control over their work (Sapru, 2013, p. 293). Thirdly, employees are expected to be submissiveness and do not take part in the decision-making. This approach in inappropriate for the current organizations that have diverse employee motivation schemes, take consideration of the employees’ input in decision and allow employees to make decisions independently.ReferencesDaft, R. L. (2010) Organization theory and design, Cengage Learning. Jones, P. (2012) Strategy mapping for learning organizations: Building agility into your balanced scorecard, Gower Publishing, Ltd.Sapru, R. K. (2013) Administrative theories and management thought, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.Annotated BibliographyDaft, R. L. (2010) Organization theory and design, Cengage Learning.

This book gives a contemporary approach and innovative ideas on effective business practices. It also focuses on important organizational management theories including the classical managemnt theory. Jones, P. (2012) Strategy mapping for learning organizations: Building agility into your balanced scorecard, Gower Publishing, Ltd. This book is a strategy guide to learning organizations in the modern times. It also gives of learning entities for profit and non-profit organizations and explains the techniques employed to maintain agility and flexibility. Sapru, R. K. (2013) Administrative theories and management thought, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. This text gives a detailed analysis of various management and administrative theories.

It includes major additions of research that was conducted in the recent times. This makes it a suitable text for the analysis of the weaknesses of the classical theory of management.