What is a learning organization?
The term learning organization was coined by a renowned scholar, Peter M. Senge. Learning Organization refers to an organization that has inculcated a continuous learning behaviour and development in its employees. Through continuous learning and change, employees are able to better their workplace consequently impacting positively on the organization through achievement of organizational objectives. In that breadth, it is instructive to note that learning organizations continuously change and improve through a transformation that makes the organization better and focused after every process of employee learning.
Learning organizations are predicated on five major principles each of which contributes to the final positive postulate by the organization. The paper shall briefly examine the five principles. In addition, it will examine some of the outstanding characteristics of the learning organization. The five principles include; systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, shared vision and team learning. It is these principles that guide the overall operation of the learning organization and enable the ultimate achievement of the results. In addition, it is imperative to appreciate that a learning organization is guided by a philosophy premised on results. On that vein, a learning organization concentrates on results. Learning organizations have been partly attributed to the increasing pressure for companies and organizations to be competitive in the global market. In addition, nowadays employees are more informed, resourceful and aggressive. This has led to a system in which organization consider employees as integral players. That has partly facilitated the learning organization development.
The systems thinking principle refers to the conceptual framework in which organizational operations are considered as bounded objects. In that vein, the system thinking principle enables the organization approach work operations from a point of objectives follow-up. In that context, the systems thinking principle outlines the organizational objectives that form the premise of work operations. The objectives provide the guiding principles and the conceptual framework of operations. Similarly, the systems thinking principle can be credited with the creation of performance evaluation. It is on the premise of systems thinking that the general performance of an organization is evaluated and analysed against the organizational expectations. It is deemed appropriate and operational when the performance evaluation is tied to the organizational objectives. Learning organizations believe that an effective and efficient employee will enable the organization achieve its objectives. Performance evaluation in the modern managerial concern has been appreciated as the building block to organization cohesiveness and success. This is essentially because it provides a basis of evaluating employees and determining their commitment and loyalty to the organization. In that scope, employees often prefer a performance evaluation system that is fair, realistic and true to the organizational objectives and desires.
Secondly, the learning organization is premised on the concept of personal mastery. Under personal mastery, employees need to understand the organizational objectives and show commitment and determination towards the achievement of the organizational goals. Personal mastery is premised on the fact that typical employees often need an understanding of the organizational objectives and that the more an employee is comfortable and knowledgeable in the organizational operations, the better and more efficient that employees would be. In that same breadth, it is personal mastery that invests heavily on training, development and continuous improvement of the personnel. It is predicated on the concept of reducing wastage and idle time through streamlining of processes. In that context, under personal mastery, the learning organization ensures that its employees are fully equipped and adequately trained on organizational operations. The organization would ensure employees learn the rubrics of operation and develop a sense of cohesion and unity of purpose. Under the learning organization, continuous training and improvement is encouraged at the highest levels of management. In addition, the learning organization ensures the workload is equally departmentalized and specialized so that only the competent and well prepared personnel are given certain tasks. Therefore, specialization and division of labour is highly encouraged.
Thirdly, the principle of mental models also operates the learning organization. Under mental models, the organization purports to eradicate the typical assumptions and stereotypes that employees often have concerning the management of the organization. In that context, the organization ensures no mental stumbling block exists among employees. The organization addresses any negative assumptions made by employees in the course of employment. Issues of remuneration, welfare, compensation, reward mechanisms, performance evaluation, among others are looked into critically. The spirit in mental models approach is to eradicate prejudices and employee perceptions that prevent the organization from achieving its goals and objectives. In addition, all concerns of employees are addressed so as to have his or her full attention at the workplace for the sake of final positive output.
The learning organization is also premised on the shared vision principle. Under the shared vision, it is easier to manage and coordinate employees who share one vision with the organization. This is essentially because in most cases it is the vision that determines the focus and flow of operations. A shared vision consequently translates to a combined workforce that works in harmony. In addition, the vision is the modern clarion call that rallies the organization towards the achievement of its objectives. Once the vision is agreed upon, it can be assumed that every employee appreciates his role towards the organizational concerns and that every employee would play his or her part. The vision equally shows the futuristic nature of the organization. It gives the going concern assumption of the organization and serves as an indicator of the long term goals of the organization. In the long run, the shared vision is used to unite and rally the employees towards overall pursuit of organization goals and objectives.
Finally, the learning organization is modelled on the principle of team learning. Team learning pursues organizational objectives through teamwork. Under that model, the organization works in teams. This approach ensures that no employee is left lagging behind as all employees need to be trained and improved simultaneously. Team learning equally operates on peer learning. Under this principle, employees are expected to learn from their peers before seeking the assistance of others in the organization. In that context, the learning is faster, friendly and informal. This enables the employee appreciate the learning process and learn to develop one another. Ordinarily, the organization will train the entire team through a repeated learning process in which employees learn from one another. In the long run, the organization saves on time, funds and incurs less wastage.
Other than the five principles discussed above, learning organizations a number of characteristics that distinguish them from other organizations. However, it is instructive to note that all the characteristics need to be considered as a whole before classifying an organization as a learning organization. This is because, in most cases, an organization may have one or two of the characteristics and fail to showcase the others. Some of these characteristics include the provision of continuous learning support for employees. Through continuous learning support, employees are able to learn concepts and new developments progressively. The organization ensures the employees are equipped new knowledge for the pursuit of an organizational goal. The organization uses learning to achieve organizational goals. The second characteristics is a linkage of individual performance with the organizational performance. In that context, it is for the individual to tailor his or her performance to the overall organizational performance and ensure a congruency is established. Another characteristic of a learning organization is fostering of dialogue and inquiry. A learning organization has continuous has dialogue ad inquiry among its employees. It is the deliberate intention of such organizations to ensure participatory decision making by involving all employees. In that breadth, the organization will ensure that conflict is solved constructively and that employee participation is encouraged through activities like brainstorming sessions, suggestions and ideas proposals and open retreats and debates. Lastly, the learning organization has established an interactive system that ensures it remains aware of its environment. Through this, it communicates with the external players in the environment and focuses its activities that are in line with the overall environmental demands and trends. By and large, the learning organization is the ideal organization in the modern organizational context.
References
Baack, D. (2012). Organizational Behavior. New York: Thomson Learning Custom Test.
infed.org. (2013, January 3). Peter Senge and the learning organization. Retrieved May 26, 2013, from infed.org: http://infed.org/mobi/peter-senge-and-the-learning-organization/
infed.org. (2013, January 4). The learning organization: principles, theory and practice. Retrieved May 26, 2013, from infed.org: http://infed.org/mobi/the-learning-organization/
Senge, P. M. (2010). The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization. New York: Crown Publishing Group.
