Question 1
Organizational learning is a process involving the creation, retention, and transfer of knowledge within the organization. It involves the expansion of experience in the line of business that the organization focuses on to improve the level of accuracy and efficiency. When referring to organizational learning, the individuals within the organization are the ones who receive the learning since they directly run the business. Individuals within a particular department participate in the learning process to improve their job performance.
Teamwork, however, is the most effective learning strategy to use in organizational learning since the entire organization does not rely on the performance of an individual. According to Wenger (2000, p. 225), organizational success depends on how a company positions itself as a social learning system. Learning in groups ensures that every area in the organization receives ample representation to ensure coordination of efforts across the organization (Lakey, 2010, p.25). This enables the employees gain a wider perspective of the organization’s operations and understand their role in its overall success. For example, when working in a production department, I gained knowledge of how my efforts can affect operations in other departments especially the marketing department.
Groups enhance motivation within the employees through instilling a competitive spirit by setting goals. The individuals within the groups contribute their knowledge and skills into uplifting the performance of the entire group. This enables them to sharpen their strong points while improving on their weak areas. Within groups, individuals can learn from each other in a convenient manner through observing the experienced coworkers at work. A stranger with limited knowledge of how the organization operates may find it difficulty explaining the relevance of certain operations in the context of the organization’s operations.
However, learning from individuals working under similar conditions may open up one’s mind to different ways of doing things to improve efficiency (Sessa and London, 2008, p.60). The manner in which individuals interact with one another shapes their experiences (Wenger, 200, p.240). Learning within groups becomes very effective since the employees understand the context of their jobs through their experience working for the organization. They can, therefore, identify operations that can work within the organization and those that cannot. Learning as a group makes learning interesting and the level of interaction involved helps to foster teamwork useful in various organizational performances (Gear and Vince, 2012, p.79). It also gives the employees pride to associate with the organization and to put in extra efforts to ensure its success.
Question 3
Culture dictates people’s lifestyles and differs in terms of religion, geographical location, gender, and sexual orientation among others. National culture may differ depending on an individual’s geographic relation since people from a certain region tend to behave in a certain way, which may differ from people in another region. The working place has to incorporate the effects of national culture when designing the organizational culture and when dictating behavior at the workplace. Culture dictates how employees behave, conduct their work, use language, and approach problems (Lagan and Moran, 2005, p.110). It, therefore, has a strong bearing on working relationships between coworkers within the organization.
Acquisition of personal values occurs within the national culture and occurs unconsciously hence people identify their values when confronted by an individual with different values (Ivancevich, Konopaske, and Matteson, 2014, p.33). Values differ between individuals depending on their cultural inclination hence people within a workforce may possess very conflicting values. This may cause conflicts within the working place over routine operations and even over major decision-making. Individuals, therefore, apply values learned through the national culture system into the organization’s activities. Making decisions at the workplace requires the application of a person's knowledge, intuition, experience, as well as personal judgment, which relies on personal values (Ivancevich, Konopaske and Matteson, 2014, p.103).
Individuals judge other people’s behavior depending on their own beliefs, which may lead to major misunderstandings due to cultural differences. For example, an individual coming from a culture that promotes individualism may find it difficult to work with a team or to mentor young employees. An individual coming from a culture promoting male chauvinism may have difficulty respecting female coworkers at the workplace. Understanding cultural diversity may help the management in designing an organizational culture that appreciates this diversity and that promotes peaceful coexistence among employees.
Cultural diversity affects the social and working relationships within the organization and determines the cohesion of employees within the organization. Cultural groupings may, therefore, emerge when people with a similar cultural background come together to share ideas and interests. People within these groupings have similar perspectives on life situations and mostly approach situations in a similar manner.
The management can use these groupings to promote the organizational culture through relating this culture to their national culture (Beham, Straub and Schwalbach, 2012, p.99). This indicates their inclusion in the organization and their importance in the organization. The management should, however, discourage groupings along cultural lines and encourage integrative social groupings that include people from different cultures. Using social ties to effect cultural change is the most effective way to encourage a positive response from employees and their active participation. Replacing national culture with organizational culture enhances cohesiveness among employees and gives them a common perspective towards the corporate operations and performance.
Question 5
Servant leadership is a form of participative leadership where the leader encourages the participation of subordinates in decision-making (Hammer, 2012, p.11). This fosters their knowledge application and enables the exploration of their full potential in gaining experience. This form of leadership rethinks the traditional relationship between the leader and subordinates where the leader gives orders while the latter follows them without any questions. The concept holds that a servant-leader is a servant first since for one to become a leader, he must have the desire to serve first.
Leadership is as a form of service to the subjects rather than an authoritative platform. Being a servant-leader means dedicating one’s efforts to help the employees, customers, among other stakeholders. This leadership philosophy has been around for years, and religions are the greatest supporters of this form of leadership due to its moral inclination. A leader is, therefore, a servant of the people he serves and this position only exists due to the presence of subordinates.
Benevolent leadership lies on the concept of succeeding through making others succeed (Karakas & Sarigollu, 2012, p.544). A benevolent leader is, therefore, one that understands the people he serves and identifies their strengths as well as weaknesses (Karakas, 2009, p.25). The process of learning people’s personalities helps in identifying the tasks that they can tackle and those that they can perform better than others identify. Learning the individuals is the first step towards adopting this form of leadership.
A leader should have direct contact with the people he leads to understand their needs and determine how best to serve them. This leader will encourage the individuals to undertake various tasks that may develop their skills and improve their performance on various tasks. The leader then takes up the role of motivating the employees through appreciating work well done and offering suggestions to improve problematic areas. At the management level, a leader’s performance relies on the performance of subordinates. Leaders, therefore, understand that the secret to success lies in the success of subordinates in performing their tasks. A successful leader must, therefore, take the responsibility of ensuring the growth of his subordinates in terms of skills and knowledge acquisition.
Question 6
Experiential learning occurs through personal and environmental experiences where an individual acquires knowledge firsthand rather than getting it from another person (Kolb, 2005, p.2). Learning occurs through gaining of experience in a certain field, and this learning does not require a teacher or a facilitator. It is a form of genuine learning that is very effective for employees especially those working in departments that require a high level of skills. A firm can use this form of learning to improve the standard of expertise among employees. This would enhance the value of their work and lead to production of high-quality goods and services. This can help the organization in gaining a competitive edge by using quality as a selling point. The presence of a pool of experienced workforce gives confidence to the customers that they will receive a high standard of service and quality products from the experts. This level of confidence attracts customers to the organization and encourages frequent purchases. This improves the corporate image hence makes the organization stand out from its competitors. It also leads to customer loyalty where the customer permanently identifies with the organization as well as its products.
Reflection in action relates to the ability of an individual to think on their feet and apply their feelings, prior experiences, and emotions into dealing with a professional issue (Denton, 2000, p.43). This is an important attribute for employees in handling matters that arise in the performance of their duties. They should be able to make decisions that contribute to the achievement of organizational goals and that lead to the attainment of set targets. This can help the organization gain a competitive advantage during an economic crisis that affects the entire industry. Here, the organization that responds the fastest to the changes through the formulation of strategies becomes successful in maintaining its market share as well as widening its market share. Employees with the ability to think fast on their feet can help the organization deal with a crisis and enable it to take advantage of emerging opportunities for expansion.
Reflection on action refers to the analysis that a practitioner engages after an experience by assessing the response to the situation, analysis of the reasons for the reaction and the consequences of their actions (Mcniff and Whitehead, 2001, p.89). Through this form of reflection, an individual can determine whether they possessed sufficient knowledge of the situation, whether they undertook the right actions and understood their response to various situations. This enables improvement in problem solving by identifying possible problems and how well to deal with different circumstances. This approach to learning can be beneficial to the organization by enhancing the problem-solving skills of the employees. Through personal evaluation, an individual acquires motivation to improve their performance by beating their previous achievements. A motivated workforce translates into a positive corporate image. Efficiency is also a product of motivated employees who work into attaining the organizational goals.
References
Beham, B., Straub, C., and Schwalbach, J., 2012. Managing Diversity in Organizations. Germany: Wiesbaden.
Denton, J., 2000. Organizational learning and effectiveness. New York: Routledge.
Gear, T. and Vince, R., 2012. Group Inquiry to aid organisational learning in enterprises. Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol. 63, pp.736-747.
Hammer, D. C., 2012. Servant leadership. New York: Pacific Creek Books.
Ivancevich, J.M., Konopaske, R. and Matteson, M.T., 2014. Chapter Two - National and Organizational Culture, Organisational Behavior and Management, 10th edn. McGraw-Hill Irwin, NY. pp.33-59.
Karakas, F., 2009. Benevolent leadership. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Karakas, F. and Sarigollu, E., 2012. Benevolent Leadership: Conceptualization and Construct Development. Journal of Business Ethics, Vol 108 pp.537-553.
Kolb, D.A., 2005. Chapter Two – The Process of Experiential Learning, Experiential Learning Experience as The Source of Learning and Development, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall Inc.
Lagan, A. and Moran, B., 2005. Three-dimensional ethics: Implementing workplace values. London: Econtent Management Pty Ltd.
Lakey, G., 2010. Facilitating group learning: strategies for success with diverse adult learners. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass.
Mcniff, J. and Whitehead, J., 2001. Action learning in organizations, New York: Routledge.
Sessa, V. I. and London, M., 2008. Work group learning: understanding, improving and assessing how groups learn in organizations. New York: Taylor & Francis
Wenger, E., 2004. Communities of practice and social learning systems. In K. Starkey, S. Tempest & A. McKinlay, eds. How organizations learn: managing the search for knowledge. Thomson Learning: London Ch. 12.
