Advantage in learning Organizations
Advantage in learning Organizations
In today’s knowledge economy, learning has become a fundamental competency required by organizations that desire to survive in their respective industries. and to gain the competitive advantage every organization need to process with continues improvement in every aspect (Scarborough and Carter ,2000).
Organizational learning is defined by Easterby-Smith and Araujo (1999) as an ‘efficient procedure to process, interpret and respond to both internal and external information of a predominantly explicit nature. And at the same time Organizational learning is concerned with the development of new knowledge or insights that have the potential to influence behavior (Mabey and Salaman, 1995).
And furthermore Organizational Learning has been defined by Marsick (1994) as a process of “Cordinated systems change, with mechanisms built in for individual’s groups to, build and use organizational, memory, structure and culture to develop long-term organizational capacity.
Outcome of organizational learnings.
Organizational learning outcomes contribute to development of a firm’s resource based capability. This is in accordance with one of the basic principles of human resource Management, namely that is necessary to invest in people in order to develop the intellectual capital required by the organization and thus increases its stock of knowledge and skills (Armstrong 2006). And further more to support the organization learning, as stated by Ehrenbrg and Smith (1994), human capital theory indicates that: “the knowledge and skills a worker has – which comes from education and training, including the training that experience brings- generate productive capital”.
Organizational Learning method’s
Argyris(1992) suggests that organizational leering occurs under two conditions: first when an organization achieves what is intended and second mismatch between intention and outcome is identified and corrected. He distinguishes between single-looping and double learning.
Figure: 1.0 Single and Double looping
Sourse: (Armstrong 2006)
Single-loop or adaptive learning is sequential, incremental and focused on issues and opportunities that are within the scope of the organization’s activities. As described by Argyris (1992), organizations where single-loop learning is the norm define the ‘governing variables’ – what they expect to achieve in terms of targets and standards – and then monitor and review achievements, and take corrective action as necessary, thus completing the loop. Double-loop learning occurs when the monitoring process initiates action to redefine the ‘governing variables’ to meet the new situation, which may be imposed by the external environment. The organization has learnt something new about what has to be achieved in the light of changed circumstances, and can then decide how this should be achieved. This learning is converted into action.
Key principles of the learning organization
Miller and Stewart (1999) propose the following key principles of the learning organization:
● learning and business strategy are closely linked;
● the organization consciously learns from business opportunities and threats;
● individuals, groups and the whole organization are not only learning but also learning how to learn;
● information systems and technology serve to support learning rather than control it;
● there are well-defined processes for defining, creating, capturing, sharing and acting on knowledge;
● these various systems and dimensions are balanced and managed as a whole
Video 01: Learning organization under 6 principles.
Source : (Sprouts, 2017)
Reference
Armstrong, M., 2006. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE. 10th ed. [ebook] London & Philadelphia: British Library, pp.539-550. Available at: <http://file:///D:/MBA%202021/People%20&%20Organaization/pople%20management%20ass1/Advantage%20in%20learning%20org/Handbook%20of%20Human%20Resource.Management.Practice.pdf> [Accessed 12 April 2021].
Argyris, C (1992) On Organizational Learning, Blackwell, Cambridge, MA
Scarborough, H and Carter, C (2000) Investigating Knowledge Management, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, London
Easterby-Smith, M (1997) Disciplines of organizational learning: contributions and critiques, Human Relations, 50(9), pp 1085–1113
Ehrenberg, R G and Smith, R S (1994) Modern Labor Economics, Harper Collins, New York.
Mabey, C and Salaman, G (1995) Strategic Human Resource Management, Blackwell Business, Oxford.
Miller, R and Stewart, J (1999) Opened university, People Management, 5(12), pp 42–46
Smith, J M and Robertson, I T (1986) The Theory and Practice of Systematic Staff Selection, Macmillan, London
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ReplyDeleteAgree with your point of view. Further Marquardt(2002) has stated that organizational learning can be defined as the capability through productivity towards commitment through continuous improvement in the organization. It can also be said as process of finding errors ,mistakes and trying to rectify them which can be done through improvement of performance during the time (Alvani ,2008).
ReplyDeleteYes Pernalla further Organizational learning is defined by Easterby-Smith and Araujo (1999) as an ‘efficient procedure to process, interpret and respond to both internal and external information of a predominantly explicit nature’.
DeleteAdding to you argument, a learning organization is an organization that encourages and facilitates learning in order to continually transform itself to survive and excel in a rapidly changing business environment. The highly complex, interrelated, and integrated global economy of the 21st century presents new challenges to managers and employees attempting to effectively compete in such a dynamic business environment (Yadav et al 2016).
ReplyDeleteThank you, and that learning is an essential ingredient if organizations are to
Deletesurvive; that learning at operational, policy and strategic levels needs to be conscious,
continuous and integrated; and that management is responsible for creating an
emotional climate in which all staff can learn continuously (Garvin,1993).
Very true Duminda, Adding to your article Saadat & Zeynab, (2016) state that learning is the most important way to improve performance in long-term, and in the near future, the only organization, which can utilize people’s abilities, commitment and learning capacity in all the levels of an organization the best, can claim to be superior.
ReplyDeleteYes Sachith ,Garvin (1993) defines a learning organization as one which is ‘skilled at creating,acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights’. He believes that learning organizations ensure that they
Deletelearn from experience, develop continuous improvement programmed, use systematic problem-solving techniques, and transfer knowledge quickly and efficiently
throughout the organization by means of formal training programs linked to
implementation.
Agreed Duminda, Further, the three pillars of a learning organization are 'A supportive learning environement, Concrete learning processes and leadership that reinforces learning' (Garwin et al., 2008, p.1). A learning environment consists of subsystems which includes organization, people, knowledge, and technology where each should be taken in to consideration when when designing a learning environment in an organization (Serrat, 2017).
ReplyDeleteThank you Arjun, Pernala also comment a similar comment that Further Marquardt(2002) has stated that organizational learning can be defined as the capability through productivity towards commitment through continuous improvement in the organization.
DeleteAgree with you. (Shin et al., 2016) propose below five critical factors for a learning organizations.
ReplyDelete1. establishing and communicating a clear sense of direction and purpose
2. empowering employees at all levels
3. accumulating and sharing internal knowledge
4. gathering and integrating external information
5. challenging the status quo and enabling creativity
Yes Chamara, The learning community is an organization in which all members acquire new ideas and accept responsibility for developing and maintaining the organization and members working together, mutually understanding each other, yet respecting the diversity of one another (Harison,2005).
DeleteAgree with you. A learning culture is one with organizational values, systems and practices that support and encourage both individuals, and the organization, to increase knowledge, competence and performance levels on an ongoing basis. This, in turn, promotes continuous improvement and supports the achievement of business goals, innovation and the ability to deal with change(Blackwood, K. 2014).
ReplyDeleteWell said Wasantha, learning organization is somewhat nebulous. It incorporates
Deletemiscellaneous ideas about human resource development, systematic training, action
learning, organizational development and knowledge management, with an infusion
of the precepts of total quality management (Argyris and Schon ,1996)
Agree Duminda, Learning organization considered as a vital resource in achieving competitive advantage by learning sooner, faster and better than the competitors in order to strategically achieve company goal (Saadat, 2016).
ReplyDeleteIndeed Sujeendran , as per the Sloman (1999) asserts, they often fail to recognize that learning is a continuousprocess, not a set of discrete training activities.
DeleteAgreed Duminda, adding to your point, in a learning organisation, mistakes are not viewed as failures, rather they are viewed as opportunities to learn and improve on organisational
ReplyDeleteoutcomes (Odor, 2018).
In added-value Sathaharan , mistakes are not viewed as failures, rather they are viewed as opportunities to learn and improve on organizational outcomes (Odor, 2018). This is likely to provide more benefit to organizations than pursuing the will-o’-the-wisp of the learning organization as originally conceived (Armstrong,2006).
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAgree Duminda, adding to your point, . Kaplan and Norton (1996), suggest ``flying an airplane with the altimeter is fine, until you run out of fuel''. This is a vivid analogy for organizations who solely focus on the monthly or quarterly bottom line.
ReplyDelete