Learning_Organization

Learning Organization Organization Management & Leadership Prepared by: Ali Barada Mahmoud Kobrosly Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTION 6 II. THE FIVE DISCIPLINES 6 1. Building Shared Visions 6 2. Team Learning 7 3. Personal Mastery 7 4. Mental Models 7 5. Systems Thinking 7 III- LEARNING ORGANIZATION AND CULTURE 8 1) Future, external orientation 8 2) Free exchange and flow of information 8 3) Commitment to learning, personal development - support from top 8 4) Valuing people 8 5) Climate of openness and trust 8 6) Learning from experience 8 IV- KEY MANAGEMENT PROCESSES 8 1) Strategic and Scenario Planning 8 2) Competitor Analysis 8 3) Information and Knowledge Management 9 4) Capability Planning 9 5) Team and Organisation development 9 6) Performance Measurement 9 7) Reward and Recognition Systems 9 V- FRAMEWORK OF THE LEARNING ORGANIZATION FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES SME 9 1) Step One: SME Structure 10 2) Step Two: Individuals 11 3) Step Three: Teams 11 4) Step Four: Management 11 5) Step Five: External Environment 12 6) Outcome – Learning Organization 13 VI- HOW TO ACHIEVE THE PRINCIPLES OF A LEARNING ORGANIZATION 13 1) Stage one is to create a communications system to facilitate the exchange of information. 13 2) Stage two is to organize a 'readiness questionnaire 13 3) Stage three is to commit to developing 14 4) Stage four: Create vision. 14 5) Stage five is through training and awareness programs. 14 6) Stage six is to "communicate a change in the company's culture. 14 7) Stage seven is to initiate the new practices by emphasizing team learning and contributions. 14 8) Stage eight is to allow employees to question key business practices and assumptions. 14 9) Stage nine is to develop workable expectations for future actions 14 10) Stage ten is to remember that becoming a learning organization is a long process and that small setbacks should be expected. 14 VII- SKILL SETS NEEDED BY INDIVIDUALS 15 1) Ability to understand the culture of the organization 15 2) Ability to let go of old myths 15 3) Ability to notice new patterns- language as an indicator 15 4) Ability to develop a clear perspective. 15 5) Ability to generate energy. 15 6) Ability to learn forever 15 7) Ability to own your own career 15 8) Ability to create "safe" environment for others 15 9) Ability to see what's coming and what's leaving. 15 VIII- OBSTACLES TO LEARNING ORGANIZATION 16 1) Operational/fire fighting preoccupation 16 2) Too focused on systems and process 16 3) Reluctance to train. 16 4) Too many hidden personal agendas. 16 5) Too top-down driven. 16 IX- WHY LEARNING ORGANIZATIONS WORK 16 a) The People Develop 16 b) Greater motivation 16 c) The workforce is more flexible 16 d) People are more creative 16 e) Teams and Groups Work Better 17 f) Knowledge sharing "Openness Creates Trust" 17 g) Interdependency 17 h) The Company Benefits 17 i) Breakdown of traditional communication barriers 17 j) Customer relations 17 k) Information resources 18 l) Innovation and creativity 18 X- TRADITIONAL ORGANIZATION VERSUS LEARNING ORGANIZATION 18 XI. LEARNING ORGANIZATION QUESTIONNAIRE & KEY FUNCTIONS 19 1. Creating a Supportive Culture 19 2. Gathering Internal Experience 20 3. Accessing External Learning 20 4. Communication Systems 21 5. Mechanisms for Drawing Conclusions 22 6. Developing an Organizational Memory 23 7. Integrating Learning into Strategy and Policy 24 8. Applying the Learning 24 XII. GOVERNMENT VERSUS PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS 31 XIII. CONCLUSION 34 I. Introduction A learning organization is one that seeks to create its own future; that assumes learning is an ongoing and creative process for its members; and one that develops, adapts, and transforms itself in response to the needs and aspirations of people, both inside and outside itself. Learning organization can provide work environments that are open to creative thought, and embrace the concept that solutions to ongoing work-related problems are available inside each and every one of us. Learning organization is a place where people continually expand their capacity to create results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free and where people are continually learning how to learn. McGill et al. (1992) define the Learning Organization as "A company that can respond to new information by altering the very "programming" by which information is processed and evaluated." Peter Senge is a leading writer in the area of learning organizations, whose seminal works The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, and The Fifth Discipline Field book: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization explain that there are five disciplines, which must be mastered when introducing such an organization. Senge (1990) defines the Learning Organization as organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together.." The concept of Learning Organization is increasingly relevant given the increasing complexity and uncertainty of the organizational environment. As Senge (1990) remarks: "The rate at which organizations learn may become the only sustainable source of competitive advantage." The dimension that distinguishes learning from more traditional organizations is the mastery of certain basic disciplines or ‘component technologies’. The five that Peter Senge identifies are said to be converging to innovate learning organizations. They are: Building Shared Vision Team Learning Personal Mastery Mental Models Systems Thinking II. The five disciplines 1. Building Shared Visions Visions cannot be dictated because it begins with the personal visions of individual employees, who may not agree with the leader's vision. What is needed is a genuine vision that elicits commitment in good times and bad, and has the power to bind an organization together. As Peter Senge contends, "building shared vision fosters a commitment to the long term" (Senge 1990). 2. Team Learning Is important because currently, modern organizations operate on the basis of teamwork, which means that organizations cannot learn if team members do not come together and learn, It process of developing the ability to create desired results; to have a goal in mind and work together to attain it (Senge 1990). Figure (1): The Five Learning Disciplines 3. Personal Mastery Begins "by becoming committed to . . . lifelong learning," and is the spiritual cornerstone of a learning organization. Personal Mastery involves being more realistic, focusing on becoming the best person possible, and to strive for a sense of commitment and excitement in our careers to facilitate realization of potential (Senge 1990). 4. Mental Models They must be managed because they do prevent new and powerful insights and organizational practices from becoming implemented. The process begins with self- reflection, unearthing deeply held belief structures and generalizations, and understand how they dramatically influence the way we operate in our own lives. Until there is realization and a focus on openness, real change can never be implemented (Senge 1990). 5. Systems Thinking The ability to see the big picture, and to distinguish patterns instead of conceptualizing change as isolated events, system thinking needs the other four disciplines to enable a learning organization to come about. There must be a paradigm shift - from being unconnected to interconnected to the whole, and from blaming our problems on something external, to a realization that how we operate, our actions, can create problems (Senge 1990). III- Learning Organization and Culture Culture is an organizational climate that nurtures learning. It is the glue that holds an organization together. to create a culture and environment that will be the foundation for a learning organization, people must realize the beginning comes with "a shift of mind - from seeing ourselves as separate from the world to connected to the world" (Senge 1996); from seeing ourselves as integral components in the workplace, rather than as separate and unimportant, robotic caricatures. This is depicted in: 1) Future, external orientation These organisations develop understanding of their environment; senior teams take time out to think about the future. Widespread use of external sources and advisors e.g. customers on planning teams. 2) Free exchange and flow of information Systems are in place to ensure that expertise is available where it is needed; individuals network extensively, crossing organisational boundaries to develop their knowledge and expertise. 3) Commitment to learning, personal development - support from top Management; people at all levels encouraged to learn regularly; learning is rewarded. Time to think and learn (understanding, exploring, reflecting, developing) 4) Valuing people Ideas, creativity and "imaginative capabilities" are stimulated, made use of and developed. Diversity is recognised as strength, views can be challenged. 5) Climate of openness and trust Individuals are encouraged to develop ideas, to speak out, to challenge actions. 6) Learning from experience Learning from mistakes is often more powerful than learning from success. Failure is tolerated, provided lessons are learnt ("learning from fast failure" - Peters). IV- Key Management Processes 1) Strategic and Scenario Planning Approaches to planning that go beyond the numbers, encourage challenging assumptions, thinking 'outside of the box'. They also allocate a proportion of resources for experimentation. 2) Competitor Analysis Competitor Analysis, as part of a process of continuous monitoring and analysis of all key factors in the external environment including technology and political factors are a coherent competitor analysis process that gathers information from multiple sources, sifts, analyses, refines, adds value and redistributes is evidence that the appropriate mechanisms are in place. 3) Information and Knowledge Management Using techniques to identify, audit, value (cost/benefit), develop and exploit information as a resource (known as IRM - information resources management); use of collaboration processes and groupware e.g. Lotus Notes, First Class to categorise and share expertise. 4) Capability Planning Profiling both qualitatively and quantitatively the competencies of the organisation, profiling these on a matrix can be helpful to planning adjustment: 5) Team and Organisation development The use of facilitators to help groups with work, job and organisation design and team development - reinforcing values, developing vision, cohesiveness and a climate of stretching goals, sharing and support 6) Performance Measurement Finding appropriate measures and indicators of performance; ones that provide a 'balanced scorecard' and encourage investment in learning (see, for example, Measuring Intellectual Capital). 7) Reward and Recognition Systems Processes and systems that recognize acquisition of new skills team-work as well as individual effort, celebrate successes and accomplishments, and encourage continuous personal development. V- Framework of the Learning Organization for small and medium enterprises SME The proposed framework of a learning organization, incorporates stages and phases that assist in the aforemen¬tioned characteristics to be ‘built-in' an SME. For example, phase 1 of step 4 and 5 of the framework proposes the development of a com¬munications strategy that enables communication with internal and external stakeholders, which results in the environment being scanned for information. Step two of the proposed framework proposes a strategy that enables knowledge to be transferred throughout the organiza¬tion. This is achieved by having a constant feedback loop between management and staff. The outcome of the framework proposes an organization that enables behaviours to change, which is the third component part of the learning organization as discussed above, through the development of a philosophy of lifelong learning being embedded in the workplace, the business being flexible, responsive and adaptive to change and a culture being created which leads to novel solutions to problems and new ideas emerging. The learning organization, however, is just another means to a business goal. It is not an end in itself, but a route to improved performance, productivity and profit. According to Senge, it is one of the current ‘big things'. In effect, the concept represents a methodology for man-agement of change. It does, however, pay particular at¬tention to valuing employees and to the implementation of structures and mechanisms which allow employees to recognize the value placed on them and to contribute to the development of their own work area and of the organization. If an organization can establish a work¬force that genuinely uses team work and uses a process of reflective, aggressive, self-transformation to become an adaptive flexible force for delivery, it could claim to be a learning organization. The most significant and influential piece of writing from within the learning organization literature is Senge's. He stated: “Real learning gets to the heart of what it means to be human. Through learning we re-create ourselves. Through learning we become able to do something we never were able to do. Through learning we extend our capacity to create, to be part of the generative process of life. There is within each of us a deep hunger for this type of learning”. Thus, it is important to note, Senge is pointing towards the need for all organizations to embark upon a journey of continuous improvement which, by defini¬tion, will have no real ‘ending point'. The framework (in Figure 1), which identifies observable actions that can be taken to build a learning organization within the framework of an SME, is based on research conducted by Birdthistle6. Birdthistle's6 research, which was influenced by theorists like Watkins and Marsick, Senge, and Pedler et al. involved the examination of the learning orientation of 121 family SMEs. The resulting framework shares characteristics with that of leading researchers like Watkins and Marsick4 and Redding and Catalanello8. Furthermore, Birdthistle6 evaluated the literature to ensure that the actionable steps within the framework covered adequate content area for the construct of the learning organization. 1) Step One: SME Structure SMEs need to be structured so as to enable the adoption of learning organization characteristics. This first step entails three phases. The first phase requires an SME that is composed of a structure that is adap¬tive to change. This is where an SME has the ability to adapt, evolve or change its behaviour in response to its environment and this can be accomplished through having multi-disciplinary teams, a management board with outside advisors, and the implementation of a learning culture where the organization accepts a set of attitudes, values and practices (such as enabling people to continuously challenge the ways of doing things in the SME) that support the process of continuous learning within the organization. Thus a learning culture empow¬ers the organization to achieve dramatically improved results compared to more traditional organizations, as it enables the business to: easily adapt to change; actually anticipate change; be more responsive to the market place; generate more energetic, loyal and goal oriented employees; and grow through innovation. The second phase requires the SME to implement systems that en¬able the characteristics of the learning organization to be adopted within. Birdthistle6 suggests that the business develops a system where the gaps between actual and desired results are identified. Furthermore, she recom¬mends that a budgeting system be developed for the provision of learning and training. Additionally, as the business grows the founders' time should be devoted to strategic planning and the determination of future goals and objectives; therefore, it is suggested that a delegation system be planned and implemented. The third phase of Step One is the strategy development phase. Birdthistle6 suggests that the SME devise plans for the future of the business. These plans should identify the training goals of all employees. The SME needs to plan for the integra¬tion of learning within the working environment and this is done through analyzing the skills set of the individuals and the goals of the business, which leads into Step Two. 2) Step Two: Individuals In this step, Birdthistle recommends that the SME should ensure that there is constant communication between management and staff and there is a continu¬ous feedback loop between the two. Communication and feedback can be achieved on a formal (e.g., scheduled meetings) or informal (e.g., email, billboards) basis and the cost is typically insignificant. So as to enable a learning organization to be ‘built' within the SME, one must ensure that employees are empowered. By giving employees responsibility for decision-making, the SME is empowering employees, thus giving them authority within the business. Birdthistle6 suggests that owner-managers should identify and plan for the necessary skills of their staff. By implementing a skills-set database through an IT system, the business will be aware of the employees' skills and skills gaps. Furthermore, the SME can use the identification of employees' skills for ap¬praisal purposes and to be adaptive to the needs of their employees. 3) Step Three: Teams The first phase of Step Three is ensuring that there is communication and feedback between the team in the organization and the management of the business. This can be done through regular meetings with manage¬ment and/or enabling team members to have ‘upward' communication with management. The second phase of Step Three is the development of team goals and systems devised to enable them to implement their recommen¬dations – unhindered by management. The third phase of Step Three is ensuring that the team is rewarded for its actions. This phase of the model of the learning organization for SMEs recommends a reward system be implemented for the team, which can take the form of financial and non-financial rewards. 4) Step Four: Management As with Step Three, management has to develop a communications strategy so as to communicate with its internal stakeholders (i.e., employees). By communi¬cating with their internal stakeholders, management is ‘opening' the business to its stakeholders and creating a more ‘professional' atmosphere. The second phase of Step Four is the creation of a learning culture within the managers of the business. Birdthistle recommends that the SME managers should consider their cultural ori¬entation concerning learning; for example, what is their attitude towards the mentoring of lower levels of man¬agers or up skilling themselves' By implementing this phase, management should be open to all learning pos¬sibilities and should allocate funds to a learning budget. The final phase of Step Four is the implementation of strategy. This phase suggests that in order to implement strategy, the management of the SME should implement a mentoring system in order to enable informal learn¬ing practices to be adopted. Furthermore, management should ensure that the organization maintains a simple structure and that a clear strategy is devised, with the help of employees, for the creation of a unified vision. Furthermore, this phase suggests that management should identify leaders so as to assist in the implementa¬tion of the characteristics of the learning organization. Step One SME Structure Composition Systems Strategy Development Step Two Individuals Communication Empower Skills set Step Three Teams Communication Goals Rewards Step Four Management Communication Culture Strategy Step Five External Environment Communication Customers Competition Outcome Knowledge employees Customer focus Increased business performance Learning Organization Organization Knowledge More knowledge Global participation Table (1): Framework of the Learning Organization 5) Step Five: External Environment The first phase of Step Five is to ensure that the busi¬ness communicates with the external environment. It is suggested that the management of the business should join networks and/or associations that are beneficial to the individual and the business. The business should ensure that it can identify and disseminate information from the outside environment and that management can actively deal with the information as it comes in. The second phase of Step Five is being customer orientated, which can be accomplished through the identification of customer needs. Having customer panels can provide insights into customer needs that might not have been received in the past. Ensuring open lines of communica¬tion are available to customers is pertinent to the busi¬ness and to the customer. This can be done through the introduction of a hotline number that is managed and dealt with by a member of staff. The final phase of Step Five is competition. This phase involves having a system whereby the work and activities of competitors are moni¬tored, and the information is then disseminated within the organization. 6) Outcome – Learning Organization Through the implementation of Steps One to Five, a number of outcomes evolve. Firstly, the development of the characteristics of the learning organization in the SME leads to knowledgeable employees. This evolves due to employees being empowered to make decisions, systems being implemented so that they can avail of learning and the culture of the business are learning focused. Secondly, the organization is knowledgeable through interacting with the environment and having systems that garner information and disseminate and distribute it internally. Thirdly, due to the SME display¬ing the characteristics of the learning organization, this leads to being closer to the external environment. By adopting this approach, the business is customer focused and driven and is proactive to their needs, wants and desires. Fourthly, by having knowledgeable employees, being a learning driven business, and being customer fo¬cused, this leads to the SME being more competitive. The business has adaptive employees, it can anticipate and monitor changes in the external environment, and will have systems internally that can deal with those changes. Fifthly, through improved communications internally, more motivated employees, improved internal systems, being aware of changes in the external environment, and being adaptive to those changes leads to an SME that has increased business performance. Finally, the sixth outcome of the SME displaying the characteristics of the learning organization is that it becomes a global participator. This results from the implementation of IT systems and through the interaction with the external environment. Therefore, the final outcome of the imple¬mentation of Steps One to Five is an SME that has the potential to be a learning organization. VI- How to Achieve the Principles of a Learning Organization The first step is to create a timeline to initiate the types of changes that are necessary to achieve the principles of a learning organization. Timeline: In Order of Appearance 1) Stage one is to create a communications system to facilitate the exchange of information. Basis on which any learning organization is built (Gephart 1996,), the use of technology has and will continue to alter the workplace by enabling information to flow freely, and to "provide universal access to business and strategic information"(Gephart 1996,). It is also important in clarifying the more complex concepts into more precise language that is understandable across departments (Kaplan 1996,). 2) Stage two is to organize a 'readiness questionnaire A tool that assesses the distance between where an organization is and where it would like to be in terms of the following seven dimensions: i. Providing continuous learning ii. Providing strategic leadership iii. Promoting inquiry and dialogue iv. Encouraging collaboration and team learning v. Creating embedded structures for capturing and sharing learning vi. Empowering people toward a shared vision vii. Making systems connections" (Gephart 1996,). This is administered to all employees or a sample of them, and will develop an assessment profile, used to design the learning organization initiative. (Gephart 1996,). 3) Stage three is to commit to developing Maintaining, and facilitating an atmosphere that garners learning. 4) Stage four: Create vision. With the help of all employees, create a vision of the organization and write a mission statement (Gephart 1996,). 5) Stage five is through training and awareness programs. Try to expand employees' behaviours to develop skills and understanding attitudes needed to reach the goals of the mission statement, including the ability to work well with others, become more verbal, and network with people across all departments within the organization (Navran 1993). 6) Stage six is to "communicate a change in the company's culture. By integrating human and technical systems" (Gephart 1996,). 7) Stage seven is to initiate the new practices by emphasizing team learning and contributions. Because they will become more interested in self-regulation and management and be more prepared to meet the challenges of an ever changing workplace. (Gephart 1996). 8) Stage eight is to allow employees to question key business practices and assumptions. 9) Stage nine is to develop workable expectations for future actions 10) Stage ten is to remember that becoming a learning organization is a long process and that small setbacks should be expected. It is the journey that is most important thing because it brings everyone together to work as one large team. In addition, it has inherent financial benefits by turning the workplace into a well-run and interesting place to work; a place which truly values its employees. VII- Skill sets needed by individuals Jennifer James, cultural anthropologist has identified the skill sets for the 21st century mind. 1) Ability to understand the culture of the organization 2) Ability to let go of old myths 3) Ability to notice new patterns- language as an indicator i. Multitasking ii. Miniaturization iii. Short-term memory overload iv. Low level depression and increasingly angry culture v. Changes of speed 4) Ability to develop a clear perspective. i. Ability to relax ii. Sense of humour - ability to laugh iii. Knowing your history iv. Insulate hot buttons and fears v. Ability to scan for information vi. Pretend you are an anthropologist. Examine what leaders reward, evaluate, and control; what they are paying attention to; and what are they measuring 5) Ability to generate energy. (With coaching and building self-esteem; ability to bring energy into a room) 6) Ability to learn forever 7) Ability to own your own career 8) Ability to create "safe" environment for others 9) Ability to see what's coming and what's leaving. (So you can make choices faster; faster response time) “In the early 20th century, philosopher and scientist Otto Neurath envisioned scientists as sailors who on the open sea must reconstruct their ship but are never able to start from the bottom... They must make use of some drifting timber of the old structure -- but they cannot put the ship in dock to start from scratch. During their work they stay on the old structure and deal with heavy gales and thundering waves. This is a wonderful metaphor for the challenge we face in a world of ever-accelerating change. We must learn about complex systems -- which have grown increasingly dangerous -- all the while living in the midst of these systems." VIII- Obstacles to learning organization We would like to affirm that while the visionary concepts of the Learning Organization are inspiring, the reality is that implementation of such systems requires a massive change of attitude that is not always easy to achieve. Success rests in creating a highly-trust organization where knowledge is readily exchanged. In practice there are many barriers. Knowledge is seen as power, and jealously guarded. Its possession and use can further ambitions. A culture of openness may be difficult to achieve, particularly in organizations where suspicion has been the norm. Knowledge management thus has serious implications for communication structures, employee involvement schemes, reward systems and industrial relations. Some of the most common obstacles to becoming a learning organization should be avoided in our case: 1) Operational/fire fighting preoccupation 2) Too focused on systems and process 3) Reluctance to train. 4) Too many hidden personal agendas. 5) Too top-down driven. IX- Why Learning Organizations work Learning organizations usually perform better because of the changes they exert in the organizations themselves (rules, regulations ....) as well as the workforce of this organization from the highest the lowest where changes become more evident : a) The People Develop A Learning Organization encourages its members to improve their personal skills and qualities, so that they can learn and develop. They benefit from their own and other people's experience, whether it be positive or negative. b) Greater motivation People are appreciated for their own skills, values and work. All opinions are treated equally and with respect. By being aware of their role and importance in the whole organization, the workers are more motivated to "add their bit". This encourages creativity and freethinking, hence leading to novel solutions to problems. All in all there is an increase in job satisfaction. c) The workforce is more flexible People learn skills and acquire knowledge beyond their specific job requirements. This enables them to appreciate or perform other roles and tasks. Flexibility allows workers to move freely within the organization, whilst at the same time it removes the barriers associated with a rigidly structured company. It also ensures that any individual will be able to cope rapidly with a changing environment, such as those that exist in modern times. d) People are more creative There are more opportunities to be creative in a learning organization. There is also room for trying out new ideas without having to worry about mistakes. Employees' creative contribution is recognized and new ideas are free to flourish. 5 Improved social interaction Learning requires social interaction and interpersonal communication skills. An organization based on learning will ensure members become better at these activities. Teams will work better as a result. e) Teams and Groups Work Better Learning Organizations provide the perfect environment for high performing teams to learn, grow and develop. On the other hand these teams will perform efficiently for the organization to produce positive results. f) Knowledge sharing "Openness Creates Trust" A team is composed of highly specialized members who cannot and are not expected to know everything about a job. In this case the sharing of common knowledge is quite important for the completion of a job. Within learning organizations in general, and teams in particular, information and knowledge flows around more freely. This makes for higher productivity within teams and between teams as they build on each other’s strengths. Trust between team members increases and hence they value each other’s opinions more. g) Interdependency In any organization people depend on each other for the completion of their jobs. Learning Organizations will increase this awareness, and improve relations between people at a personal level. By knowing more about other people's roles, needs and tasks, members can manage their time better and plan their work more efficiently. This dependency is decreased as learning is enhanced, letting people get on with their own job better as they rely less on others. h) The Company Benefits An active learning organization will have at its heart the concept of continuous learning. Therefore it will always be improving in its techniques, methods and technology. i) Breakdown of traditional communication barriers The old hierarchical communication barrier between manager-workers has devolved into more of a coach-team member scenario. Leaders support the team, not dictate to it. The team appreciates this, which in turn helps them to be highly motivated. All workers have an increased awareness of the company's status, and all that goes on in other departments. Communication between and across all layers of the company gives other departments. Communication between and across all layers of the company gives a sense of coherence making each individual a vital part of the whole system, workers perform better as they feel more a part of the company; they are not just pawns in a game. j) Customer relations A company's first priority is its customer's needs. A Learning Organization cuts the excess bureaucracy normally involved with customer relations allowing greater contact between the two. If the customer’s requirements change, learning organizations can adapt faster and cope more efficiently with this change. k) Information resources Over time a company builds up a pool of learning, in the form of libraries, and human expertise. This pool of knowledge within learning organizations is larger than average. New problems and challenges can be met faster using this increased resource. l) Innovation and creativity As more people in every level of a company engage in continual learning a valid contribution can come from any member of the company, and from any part of the company. Being innovative and creative is the responsibility of the whole workforce and allows learning organizations to adapt to changes in the state of the market, technology and competition efficiently. Moreover, this creativity gives rise to an increased synergy. The interaction between high performing teams produces a result, which is higher than was planned or expected of them. X- Traditional Organization Versus Learning Organization The McKinsey 7-S Framework provides a systems view for describing the major differences between a traditional view of an organization and a learning organization. In the McKinsey 7-S Framework, seven key elements of an organization, namely, the structure, measurement system, management style, staff characteristics, distinctive staff skills, strategy/action plan, and shared values are identified. The first six elements are organized around the organizations shared values. However, Hitt adds an eighth element — synergistic teams — that he describes as the ‘missing link’. It is this element that Hitt regards as being at the core of the learning organization. Synergistic teams provide the means for the members of the organization to learn together, developing collective intelligence that is greater than the sum of the intelligence of the individual members. Table below illustrates the characteristics of the traditional view of an organization and the characteristics of a learning organization. Element Traditional Organization Learning organization Shared Values Efficiency Effectiveness Excellence Organizational Renewal Management Style Control Facilitator Coach Strategy/Action Plan Top down approach Road map Everyone is consulted Learning map Structure Hierarchy Flat structure Dynamic networks Staff Characteristics People who know (experts) People who learn Knowledge is power Mistakes tolerated as part of learning Distinctive Staff Skills Adaptive learning Generative learning Measurement System Financial measures Both financial and non-financial measures Teams Working groups Departmental boundaries Cross functional teams Table (2): Eight Characteristics of the Traditional Organizations versus Learning Organizations. Figure (2): Enabling the Learning Organization XI. Learning Organization questionnaire & Key functions 1. Creating a Supportive Culture If organizational learning is to be a genuinely organization-wide endeavour it must become part of the organization’s culture - the set of basic values, ideologies and assumptions which guide and fashion the norms of desirable individual and group behaviour of its members. This requires both a positive attitude to learning, a commitment by everyone to contribute to the process and a willingness to legitimize learning by providing adequate resources. Given the nature of the challenges they face it is not surprising that most NGOs tend to be very ‘action-oriented’. However, this implicitly tends to downgrade the value of the three other stages in the experiential learning cycle - reviewing experience, concluding from the experience and planning future action - (all of which are essential for effective learning). In such a culture, learning tends not to be rewarded either overtly or implicitly and it therefore becomes something which individuals are expected to do in their own time or at quiet periods when the ‘legitimate’ work permits. This has to change if NGOs are to take learning seriously. The force for change may arise from the grass roots but it must be legitimized at the most senior levels. Indications: • Staff rewarded for the contribution they make to the organization’s learning. • Organizational politics and power relations are not allowed to get in the way of sharing experience and knowledge in the organization. • Senior managers create a climate which encourages experimentation and acknowledges that mistakes are an inevitable part of this. • Resources and facilities for individual development are made available to all members of the organization. • People feel free to enquire about and challenge each others’ (and their own) assumptions and biases. There are few (if any) undiscussable subjects. 2. Gathering Internal Experience The process of gathering experience needs to be one based on sharing and exchange. This requires awareness inside the organization of what it does and the impact of what it does-a clear role for monitoring, review and evaluation. There are particular ‘paper’ mechanisms which can be used for this which may include: Evaluation studies, annual reports, documentary information systems, policy documents strategic plans and research reports. Other, ‘non-paper’ mechanisms include meetings, workshops, debriefing and other forms of informal contact. Many NGOs are not rigorous enough in evaluating and documenting their work. Few offer sufficient opportunities for staff to meet share and learn from each other’s experience. Indications: • The organization uses systematic procedures for the regular monitoring, review and evaluation of all its project, programmed and advocacy activity. • The organization has enough built-in ‘spare capacity’ to allow staff to take time out to reflect on their work experience and learn from it. • The organization continually enables individuals to voice important lessons that they have learned in order to constantly expand the organization’s base of explicit wisdom. • Individuals, groups and sections view each other as working partners and constantly strive to find out and meet each others’ expectations and needs. • People at all levels of the organization are encouraged to learn regularly and rigorously from their work and feed such learning to other parts of the organization. Water Aid has sought to address this problem by producing a ‘Working Methods Directory’ which describes the technologies and planning approaches used in each of the organization’s overseas programmes. The Directory enables staff to see what experience exists in other programmes and provides opportunities for them to seek advice directly on a specific area from those with the most experience rather than having to go through head office. This example usefully illustrates how the production of a written document can change communication routes in an organization, reducing dependency on a head office and encouraging internal networking. 3. Accessing External Learning Organizational learning in NGOs has two major sources: what the organization does and what others do. It is not enough to be clear about what the organization itself is achieving. It must actively seek out learning from elsewhere. This requires a genuine openness and willingness to share its own learning (which means being willing to share the learning from failure as well as success). The concept of benchmarking (see Glossary) is useful here with its recognition that NGOs may learn a lot from looking at ‘best practice’ in a wide range of organizations in the corporate, public and even the multilateral and bilateral agency sectors as well as the NGO world. Some Northern NGOs have been somewhat introverted until fairly recently, but they are increasingly recognizing that they gain a multiplier effect from their resources by working in partnership with Southern NGDOs. This creates more exposure to new ideas in a setting where learning can be immediate and influential. Partnership work with other agencies is becoming more common within and Europe, though setting up their own projects is still the favoured approach to implementation of many NGOs working in the UK. Indications: • All organization members who have dealings with the ‘outside world’ are expected to gather and share relevant information. Their managers take an active interest in ‘debriefing’ them about the information they have gathered. • The organization enters into open co-operation with other organizations in order to share and encourage mutual learning from each other’s experience. • The organization encourages its staff to develop a wide range of contacts with other agencies and to learn actively from their experience. • Staff encouraged to visit other organizations and expected to write up and share in other ways what they learned from their visit. • The organization is linked to a wide range of networks and uses its contacts with other agencies to gather useful knowledge and skills. In a major piece of research, INTRAC has been examining approaches to organization development consultancy, as a strategy for strengthening Southern NGOs, focusing on the experience of nine NGOs. Key success factors have been identified as well as questions/dilemmas these raise for Northern NGOs. This is a rare example of an NGO support organization setting out explicitly to benchmark good practice and make this information widely available throughout the sector by producing newsletters during the research and publications2, as well as offering training and consultancy services based on its findings. 4. Communication Systems If learning is the lifeblood of the organization then it requires a circulatory system to enable it constantly to stimulate and refresh all its component parts. Communication systems – both formal and informal are the circulatory system for learning. Systems must be designed in such a way that they are not so ‘heavy’ that information and learning sink without trace or so ‘light’ that they evaporate. The communication style in many larger NGOs has tended towards both the heavy and light ends of the spectrum. At the heavy end we have reports (which are often so focused that they do not encourage a lateral transfer of knowledge - one has to be a dedicated seeker of specific lessons to read them) and training courses (which can be a useful way of distilling lessons learnt as one way of ensuring that one understands something is to try to explain it to someone else). At the light end we have informal conversations which may have little lasting effect unless they are shared more widely or documented in some way. Internal networks in larger NGOs are beginning to play a useful role in filling the gap between heavy and light communication systems - individuals will pass on ideas and contacts by email whereas in the past writing a note or personally talking to a colleague might not have been considered. Team meetings, presentations, in-house workshops, briefing sessions and even in-house newsletters can all play a part in sharing information and learning between individuals, teams and sections. Indications: • Information flows freely throughout the organization, crossing departmental, sectional and location boundaries without hindrance. • The organization has a wide range of mechanisms for sharing experience between staff in different teams, sections, departments and locations. • It is easy to access information on the lessons learned from other parts of the organization. • Staff has access to email and is encouraged to share information using electronic media such as the Internet and bulletin boards. • The organization’s staff is skilled at making their personal knowledge and wisdom available to others. The People Centered Development Forum, have set up a simple but very comprehensive site on the World Wide Web3 which contains full-text copies of all their discussion papers and individual profiles. This use of the Internet makes available an enormous amount of information to a wide NGO audience which might otherwise be almost completely inaccessible - the problem, of course, is to sift the useful from the useless. 5. Mechanisms for Drawing Conclusions The process of drawing conclusions and identifying lessons learned is the main characteristic which differentiates organizational learning from simple information exchange. Drawing conclusions converts information to knowledge and then knowledge to useable wisdom. Drawing conclusions is a process which needs to be seen as the responsibility of the whole organization and should, ideally, happen as near to the experience as possible. In many NGOs at present, it tends to be concentrated in those specialist parts of the organization, which are associated with research and information. This reflects a division of labour which, as mentioned earlier, is commonly (but unhelpfully) associated with organizational learning and which is usefully analyzed by Swieringa and Wierdsma (1992). One simple mechanism for sharing out the responsibility for drawing conclusions is to insist that no experience should be documented and shared without considering its learning points and its implications for policy, strategy and practice. Indications: • Learning from experience is seen as ‘everyone’s business’ and not left to specialist units or senior managers. • Monitoring and evaluation reports and field visit reports are routinely analyzed to identify what has been learned from the work and what lessons could be applied in the future. • The organization is skilled at converting raw information from evaluations into useable wisdom. • The organization regularly identifies a theme of work and draws conclusions based on an analysis of all of its practice experience and an understanding of the current ‘state of the art’. • The organization uses a continuous improvement approach when analyzing the knowledge and experience gained from its practice. Staff encouraged to constantly asks themselves ‘How could we do this better'’ The British Red Cross provides a good example of a voluntary organization which attempted to evaluate and draw conclusions from a major piece of work. The organization undertook an evaluation of its response to the crisis in Rwanda which focused on management and decision-making processes. A number of recommendations based on a rigorous analysis of the information were made and these have subsequently been acted upon. The Red Cross also identified areas of ‘best practice’ which have been written up for wider distribution. This kind of evaluation requires ready access to the necessary information and openness about discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the organization’s practice. 6. Developing an Organizational Memory Remembering is a crucial element of organizational learning. Although it is true to say that organizations cannot learn, it is reasonable to say that organizations can forget. If learning is locked inside the heads of individuals, the organization becomes very vulnerable if those individuals leave or forget! The old African proverb that ‘when an old person dies, a library is lost’ should no longer apply within organizations in these days of information technology. A learning organization needs mechanisms which enable an individual’s memory to be ‘downloaded’ into an information system so that everyone can continue to access that person’s experience and their analysis of that experience long after the individual has moved on to other organizations. Simple documentation of experience is rarely adequate but is better than nothing. Many organizations now require all departing staff to go through an exit process which parallels the induction required at the beginning of contracts. Some organizations link departing staff with trainers to develop training materials (sometimes based on case studies) which can be used either in-house or with other organizations. At the very least, staff should be encouraged to ‘tell their story’ of their time in the organization in whatever way they feel comfortable. Through the use of documentation, databases, resource centers, policy papers, guidelines, training and discussion of experience, an organization can enhance its members’ collective memory in ways which unlock each individual’s knowledge and place it in the organizational domain. Informal sharing related to problem-solving is also an effective way of ensuring that the organizational memory is expanded and refreshed. Many NGOs have recognized the importance of unlocking each individual’s memory but few have, as yet, developed systematic ways of ensuring that their knowledge and understanding are made widely accessible to colleagues both in their own organization and beyond. Indications: • The organization has mechanisms for ‘remembering’ the experience of its current and previous work through the development of highly accessible databases, resource / information centers and data retrieval systems. • All written reports and key documents are cross-referenced and made easily accessible to all staff. • The organization is not vulnerable to losing its experience when individuals leave. For example, staffs that leave the organization go through a systematically recorded debriefing to ensure that the organization retains their knowledge. • The organization has a systematic database of all its project and programmed work which can enable staff and ‘outsiders’ to identify where expertise resides. • The information function is given sufficient prominence and is resourced adequately to enable the organization to keep its records up to date. 7. Integrating Learning into Strategy and Policy One way of building lessons learned into the fabric of an NGO is to develop policy and procedures which reflect organizational learning. This provides the NGO with a framework for decision-making and resource allocation which is grounded in the organization’s own experience and that of other agencies. If policy development is seen as a participative learning process in itself, this strengthens the process of integration and builds commitment for implementation. The development by The Commonwealth Foundation (Ball and Dunn, n. d.) of their ‘Non- Government Organizations: Guidelines for Good Policy and Practice’ is an example of an organization (in this case inter-governmental) which has drawn together its experience of supporting NGOs into a series of good practice guidelines which can be used by NGOs to benchmark their own practice. People in Aid, a group of UK-based development organizations, have also pooled their experience to develop ‘The People in Aid Code of Best Practice’ (1997) which benchmarks exemplary practice in the management and support of aid personnel. Integrating learning into strategy is more complex but, potentially, more fruitful. Strategy development in NGOs is often a more flexible process than the strategic planning processes used by large-scale private and public-sector organizations. Mintzberg and Quinn (1992) provide a useful model for strategy development which acknowledges the importance of ‘strategic learning’. This is illustrated in Figure 4. Without going into detail about the terms used, Mintzberg and Quinn’s argument is that the strategy which is actually used and realized by an organization is rarely exactly what was originally intended. Some aspects of strategy emerge from opportunities and threats which the organization faces as it carries out its work. Some of the organization’s strategic intentions may never be realized for whatever reason - maybe the window of opportunity passes before the organization can respond; maybe the organization priorities certain strategic goals over others which are allowed to ‘fade away’. Indications: • The development of strategy is deliberately organized as a learning process. Feedback loops are incorporated to enable continuous improvement in the light of experience. • Policy-making involves people at most levels in the organization, according to what they can contribute not their status. • The system of planning, accounting, budgeting, financial reporting and other management processes are organized to assist learning. • Learning is built into the organization through the development of systems, operational procedures and other ways of sharing the lessons gained from individuals’ experience. • The learning gained by one part of the organization is quickly made available to others even if at first it appears of little immediate relevance. 8. Applying the Learning The ultimate test of learning is the ability to apply what has been learned. Only when learning is applied in the work setting can we say that a continuous learning cycle has been created. For many NGOs, the application of learning is not limited only to their own organization but also to the practice and policy of others through the processes of capacity-building, scaling-up and advocacy. At present, many NGOs’ scaling-up and advocacy strategies are based on what is probably a relatively small portion of the total knowledge and wisdom that they have at their disposal. In short, NGOs are regularly under-functioning. Indications: • The organization systematically uses its learning to improve its own practice and influence the policy and practice of other organizations or agencies. • The organization writes up and publishes its experience for a wider readership without using unnecessary technical jargon. • The organization has a strategy for scaling-up its impact which reflects the learning it has developed on ‘what works’. • The organization changes its practice and priorities to reflect new knowledge and insights in its efforts to constantly improve its effectiveness. • The organization is constantly building its capacity and innovating based on what it has learned. The Learning Organization Questionnaire Adapted from ‘The Learning NGO’, Bruce Britton (1998). MS Excel version developed Marc Steinlin (Helvetas). Modified Cunningham, 2006. Thank you for taking the time to complete this questionnaire. When you have completed it, switch to the 'Analysis Sheet' and 'Organizational Profile' for the results. Please read through each of the following statements and place a cross in the box that, in your view, best reflects the current state of the organization - one response per line. Please return before Characteristic Strongly disagree Disagree Agree somewhat Agree Strongly agree Comments (Optional) 1. Staff are rewarded for the contribution they make to the organization’s learning; e.g. through positive feedback, time off for study, employee recognition. 2. The organization uses systematic procedures for the regular monitoring, review and evaluation of all its project, programmed and advocacy activity. 3. All staff that has dealings with the outside world is expected to gather and share relevant information with others in the organization. 4. Information flows freely throughout the organization, crossing teams, sections and divisions without hindrance. 5. Learning from experience is seen as the responsibility of everyone and is not left to specialist units or senior managers. 6. The organization has mechanisms for ‘remembering’ the experience of its current and previous work through the development of easily accessible databases, resource/information centers and data retrieval systems. 7. The development of strategy is deliberately organized as a learning process, with feedback loops incorporated to enable continuous improvement in the light of experience 8. The organization systematically uses its learning to improve its own practice and influence the policy and practice of other organizations or agencies 9. The organization writes up and publishes its experience for a wider readership without using unnecessary technical jargon. 10. Policy making involves people at most levels in the organization, according to what they can contribute to the process and not simply their status within the organization. 11. All written reports and key documents are cross-referenced and made easily accessible to all staff. 12. Monitoring and evaluation reports and mission reports are routinely analyzed to identify what has been learned from the work and what lessons could be applied in the future 13. The organization has a wide range of mechanisms for sharing experience between staff in different teams, sections, departments and locations. 14. The organization enters into open co-operation with other organizations to share and encourage mutual learning from each other’s experience 15. The organization has enough built in ‘spare capacity’ to allow staff to take time out from their daily operational responsibilities to reflect on their work experience and learn lessons from it. 16. Sharing experience and knowledge in the organization is given a high priority, even when time and other resources are limited. 17. Managers at all levels create a climate which encourages experimentation, and acknowledge that mistakes are an inevitable part of this. 18. The organization creates and encourages formal and informal opportunities for individuals to share with others the lessons they have learned. 19. The organization encourages its staff to develop a wide range of contacts with other agencies and to actively learn from their experience. 20. It is easy to access information on the lessons learned from other parts of the organization, 21. The organization is skilled at converting raw information from internal evaluations and research into useable knowledge. 22. The organization is not vulnerable to losing its experience when individuals leave. E.g. staffs that leave go through a systematically recorded de-briefing to ensure that the organization retains its knowledge. 23. The systems of planning, accounting, budgeting, financial reporting and other management processes are organized to assist learning. 24. The organization has a strategy for scaling up its impact which reflects the learning it has developed on ‘what works’ and what does not. 25. The organization is prepared to change its practices and priorities to reflect new knowledge and insights in its efforts to constantly improve its effectiveness. 26. Learning is built into the organization through the development of systems, operational procedures and other ways of sharing the lessons gained from individuals’ experience. 27. The organization has a systematic database of all its project and programmed work which can enable staff and ‘outsiders’ to identify where expertise resides 28. The organization regularly identifies a theme of work and draws conclusions based on an analysis of all its practice experience and an understanding of the current ‘state of the art.’ 29. Staff are encouraged to share information using electronic media such as the internet, intranet, bulletin boards etc. 30. Staff is encouraged to visit other organizations and is expected to write up and share what they have learned from their visit. 31. Individuals, groups and sections view each other as working partners and constantly strive to find out and meet each others’ expectations and needs. 32. Resources and facilities for individual development are made available to all members of the organization. 33. People feel free to enquire about and challenge each others’ (and their own) underlying assumptions and biases. 34. People at all levels of the organization are expected and encouraged to draw lessons from their work and to feed this learning to other parts of the organization. 35. The organization is linked to a wide range of networks and uses its contacts with other agencies to gather useful knowledge and skills. 36. Staff is skilled at making their personal knowledge and wisdom available to others. 37. The organization uses a continuous improvement approach when analyzing the knowledge and experience gained from its practice. 38. The information function / library are given sufficient prominence and are resourced adequately to enable the organization to keep its information and records up to date. 39. The learning gained by one part of the organization is quickly made available to others even if at first it appears of little immediate relevance. 40. The organization is constantly building its capacity and innovating, based on what it has learned. Grade Division Section (optional) Number of years in the organization Gender M F Name (optional) Further qualitative research may be carried out through individual interviews. If you would agree to being included in any further research please indicate, or contact me in person. The Learning Organization Questionnaire Initially adapted by P.Whiffen (Tearfund) from ‘The Learning NGO’, Bruce Britton (1998). MS Excel Version by Marc Steinlin (Helvetas), Modified Cunningham 2006 Grade Division Section Number of years in the organization Gender M F Name The totals from each column will give you an indication of your organization’s broad strengths and weaknesses since the maximum score is 20 for each column. Please see the organizational profile sheet for a graphic representation of its strengths and weaknesses. Creating a Supportive Culture Gathering Internal Experience Accessing External Learning Communication Systems Mechanisms for drawing conclusions Developing an organizational memory Integrating Learning into strategy and policy Applying the Learning Question Question Question Question Question Question Question Question 1 4 2 4 3 4 4 4 5 4 6 4 7 4 8 4 16 4 15 4 14 4 13 4 12 4 11 4 10 4 9 4 17 4 18 4 19 4 20 4 21 4 22 4 23 4 24 4 32 4 31 4 30 4 29 4 28 4 27 4 26 4 25 4 33 4 34 4 35 4 36 4 37 4 38 4 39 4 40 4 Total 20 Total 20 Total 20 Total 20 Total 20 Total 20 Total 20 Total 20 Av 4 Av 4 Av 4 Av 4 Av 4 Av 4 Av 4 Av 4 SD 0 SD 0 SD 0 SD 0 SD 0 SD 0 SD 0 SD 0 (Av = Average; SD = Standard Deviation) Average Score 20 Average II 4 Scores Not true 0 Rarely true 1 Sometimes true 2 Often true 3 Very true 4 XII. Government versus private organizations The table below give the results followed filling the questionnaire from private organizations type (A) & (B), from three employees, also from one government organization working under the united nations programme UNDP, and from 4 various government organizations. Private Organization (A) Private Organization (B) Government Organizations under UNDP Government Organizations Creating a Supportive Culture 15 14.33 14.33 5 Gathering Internal Experience 16 9.66 9.66 9.33 Accessing External Learning 13 10.33 10.33 6.67 Communication Systems 15.67 10.67 10.67 9 Mechanisms for drawing conclusions 16 13.33 13.33 5.33 Developing an organizational memory 16.67 12.33 12.33 8 Integrating Learning into strategy and policy 15 11.66 14.33 9 Applying the Learning 15.33 11.6 11.67 7.33 XIII. Conclusion The idea of the learning organization is not by itself a new concept in the organization management, though it was until recent days that it became a trend that should be followed in order to succeed in the management of an organization where the humanistic side of it. Looking closely we find that there are no true learning organizations at this point. However, some of today’s most successful organizations are embracing these ideas to meet the demands of a global economy where the value of the individual is increasingly recognized as our most important resource. Back to our fieldwork, the conclusions that should be derived from it were somehow near to what we thought we will get before going through the whole procedure of this questionnaire because we, as a part of this Lebanese- Arab culture, cannot have high expectations for what to wait for from our public organizations and how much they differ from private organizations, although the fieldwork was not affected by any means by this primary thoughts and the hope was high to reach a conclusion that would be in the favour of public organizations. As it was mentioned before the questionnaire was filled by employees in the public sector, others in the private sector and a third group who worked in an environment that can be considered as in between the public and the private sectors and these are public organizations that are managed by the UNDP and follow their procedures. Looking at our organizational profile plots (where the grading is out of 20), the two private organizations show somehow high standards in most of the eight key functions of the questionnaire and acquire an above-the-average grade that is very significant in the example (A) and obvious in the example (B) whereas in the governmental organization example it is below average and also badly enough in all of the eight key functions but this is back to above average in the UNDP example. The learning culture as to what was got of the questionnaires seems to be of high importance to the managers of the private organizations that usually seek profit which in most of the times cannot be obtained without everybody feeling at home and working for the sake of the organization as a whole, but sadly this was not found in the public sector where the concept of the learning organization is still immature and this can be blamed on the culture of the public sectors in most of our area where this sector is just another milky cow that everybody should take advantage of. As to what should be done after we have reached this end: We should PROMOTE CHANGE VIA THE CONCEPT OF THE LEARNING ORGANIZATION where A shift in mental models, systems thinking, team learning, personal mastery and developing a truly shared vision, is essential to the success of an organization(public or private) to change, work together for the sake of the community, and introduce innovative approaches of public and private sector success. References What is a Learning Organization' By Moya K. Mason. http://www.moyak.com/papers/learning-organization.html Learning Organization Review - Rohan Nagwekar http://www.hrfolks.com/knowledgebank/mgmt%20concepts/learning%20organizations.pdf Kpit cummins http://www.kpitcummins.com/careers/learningorganisation.htm Organizations and culture http://organizationsandculturescourseeafit1.blogspot.com/2010/10/topic-7-organizational-learning.html Realcom the knowledge enabler http://www.realcom.co.jp/en/company.html ICSB - International council for small business http://www.icsb.org/article.asp'messageID=69 Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_organization The learning organization questionnaire. Adapted from ‘The Learning NGO’, Bruce Britton (1998). MS Excel version developed Marc Steinlin (Helvetas). Modified Cunningham, 2006. www.knowledgeboard.com