Can you build a learning culture into an organization which is not ready for it?
Dear Mahfuz, I will say the following to answer your question:
1. All implementation of learning organization agenda involves change resistance. In fact, no organization is ready to become one. It is someone's vision (like that of the CEO) which compels to the organizational members to attempt to become one.
2. The visionary leader who takes the initiative of setting up a learning organization will also have to have a change agenda for the unprepared organization. The following will be involved:
a. Build a Vision & awareness that learning is necessary at all levels; not just mgt. level; and communicate these, and get buy-in of all members for the new vision
b. Build a facilitative Organizational Structure, which should be flexible and flatter structure; should also remove organizational silos & boundaries
c. Leadership should encourage learning to help the individuals and the organization, and secure resources from mgt.: money, personnel, time, etc.
d. Encourage and participation at all levels; the new philosophy should be Openness, reflectivity, accepting error, etc.
e. Actions for building learning culture necessitates freeing up employee time; training in brainstorming, problem solving, etc.; encouraging members to question the decisions without fear; and establishing recognition & rewards
I am enclosing reference to a great Harvard case of learning organization that I use for my course. This Hospital was just not prepared initially for being built as a learning organization. It became one of the finest learning organization eventually.
http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=15540&R=302050-PDF-ENG&conversationId=4060645
Dear Mahfuz, This is a challenging task.It may begin from the leader of an organization to initiate the goal of a learning organization.Then he/she may persuade members of the organization to realize the importance and find consensus or support.After this gradually build up means to promote learning organization which can be in the form of information sharing via IT, public presentation, seminar, etc. Later it will evolve into a community of practice to support sustainable learning organization.
Dear Mahfuz,
yes, I agree with Choen. 3D virtual classrooms, teaching (interactive) 24 h /360 days around the clock-wordlwide network, personal region- supervisors, teaching movies, and more are all options using the newest IT developments.
This is a very broad question. To just focus (first) on building a learning culture:
To build a learning culture in an organization that's not yet ready, we should get moving in the desired direction. A comparison here:
@Mahfuz, I like this question. And it's so broad. Ok, this is the last pic, I will post. This pic speaks for itself, on what to put importance upon, in building an organization with a learning culture.
Thank you for your concern in this question Miranda. The subject is too broad as you said, bur the question is specific. Therefore, I tried to concentrate in my question on building the learning culture. Creating a culture for learning a organization is hard work that takes time and commitment.
this a good question, as stated above we can do many things for learning, but what about those students who are not interested in learning, they are only interested in getting a certificate, no matter how, they can do anything except learning to achieve this goal.
How to enforce learning in such an organization?
Today the world of corporate training has been revolutionized, and in this article I will highlight the five keys to success in building a learning organization.
1. Remember that corporate learning is “informal” and HR doesn’t own it.
If you ask any business leader “how people learn,” their most common answer is “on the job.” And this is correct – sales people learn by making sales calls, engineers learn by doing design, customer service people learn by solving problems. The key to success then is not to provide a lot of formal training, but rather create an environment that supports rapid on-the-job learning.
Our research shows that companies which adopt “formalized informal learning” programs (like coaching, on-demand training, and performance support tools) outperform those that focus on formal training by 3 to 1. In these companies the corporate training team doesn’t just train people, it puts in place content and programs to help employees quickly learn on the job. This means developing training in small, easy-to-use chunks of content and making it easy to find as needed.
2. Promote and reward expertise.
Today’s workforce is more specialized than ever. Your most talented people in sales, manufacturing, engineering, and design are not in management – they are doing their jobs. High-impact learning organizations unleash these experts and put in place programs to promote and reward even greater levels of expertise.
You should also reward such expertise. Give engineers career progression in their discipline; give people time to study and improve their own skills; publicize and promote the success of experts. Such programs tell the organization that “expertise matters” and “we are willing to invest in your own skills.”
Dear Mahfuz, I will say the following to answer your question:
1. All implementation of learning organization agenda involves change resistance. In fact, no organization is ready to become one. It is someone's vision (like that of the CEO) which compels to the organizational members to attempt to become one.
2. The visionary leader who takes the initiative of setting up a learning organization will also have to have a change agenda for the unprepared organization. The following will be involved:
a. Build a Vision & awareness that learning is necessary at all levels; not just mgt. level; and communicate these, and get buy-in of all members for the new vision
b. Build a facilitative Organizational Structure, which should be flexible and flatter structure; should also remove organizational silos & boundaries
c. Leadership should encourage learning to help the individuals and the organization, and secure resources from mgt.: money, personnel, time, etc.
d. Encourage and participation at all levels; the new philosophy should be Openness, reflectivity, accepting error, etc.
e. Actions for building learning culture necessitates freeing up employee time; training in brainstorming, problem solving, etc.; encouraging members to question the decisions without fear; and establishing recognition & rewards
I am enclosing reference to a great Harvard case of learning organization that I use for my course. This Hospital was just not prepared initially for being built as a learning organization. It became one of the finest learning organization eventually.
http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=15540&R=302050-PDF-ENG&conversationId=4060645
This is a very interesting quetion. This can not be done by your own. You need a very active collaboration. In confucious philosophy , it said that you have to learn even from your enemy.
Martha 서
Totally agree with Prof. Debi, resistance will come to everychange that move someone or somebody comfort zone.
Practically speaking build learning organization in un ready conditions needs a strategic managment that is CHANGE MANAGEMENT, start from someone with power and have vision and faith that with learning culture it will change the organization to a better organization to fasten achievement of an organizational goal,vision and mision.
Leader have to triger the learning culture into 4 layer, him self as an example of the case, strategic manager as second layer to be convinced,middle and operational manager as third layer and staff as the fourth layer.
There will be resistance from those who have different perspective,conventional,or whose feels threat from the comfort zone because of the culture.
Culture as learning culture that have vast and dynamic movement needs managerial skills of a person who have vision and ability or autorization on pushing it to his organization especially in changing people mindset inside the organization.
The top managers must advocate learning by example.
Time and financial resources must be made to facilitate learnig and training.
Experts from outside should be invited give talks.
Learning should be rewarded in yearly appraisal and promotion.
Dear collaegue,
When is an organisation ready for building a learning culture? Who says it is?
Useless questions, impossible to answer.
The solution is, to start NOW in creating this learning organisation. The way to do it in 2014 is, in my opinion, NOT by Shewhart/Deming; NOT by Plan-Do-Check-Act.
That cycle is too slow, too inflexible and might not work in non-Western cultures.
I suggest five principles (not steps) to follow:
1. ATTENTION to the change process (the here and now); to the other/customer and to yourself;
2. CONTEXT, study and consider the context you are in (cultrue, climate, environment, network);
3. COMMITMENT, raise commitment, evoke the passion in your people, rather than control;
4. REFLECT, keep reflecting; like Schön sais: reflection-in-action, reflection-on-action and reflection on reflection-on-action; triple loop learning;
5. ACT on the results.
That leads to the acronym ACCRA (c), the place where I first experimented with this approach in a teaching hospital.
with kindest regards,
Everard
Building a learning organisation involves attributing a considerable importance to all types of knowledge (formal and informa) within the organisation alongside the processes that lead to knowledge creation. This can be achieved by establishing intra-department intra-team interaction mechanisms through which individuals within the organisation would build and share knowledge. Here the role of knowledge sharing platforms such as wikis and discussion forums can play a significant role. Then can be used as knowledge repositories for others. Concurrently, they can also serve as knowledge capture mechanisms.
@Mahfuz, learning culture is an issue! Here is the link on how to create a high-impact learning culture!
http://organisationallearninganddevelopment.wordpress.com/tag/learning-culture/
Thank you Ljubomir for your nice Figure. It expresses what is needed to create a learning culture.
Dear Mahfuz
I will add that three elements of a learning organization require key focus, which are more critical than other issues of detail. They are:
1. Building the new Vision & its communication to all, including outcome
2. Re-designing a facilitative organization structure, with least bureaucracy
3. Action planning and implementation of the vision & goals
I am attaching a PPT to this effect. I believe, it is easy said than done. Most organizations say that they are learning organizations. But egos and rule-supremacy come in the way. They are not able to take bold decisions towards developing trust and people empowerment, without which it is impossible to build a learning organization.
Dear Debi, Thank you for drawing our attention to the issue of building the learning organization Vision and its deployment among employees.
Excellent points dear Debi. It is the vision of the CEO and his/her commitment to make the organization a learned one will make all the difference. But as is correctly said it is not easy because it also depend upon the type of people and their commitment to the principles. Here is a good link for further study.
http://infed.org/mobi/the-learning-organization/
Dear Mahfuz,
Darwin (as cited in Serrat, 2010) said that it is not the strongest or the most intelligent who survive, but those who are most responsive to change. Serrat (2010) name three critical components to a learning organization. The first is knowledge, yet simply having knowledge does not even imply that an organization is one that learns. It is how the organization uses that knowledge and if it traverses the social web of the organization that will determine how the knowledge is applied. The delivery of the knowledge and the speed at which it does this will guide and augment the decision-making process.
The second element noted by Serrat (2010) was feedback. Successful learning organizations have mechanisms in place to encourage, monitor, and analyze feedback that arises from decisions during various occasions such as after-action-reviews.
The third main component described by Serrat (2010) was the ability to harness technology. Learning organizations use these technologies to support communication, strengthen the identity of the organization, build and maintain the community, keep members and customers on board, create helpful connections with people, encourage innovation and creativity, and most importantly, develop the organizational memory. Technology allows members to share tools, methods, and approaches.
As far as the second part of the question, Serrat (2010) implied that leadership could get the organization ready, and suggests that the leader (preferably a transformational one) could create the inspiring vision for the learning organization, in essence declaring that learning was critical to the success of the organization.
Serrat, O. (2010). Building a learning organization. Washington, DC: Asian Development Bank
Mahfuz:
Did you do an Organizatinal Culture Assessment? Can you tell me a bit more about if the Organization is not ready for the learning culture...this question requires a bit more information, for me to address, in effort to be of true help. Best -- Marilyn
“Uplifting connections associated with interpersonal interactions boost personal physiological health, emotional well-being, and work performance” (Cameron, 2010, p.1)." The present-day definition of organizational culture (OC) includes the daily routines, procedures, and dominant leadership style that characterize an organization’s definition of success. (See Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI)'; under my publications). :-) Marilyn
Marilyn, I did a research in this concern, entitled,"The role of organizational culture in predicting the strength of organizational identity". This research was written in Arabic and published in Journal of the Economic and Legal Sciences. Thank you so much for your valuable information.
The organization needs a learning culture and leaders who promote that vision. The hiring process needs to be also around those who are engaged in continuous learning.
I know that the question is general on learning in an organization of a general nature (or may be of a business oriented nature). Nevertheless, I like to concentrate on learning in -what should be- a learning environment like a university. This is not because we are mainly academics, but also because if we learned to learn effectively in school this will reflect back on all work areas our students will go to. In above Dr Hassanat said "what to do in universities whereby the students are only looking for certification/certificates?". Good. However, the certificate should be a proof that learning has occurred or otherwise the university is merely a giving-up/ charity organization. I may re-phrase his comment otherwise as " what to do to encourage an effective learning (and teaching) in a university beyond that minimal required for certification?. Of course, people from pedagogy have come with lots of ideas and theorems to make that possible with new ideas to replace/ augment traditional methods of lecturing and teaching. These ideas are mainly within the big idea of student centric learning environment in which the role of the teacher is mentoring and facilitating the learning process supported by technological innovations such as the multimedia and web-resources. Even with these measures, those students looking for certification (for certification only) will keep looking for certification by the minimal effort (or no effort if possible). Hence, a big reform is needed on a community level in which the community has to filter out -more carefully- graduates and universities to ensure that the university and its graduates -are really beneficial- to its community and its development process. This puts pressures on universities (and its community of students and professors) to really delve into an effective teaching/learning environment. Otherwise, believe me, the easiest is to retain the current standard of traditional lecturing and traditional evaluation/certification which have thresholds of pass and fail that don't ensure an effective learning has occurred.
I might have deviated from the objective of the question, but in short, an effective approach to effective learning/teaching in an organization that is mainly an educational organisation like a university is creating the the student centric learning environment. Thanks. @AlDmour.
I think that there are two key considerations in addressing this question:
1. building a culture of learning where everyone from top to bottom of the organization can spot a potential problem and propose solutions to these problem, and they are legitimately examined
2. leaders, at all levels, are open to new ways of solving problems and be willing to come outside of their comfort zone and not be stuck in the traditional way of doing things.
These are hallmarks of learning organizations
According to different expert's opinions,a learning organization is an organization which learns powerfully and collectively and is continually transforming itself to better collect, manage, and use knowledge for corporate success. To become a learning organization is to accept a set of attitudes, values and practices
that support the process of continuous learning within the organization. It empowers people within and outside the company to learn as they work.
A true learning organization:
1. Provide continuous learning opportunities.
2. Use learning to reach their goals.
3. Link individual performance with organizational performance.
4. Foster inquiry and dialogue, making it safe for people to share openly and take risks.
5. Embrace creative tension as a source of energy and renewal.
6. Are continuously aware of and interact with their environment.
Organizational learning refers to how organizational learning occurs, the skills and processes of building and utilizing knowledge. There are a number of dimensions of a learning organization:
1. Learning is accomplished by the organizational system as a whole.
2. Organizational members recognize the importance of ongoing organization wide learning.
3. Learning is a continuous, strategically used process – integrated with and running parallel to work.
4. There is a focus on creativity and generative learning.
5. Systems thinking are fundamental.
6. People have continuous access to information and data resources.
7. A corporate climate exists that encourages, rewards, and accelerates individual and group learning.
8. Workers network inside and outside the organization.
9. Change is embraced, and surprises and even failures are viewed as opportunities to learn.
10. It is agile and flexible.
11. Everyone is driven by a desire for quality and continuous improvement.
12. Activities are characterized by aspiration, reflection, and conceptualization.
13. There are well-developed core competencies that serve as a taking-off point for new products and services.
14. It possesses the ability to continuously adapt, renew, and revitalize itself in response to the changing environment.
Training is a key element in the business strategy of an organization dedicated to continuous learning. Through learning, individuals can re-interpret their world and their relationship to it. A true learning culture continuously challenges its own methods and ways of doing things. This ensures continuous improvement and the capacity to change.
Organization learning occur through the shared insights, knowledge, and mental models of members of the organization builds on past knowledge and experience which depends on institutional mechanisms (policies, strategies, explicit models...) used to retain knowledge. Though organizations learn through individuals and groups, the process of learning is influenced by a much broader set of variables (for example symphony’s performance is more than the sum of individuals’ knowledge and skills but the result of the know-how embedded in the whole group working in unison.
Types: There are three types in which organizations learn:
1. Adaptive learning occurs when an individual or organization learns from experience and reflection: action, outcome, results date and reflection. Adaptive learning may be either single-loop (focused on gaining information to stabilize and maintain existing systems) or double loop (questioning the system itself and why the errors or successes occurred in the first place).
2. Anticipatory learning arises when an organization learns from expecting the future.
3. Active learning involves (a group/team) working on real problems, focusing on the learning acquired, and actually implementing solutions.
How can one start evolving into a learning organization?
Confront irrational fears of change as irrational, replacing them with affirmations. Explore what works and do more of it! Explore what doesn't work and do the opposite. Be a good listener, nonjudgmental, affirming. Listen for understanding not for winning over. Mentor limitless thinking and celebrating. Demonstrate managed risk taking, learning from mistakes and create opportunities for learning. Take time to develop relationships that empower and teach, facilitating growth. Be fair, objective and data driven, while fostering the human connection. Acknowledge the human needs that bind us all by our similarities, trust, respect, and contribution. Acknowledge the role of diversity as contribution to growth. Look for shared vision, shared growth, and shared satisfaction and incentive.
Paying attention to two fundamental areas will allow the group to function whole and completely. Evaluate abilities, skills, and knowledge with interest. Personal mastery is most important, building a futuristic, competitive, enriched learning organization from the fundamental areas of knowledge and interest, or shared vision. Focusing on assets versus deficits leads to out of the box, limitless thinking. Focusing on inspiration leads to other inspirations. It is important that we give our organizations, thus the individuals, permission to make mistakes. As in the baseball metaphor, if you never risk swinging the bat for fear of striking out, you can never expect to hit the ball either. Teams challenged to ask why not instead of why, reinforce the belief that all efforts and learning have value. This is true organizational learning!
A positive learning environment is dependent on very many interconnected factors. Some of the key areas would include:
Learning that surpasses hierarchy: An organization that values learning places it above power structures, where there is an environment of learning without ego hassles. That could mean learning from juniors, from outside the immediate team, and from people who we may not personally be on the same boat with.
Learning that favours freedom and autonomy: The most high performing organizations provide autonomy to their employees and that extends to their freedom to manage their time and schedules, and to choose their own professional development pathways.
Learning that transcends fear: The ability to move outside our comfort zone facilitates real learning to take place. Openness to risks and the readiness to unlearn and relearn are essential.
Dear Dr Mahfuz. I think different considerations address this question:
1. The assessment of organizational culture and to build transparency of vision and mission
2. To create an enviroment that supports arapid on the job learning
3. Let people share what they,ve learned easily
4. To promote and rewars expertise
5. To demonstrate the value of the learning
6. To understand the importance of learning from the mistakes
Instill an experience to enhance Knowledge, Skill and Behaviour towards Work.
Organizations should realized that improvement requires a commitment to learning. Unfortunately, most organizations are oriented toward controlling rather than learning, rewarding employees and motivating them rather than for cultivating their natural curiosity and impulse to learn.
The new generation of employees entering the workforce has grown up in a world of constant change and innovation. Employees want to learn continuously and expect that their employers value and nurture their potential. The global, mobile, transient nature of this new workforce makes it easy for employees to jump ship for organizations that offer more growth and development opportunities.
For more details you can refer to the following link
http://www.oracle.com/us/c-central/chro-solutions/june-2013-chro-deck4-1961622.pdf
First of all we should try to establish a learning organisation of "excellence". This means:
- Select the best students with appropriate examinations. Each student will receive certain money, enough to live.
- Select the best teaching staff.
- Establish a Department of popularisation of science. This Department will build step-by-step a learning culture inside of the Organisation and outside. This Department shall produce video which popularise knowledge.
- Try to secure jobs for the graduates.
To do such things, one needs sufficient grands.
The most important pre-requisite for establishing a learning organization is the passionate commitment of the top management; and its willingness to empower its people to try making experiments, commit mistake and learn and re-learn. Incidentally, every management swears in the name of building a learning organization, but their actual behaviour and willingness falls much lower on both these counts. HR's role comes only after these two conditions are fulfilled.
Yes, it is all about Management challenge! "The challenge facing managers today is to make the effort needed to learn some of the new skill and techniques, and to put in processes that engage their workforce in programmes of continuous capability development. Learning should be integrated into the doing, as part and parcel of everyday work. It should also be energising, stimulating and fun. Getting the best out of everybody, including yourself to meet the challenges ahead."
http://www.skyrme.com/insights/3lrnorg.htm
Dear @Mahfuz,what does the sponge have to do with management? "Perhaps you've heard the phrase 'to absorb information like a sponge'. Much like the sponge, the learning organization goes through the same process of absorption and adaptation to reach maximum functionality and efficiency, but instead of fluid, the learning organization processes information and knowledge."
http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/how-companies-become-learning-organizations.html#lesson
My dear Kamal. You are welcome back. "An educated visionary leadership is a prerequisite to build a learning organization". Yes, dear, the visionary leadership can play an important role in building the learning culture.
Many persons follow a live example so if the top manager demonstrates in front of the employees that s/he has broad knowledge as well as specific know-how concerning the function of the organization, then there is possibility that they will follow suit.
If the top manager sees that the employees are adamant upon not learning, there can be 2 ways to encourage them (and I saw these implemented somewhere in England):
(i) The top manager will tell some employees that they are wanted to gather in his/her office to discuss "named" topics, say after 3 days. A high probability is that they will come prepared "since they will be tested actually!".
(ii) Every now & then a cultural competition is held in which there are reasonable prizes plus advertising the name(s) of the winner(s).
These 2 ways are good recipes for building a learning culture within the organization which will have a positive effect on the organization itself.
The concept of learning organization is built on the principles of TQM and the woks of Peter Senge, Sue Miller Hurst, David Bohm, and others. Learning organizations could be built by developing skill of work force and by improving communication, morale, job satisfaction etc. Employees must be made to feel that they are important organizational entity. This will create a conducive learning environment for adaptation to changing business environment,as well as, to create competitive advantage. Finally, Learning organizations could be built through management involvement and employee empowerment & participation.
Learning organizations are 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 how to learn together (Senge).
Organizations with the best chance to succeed and excel in the future are learning organizations. The challenge of building a culture of learning organization is how to clearly define goals for the learning organization and how to create adequate incentives for its employees.
I believe that incentives are very essential in building the culture of a learning organization, because human resources play the important role in learning organizations.
It depends on the organization:
- if it is a private one, then things are easy, since, people who deny to follow the new dogma are simply dismissed
- if it is a public one, then situation is difficult and a new social culture is a requirement for such a task
As for the private sector in Jordan, the King Abdullah II Award for Excellence in Government Performance and Transparency has had a positive effect on the Jordanian public institutions in this concern.
In the Award nine criteria (as in the EFQM), the first five criteria (Leadership, Strategy, People, Partnerships & Resources, Processes, Products and Services) form the Enablers dimension, and the other four criteria (Customer Results, People Results, Society Results, Key Results) form the Results dimension. Learning, creativity and innovation are very important indicators to the Award criteria.
In practice, excellent organizations develop a strategy and supporting policies for managing the technology portfolio that supports the organization's overall strategy, and also enable and encourage the sharing of information, knowledge and best practices, and use technology to support innovation and creativity.
Such competitions and awards are very healthy indeed dear @Mahfuz. Something more on The Knowledge Economy! "The knowledge economy is an economic system where growth is directly related to the amount, quality and accessibility of the information. Thus, growth and development of an economy is based on the information people can extract about it." It is about learning, yes!
http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/creativity-innovation-and-change-and-the-knowledge-economy.html#lesson
Learning and innovation skills increasingly are being recognized as the skills that separate employees who are prepared for excellence in work, and those who are not.
A focus on learning and innovation in organizations is very essential for the success of these organizations. In general, learning can provide the appropriate skills and competences for research and innovation.
Dear professor, please receive a reference to one of my papers through wich I approach the core aspects of a learning organization ! A topic that interests me the most !
I am preparing new research on the subject of "Universities as Learning Organizations" !
I would very much appreciate if you would give me your advice with any information on this subject !
Thank you !
Ruxi
Dear Judeh,
You can also consider my publication at this link.
Best wishes,
Erhan
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