Recent HRM texts have stressed the difference between 'learning organisations and those which simply consider training to be important. Identify these differences and say what you think are the essential features of a learning organisation.
Title: Recent HRM texts have stressed the difference between 'learning organisations and those which simply consider training to be important. Identify these differences and say what you think are the essential features of a learning organisation. How might becoming a learning organisation benefit a service organisation? What might have to do to adopt a learning culture?
Abstract
The purpose of this essay is to analyse the differences between a learning organisation from those that only consider training to be important for the individual development. Managers and owners should alter their business behavior toward staff in order to prevail a more collective thinking. The three important stages of the learning organisation are cognition, behavior and personal improvement. The combination of these skills must be used in order for the organisation to adopt a learning culture. One of the main goals of a learning organisation is on trying to educate the entire staff in order learning will be spread between stakeholders and departments.
A learning organisation should provide empowerment and free judgment to staff, for employees to externalize their innovative ideas. The goal of a learning company is to make "learning" a unique process that everyone has the right to posses.
There are several barriers that constrain the adoption of a learning culture in the service sector. Public services suffer from bureaucracy and as a result public services can not easily transform into a learning culture. However service firms that can acquire a learning culture can provide an efficient customer service and a better communication between personnel. The three main areas that a learning organisation can assist services are marketing, operations and human resources. This essay concludes that despite the problems that organisations have to adopt a learning culture, a learning environment provides an efficient solution for all the companies that want to survive and develop. Hence, a "good" organisation is the one that consider ethical issues and tries to balance its requirements with the needs of each employee.
Introduction
An organisation has two major categories of inputs, humans and natural resources. Humans are the most substantial input for an organisation because they contribute time and effort in order for the financial stability and growth of the organisation. The "Learning Organisation" has appeared out of the systems view of organisations. "It is a vision of what might be possible". Pedler (1991:1). That vision might be the creation of organisations which will be capable of changing and at the same time developing themselves accordance to the needs and aspirations of employees, customers and business partners. Such organisations will be able to avoid high risks and sudden restructurings that might happen after a period of time. These firms are not concentrating only in training specific individuals for the expertise of a task, but in continuous learning and improvement at a whole organisational level. A proper definition of a learning organisation is given by Mike Pedler in the book "A concise guide to the learning organisation": "A learning organisation is an organisation that facilitates the learning of all its members and consciously transforms itself and its context." Pedler(1998:15).
Nowadays a company's level of coordination and effectiveness depends on the ability of the employees to work collectively in order to achieve specific goals. As a result firms should alter their business behavior towards staff and encourage the feeling that everyone has to be a part for the accomplishment of goals. In order for an organisation to learn, it has to distribute the information towards the top-level managers and employees, continuously acquire knowledge and to interpret information in a way that learning adaptation and change will become part of the firm's culture.
According to Garvin (1993) organisational learning involves three stages: First learning new concepts which is the "cognition", developing new skills and abilities which implies the change of the behavior and third getting something done, which is the performance. In appendix 1 are illustrated the stages and the skills that are needed to transform new ideas into improved organisational performance. Each skill is explained in detail below.
Appendix 1
Solving Problems: It is crucial for an individual to have problem solving capabilities. According to Pedler the individual has first to improve self-development. When an employee has an increased self-development, the distinction between "actual" and "desired" situations is more easily to be done. Everyone in the organisation need to be skilled at finding problems and then search for alternative solutions in order to select the one with the best combination of benefits.
Experimenting: Experience is the best tool for individuals to learn. Deming has introduced the "Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle which can improve the overall learning process through systematic experimentation. Managers and employees have to observe and focus on what is really important, and to be research oriented in observing changes and results. Beard & Wilson (2002)
Learning from others: It is crucial for an organisation to have learning relations with the stakeholders. Suppliers and business partners can exchange learning ideas for knowing better marketing needs and customer preferences. Other prime sources that can assist in learning are benchmarking, alliances, customer support and feedback. Kreitner (1995)
Transferring and Implementing: The above skills can not be used efficiently if particular actions are not executed effectively in order to make organisations perform better. Effective communication and continuous learning are one of the key tools for a superior learning organisation.
According to Senge (1990) the current training system of many firms is based on adaptive learning, which is about coping. However Senge introduced a substantial way of learning "the generative learning" which is about creating knowledge. Unlike adaptive learning, it requires team learning, personal experience and creative tension. Thus, it focuses on solving problems while examining the appropriateness of current learning behaviors. Senge (1990). On the other hand organisations that only focus in training emphasize incremental improvements, often based upon the past track record of success. In other words the most important difference is being adaptive and having ...
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According to Senge (1990) the current training system of many firms is based on adaptive learning, which is about coping. However Senge introduced a substantial way of learning "the generative learning" which is about creating knowledge. Unlike adaptive learning, it requires team learning, personal experience and creative tension. Thus, it focuses on solving problems while examining the appropriateness of current learning behaviors. Senge (1990). On the other hand organisations that only focus in training emphasize incremental improvements, often based upon the past track record of success. In other words the most important difference is being adaptive and having adaptability. But to maintain adaptability learning organisations have to experiment or to become "self-designing." For example, organisations should continue change in structures, goals and processes in order to have a constant improvement. Ivanncevich, Matteson (1996). Although these changes are able to transform an organisation to a learning environment, a continuous effort has to be made from owners and managers in order to promote an entire different culture.
Because of the rapid and unpredictable change of firms, the learning organisation has become vital for both managers and employees. According to Pedler, learning can be a very important tool in order to develop a strategic purpose. Individuals, teams, managers and the organisation as a whole should first adopt, understand and use effectively the benefits of learning towards themselves and towards the company.
The company should not concentrate only in training. Training mostly has to do with specific number of people specializing in a specific task. On the contrary learning organisations stresses the importance of change and collective learning. In order to increase effectiveness leaders and top organisational members should learn to be open with employees, discuss about other ways of solving a particular problem and not discourage an employee who made a wrong estimation of a problem. The manager on the other hand should discuss the problem and give a second opportunity to the employee to re-think. This will provide a more systemic thinking and creative tension to the employee. Learning organisations focus on the learning of the entire staff which is the mean to gain a competitive advantage over the other firms. Pedler (1998).
A learning organisation does not stop educating its staff when training has finished. After the basic training an on-going support is on process in order to promote individual learning and development. Within the learning company there is a learning facility which operates a personal development program for each individual to learn new skills such as literacy, foreign languages and computer skills. In addition specialized technical skills are integrated to the program for technical improvement. Brinkerhoff, Gill (1994).
In a learning company there is a realization that people should acquire a general knowledge field in order to think more efficiently. It does not concentrate only to the technical and specialized skills that an individual has to acquire. On the other hand training companies focus only to a particular expertise that an employee should have for the benefit of the organisation and not for individual's self development. Garratt (1987)
Another major difference is the specific "type" of learning that prevails in the learning compamy. Learning is something personal and unique and it is owned by the individual. However learning can also exist between people and individuals can share their knowledge for the achievement of tasks. Collaborative learning according to the book the "Learning Alliance" is the bridge between the individual and the learning organisation. Training companies usually focus on individuals for learning a skill that it will be useful only in the work environment. "Organisations usually focus on individuals-recruiting selecting, training, appraising, and career planning; retiring and sacking them as isolated people." Pedler (1998:43).
Although learning organisations aim on learning individuals, the final goal is to use that individual learning for promoting better relationships between people. Hence develop the skills of every member and not concentrate only to the managers and leaders. Senge suggests that the development of staff will be integrated with company's development as a whole. This will result to a mutual development of individuals and organisations where both will be benefited.
Furthermore the continuous improvement and transformation of a learning company is being done for a specific purpose which is to increasingly satisfy customers. A learning organisation concentrates on how to enrich all the stakeholders, users, customers, government, staff and the society. Kreitner, Kinicki(1995).
According to the book "a concise guide to the learning organisation there some certain needs that drive companies to adopt a learning culture. The need to improve quality, to improve the image of the corporation, to encourage a more active experimentation, to become more people oriented which actually means the improvement of relations between customers and staff. To produce products and link resources in such a way that will be more relevant to customer needs and finally to increase the speed of change.
The final goal of the learning organisation is on distributing learning to the entire staff and placing it as the mean of the entire operating processes. Learning should be spread along groups and teams, between departments, status levels and organisational stakeholders. Pedler, Burgoyne, Boydell(1991).
One of the most important features of a learning organisation is the effort and collaboration of the entire company to learn. For example an employee should not concentrate only in learning something that it has to do with a specific job. Spreading knowledge to different tasks can be a substantial value to the employee and to the company. Pedler supports that it should be an "internal exchange" of knowledge between departments. All internal units should contribute to the effort of the company to spread knowledge and to be collaborative in the network in order to provide the best service to the end user which is the customer.
A learning organisation provides a free judgment and empowerment of staff. Autonomy is the basic characteristic in a learning organisation. Staff will learn how to develop themselves by doing wrong judgments. Company should tolerate such judgments and give many opportunities to staff in order to be confident and finally to be able to make the appropriate decisions. Pedler emphasizes the greater autonomy and empowerment of staff which eventually will lead to more flexible rewards. Managers should consider both financial and non-monetary rewards in order to appraise individual's performance. It is essential for the learning organisation to let the individual find what is the best solution for a problem. During that procedure the employee will be able to understand better the problem and to learn more efficiently rather a manager figures how to solve the specific problem. Garratt (1987).
Another substantial feature of a learning organisation is the effort and the ability to have good business relations with the external environment. The external environment which is consisted by customers, suppliers, business associates and competitors exchange knowledge in order to gain a better understanding with the market and to have a more accurate idea of customer demands. Pedler supports that with the "inter-company learning". It is crucial for a learning organisation to have efficient professional relations and to share knowledge for learning how a particular market operates, through joint ventures alliances and benchmarking.
Another feature of a learning company is the goal of making "learning" the central value. In a learning organisation nobody is forced to learn. Training is not obligatory to anyone. Learning is personal innovation which leads to organisational development. According to Sange, managers and leaders should share their experiences and experimentation of other people and support their innovative ideas. Also through feedback and questioning with themselves and others what went wrong with a particular project and how it will improved in the future.
All in all, an aspired learning organisation is able to offer learning opportunities for everyone. Resources for self development are available to the entire staff and not only to the top-level personnel. By this way a feeling of equality will be created in the organisation and everyone will have the opportunity to state a particular opinion. When resources are available to everyone, employees will eventually adopt a generative way of learning and this will enable them to be creative and to analyse their experiences in an efficient way.
The intangible aspects of services, the fact that the quality of the consumer contact is highly variable and reflects personal values and that most customers must be dealt in real time make the existence of a learning organisation even more important. However there are several barriers that constrain the creation of a learning environment in the service sector such as organisational, operational and public sector constraints. Concerning the public sector services there is a lot of bureaucracy and managers can not easily be adapted to a change in a new environment. As a result top-level personnel can not co-operate effectively with employees and thus learning is not a fundamental purpose.
On the other hand, learning organisations when are applied to service organisations either public or private can provide a better customer service, based on a more efficient communication between staff and customers. Furthermore based on learning organisations strategy and structure, experimental learning can be used not only between staff but also between customer and employee.
The learning organisation is able to benefit a service organisation in three main areas: Marketing, Operations and Human Resources. A learning culture in a service organisation is able to create efficient relationships with each type of customers by delivering a carefully defined service package of superior quality that meets the needs of customers as offering greater value from competitors. Lovelock(1992).
Constant learning can make more efficient the evaluation and selection of the market segments to be served. The service attributes will be tailored according to the needs of the target market and superior to those that the competitors are offering.
Through collaborative thinking, the timing of service and the setting of prices will be tailored according to the reflected costs and customer needs. The book "Managing Services" states that the motivation of the personnel to learn and sharing the knowledge gained with the rest of employees could provide efficient competitive strategies and better tailoring of location and availability of service to consumers according to their needs and preferences.
Although marketing has a greater influence in service organisations, operations functions is still important for success in any service business. A learning environment in a service organisation can provide the necessary technical skills which will be supported, by appropriate facilities, equipment and technology to create the desired service to target customers while having quality and productivity standards. Kreitner (1995).
There are not many service organisations so technologically advanced that they can operate without the assistance of employees. People are needed for "front office or "back office tasks", marketing and administrative support. A learning environment can provide many solutions to all managerial decisions and actions that affect the nature of the relationship between organisation and employees. A learning-service organisation can ensure through appropriate training to the entire staff, that the organisation will finally meet its long-term strategic requirements. According to "Lovelock" a learning environment can improve the "work systems flow" which includes the better arrangement of people, information and facilities in order support the services produced by the organisation. Also through learning, employees should be able to realize and support the kind of Organisational Management that it is implemented. Gareth Morgan writer of the book "Images of Organisations" supports that learning is a substantial tool for maintaining and creating desired attitudes and behaviors that will lead to the appropriate organisational management.
The commitment of employees to the organisation as a whole has become a major competitive advantage for the service firm, who has an immediate contact with the customer. A strong commitment by top-management to an effective learning organisation is a feature of most successive service firms. The book "Managing Services" supports that it is important for employees, through self-development to understand and support the expectations and the goals of the organisation, to learn new skills and recognize the importance of customer satisfaction. By this way service firms will manage to produce a service package that will combine both customer current needs and operational effectiveness.
Looking at certain organisations operating procedures, it is clear that without promoting a learning environment on a frequent basis survival is limited. In order for an organisation to adopt a learning culture has to do certain things. According to Senge there are five important disciplines that an organisation has to follow in order to become a learning organisation and for linking together individual and organisational learning.
Because nowadays organisations and more specifically service organisations depend on the abilities and knowledge of their employees, the adaptation of a learning culture relies if an individual is willing to leverage self-development. According to the book "Management- Self development" personal development is about learning to do things more efficiently and to achieve the full potential in a learning process. Senge supports that with the effort of the individuals to adopt a "Personal Mastery which is a substantial process for creating a learning culture because the individual will have the opportunity to adopt reality in a more objective way, thus living in an environment of continuous learning and improvement.
Team learning and Team building are essential for Organisations in general. There should be communication between employees where only a single decision will prevail and not each individual's point of view. Senge supports that the basic aspect of team learning is "dialogue" from which new ideas are explored and the team acts as a single organism.
The purpose of team building is to enable work groups to operate more effectively and to improve performance. The purpose of work groups in a service organisation is to set goals and priorities for communication decision making and examining the relationships between groups. A learning organisation should promote team building because individual thoughts and processes improve through team building efforts. Pedler (1998)
In a service organisation managers and employees have to think collectively, for the good of the organisation. However people act and think different. There are many disagreements among people because each individual has each own way of processing a specific problem. A service organisation has to combine the different thinking of individuals in order that the diversity of personal beliefs and attitudes will become acceptable by everyone. This will provide a major assistance in building a "shared vision".
Finally a service organisation has to educate and train all members equally. A service organisation has to adopt a "systems thinking" according to Senge. Members of staff have to improve their self-development in a level that will be able to see things in wholes and to recognize the separate parts which made up these wholes. This is very difficult to be implemented, because without constant learning, constant improvement and creative thinking the integration between individuals and organisations development will never be implemented. Pedler, Burgoyne, Boydell(1991).
Although to become a learning organisation is an attractive vision, there are some vital barriers for common learning which inhibit organisations for learning. The reality of organisational life blocks learning and actually is the cause of staff disabilities to learn. In the book "the learning company" it is stated that an organisation does not admit its mistakes. Learning disabilities are caused from the organisations themselves who blame particular individuals for any kind of failure. There is no collaborative thinking and the majority of personnel do not have the ability to think as a whole.
Managers are not committed nor competent to produce change .In addition employees can not predict or actually understand what are the customer's current needs and when these needs change. Hence, there is a tendency from the top-level managers not to inform accurately about what is the current situation of the organisation. All these problems create a feeling of distrust among employees. Despite the above problems mentioned, Senge supports that the most crucial problem is that organisations suffer from severe "learning disabilities." Hence, one the most serious obstacle is that many companies treat people as "expendable" and that's one of the many reasons why people keep innovative ideas for themselves (Pedler 1998). To create a learning organisation is easier said than done. The key concept is "transformation" "a radical change in the form and character of what is already there". Pedler, Burgoyne, Boydell(1991:2).
On the other hand is a learning company a "good" company? All the organisations that have eventually adopted a learning culture might actually implement all the above features that define a learning company? Many companies who claim to be learning organisations, have stopped seek new ways of improving research and learning because it's time consuming and does not provide profits in the short-term. In the book "the learning company" it is stated that many organisations have quitted research by doing heavy-counter advertising. Although nowadays businesses operate in that way, ethical and business values are not taken into consideration. Businesses have enormous influence over the quality of society and people's behavior that is extremely important to create a long-term cultural change. A learning organisation means more than a good working environment and respect for customers. A company committed to learning, is continuously striving for a better organisation for all customers, stakeholders and business partners.
Possibly a learning company is a "good company" but it does not mean automatically that is an efficient one. A good learning company is the one that knows the needs of all its staff and tries to balance these needs with it's own in order to develop. Pedler, Burgoyne, Boydell (1991).
Concluding it is very important for a company to adopt a learning culture, because it is one of the few ways to survive and develop. Companies should not concentrate only in the aspect of human development which is training. The entire environment of the organisation should learn continuously and constantly. Support from owners and managers, is crucial for the promotion of individual training and development. Furthermore management development in the learning company is for everyone that uses the resources to accomplish a specific task. It is not seemed as a reward to individuals but as a business investment. Staff should fill free to express their ideas, and the company from the other hand should allow greater autonomy and more flexible rewards. A service organisation can have many benefits from a learning environment especially in marketing, operations and human resources which eventually will improve the "work systems flow" and the contact with the customers. Indeed companies have "learning disabilities" but if a radical change in the organisational culture is implemented, then the learning company will be a reality.
Number of Words: 3.623 (excluding, title, abstract, bibliography
and appendixes)
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INF 6170 Learning Organisation
