LE>carold.whisnant@astd.noli.com wrote:
LE>>
LE>> The learning organization has always been a part of every organization.
LE>> You can chose to reject that. If you do choose to reject that
LE>> perspective, then maybe you should go back and study the life cycle of
LE>> organizations.
LE> I agree that all organizations learn in order to survive.
LE>However, imagine for a moment, an entrepreneur who starts a company to
LE>produce a product that he/she has invented. The boss hires 50 workers to
LE>assemble the parts of the product, and another dozen people to handle
LE>managing the finances and so forth.
LE> As production ramps up, the boss hovers over the process,
LE>directing changes here and there, and accepting little feedback from his
LE>hirelings. Over the course of a couple of years, one could say that this
LE>organization has learned some things or it would not survive.
LE> However, since the organization is learning only at the top level,
LE>and since it refuses information from those closest to the process, I
LE>would not call it a learning organization. A learning organization, in my
LE>definition, capitalizes on learnings from all levels.
LE> There is a great difference between bureaucracies based on the
LE>military model of organizations, and the flatter, information-sharing,
LE>stakeholder driven organizations which are able to learn from everyone.
LE>--
LE>@__Roy_J._Winkler,_AAS,_BSM...
LE>@__Consultant:_OD/HRD/Group_Dynamics
LE>@__UAW/GM____Anderson,_Indiana___USA
LE>@__E-Mail: rwinkler@iquest.net
LE>
You are staying open minded. You are bound by your paradigms. You are
limited in your thinking by yourself.
1. You described an organization destined to experience the problems
you suggest they experienced.
2. You project failure into the organization instead of projecting
success.
3. You assume that learning is taking place only at the top.
4. You end your response with a socialistic conclusion.
At start up all organiations enjoy great success and synergy, sharing,
learning with each other at about the same level. There is a lot of
excitment, a lot of commitment, a sharing of vision. (This is not a
lot different than the rush you get with a new job or a new car).
As the excitement subsides and reality set in, you face the task of
having the resources to meet your original commitment. This may be
hiring more people to do the job, finding the money to pay the bills,
etc. This is a real shock - you are at the top and you have made a
hell of a lot of promises you want to keep. Things look bleek. You
are experiencing a significant learning as you figure out what to do.
As the excitement subsides and reality sets in, you face doing more
tasks than there are resources to meet the commitment. You ar
wondering why the boss is not doign what he said he would do. He made
promises, You are suppose to be on the gravy train. You help launch
this dream boat. You are experiencing a learning as you find that
things do not always turn out the way envisioned and you learn to do
more than your previous share.
As the excitement subsudes and reality sets in, you are hired to help a
prospering company expand. You are estastic as you have been out of a
job and am happy to be hired. As you work at this great company, you
begin to realize that the start-up employees are sloughing some of
their work off to you. You are working much harder than they. You
wonder if upper management cares. To you these people are taking
advantage of you and you have to work hard to keep up with yours and
theirs. You do not want to quit because it took so long to get hired.
>From your perspective, upper management is not learning from this
ssssssssssssssssss. These people are learning that things are not as
you always perceive them to be. The actual job may call for more than
in the ad.
Upper management is pulling their hair out wondering why things are not
as great as it was when there were only a hand full of people working.
Everyone that joined the company appeared to be excited, they wanted to
move forward, they wanted adventure, etc. What happened????? What is
wrong????????? Who is at fault??????????
THIS IS A LEARNING ORGANIZATION. THEY ARE LEARNING AT DIFFERENT
LEVELS, THEY ARE LEARNING DIFFERENT THINGS, THEY ARE CONCERNED ABOUT
THE SAME THING. We have to find a better way to share the learning.
Because an organization is not sharing their learnings with each other
for mutual benefit does not mean the organization is not learning.
An organization not sharing will experience difficulty in their life
cycle. When the organization begans sharing they will enter into
another phase of their life cycle.
Please do not limit your paradigm. Life is whole and everything in it
is whole.
-- carold.whisnant@astd.noli.com