A bit of background: My agency is beginning to implement a major
reorganization plan, part of which is to move toward becoming a learning
organization. I've wondered (and doubted) whether it's possible to simply
"do it" and I suspect there are various stages of evolution, of which LO
represents only one. I also suspect "becoming an LO" (please bear with
this inappropriate phrase) requires several critical elements of
organizational culture, and perhaps a certain body of shared experience as
well.
The question: What evolutionary stages, or phases, must an organization
go through in order to practice learning concepts?
A snip of the situation: We display what I'd call conflicting cultural
traits. For example, over the past several years we made a commitment to
using CQI, but we're holding the QI Coordinator position vacant for
budgetary reasons. In addition, during the reorg planning process a
number of top-down decisions were made that galvanized our not-so-latent
tendencies to function very hierarchically. Within all this, we are
dedicated to the use of facilitators and have run a number of QI-type
projects, with varying degrees of success, and we're trying to shift from
bureaucracy toward team-based operations.
Any comments would be appreciated. (I sense the need for a large bucket
to catch them in!)
Thank you, LOers, and Rick in particular, for providing this forum for
dialogue and advice.
Dave
-- David E. Birren Phone: (608)267-2442 Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources Fax: (608)267-3579 Bureau of Management & Budget E-mail: birred@dnr.state.wi.usWe shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. (from T. S. Eliot's "Little Gidding")