I have been following the "Learning Organisations" discussions for over a
month and am fascinated by both the breadth of coverage and the degree of
involvement of the participants. It gives me hope that real change in
organisations is possible! Whilst I have a problem keeping up with all the
interesting threads the sheer variety of topics and ideas excites me and
it is time to stop being a passive viewer and participate more actively.
So my introduction:
My name is Phillip Spencer. I am English and, after (too many!) years
working in the UK for a major British bank, have been working for the last
six years for an international bank. I am based in Singapore, mainly
involved in the IT/business interaction/banking operations.
I became interested in LOs several years ago when the IT unit I then
worked in embarked on a "change programme" that was designed to help some
400 staff (spread over a dozen countries across the Asia-Pacific Rim but
mainly in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia) prepare for increased change
and build their resiliance. By good luck I was part of a small team that
was designated to become the half-dozen "change agents" for this. After an
introduction to 'change management' from two external consultants I was
trying to understand the senior management's vision for the future
organisation when someone used the term 'learning organisation'. A few
days later, in a local bookshop, I saw this in the sub-title to "The Fifth
Discipline" and the rest (as they say) is history! I was hooked!
Our "change programme" under-estimated the extent of resistance to change
(see below) and also gave me a crash course in addressing this across
cultures, not just broad issues such as conflicts of "Eastern v Western
thought/values" but also at Asian country level, eg: "Singapore v Hong
Kong" and encountering such arguments or, worse, unstated
positions/mindsets as "not invented here" or "but we're different". We
(the change agent team, a mixed group of Asians and Westerners) picked our
way through the minefields with the help of the consultants. We made some
use of Hofstede's work, particularly his later work on "Confucian Values".
I later found Fons Trompenaar's "Riding The Waves of Culture" very helpful
too.
We used the Human Synergistics tools (Life Styles Inventory 1 & 2; Group
Styles Inventory and Organisational Change Inventory) to understand
personal and group thinking and behavioural styles and I found this most
instructive, particularly as I was an extreme "passive-defensive" and I
had to undertake major effort at personal change. This is a generally
"p-d" organisation dominated by mainly "aggressive-defensive"
management... and with few "constructives" (the most valuable ones
leave!). Incidentally, having seen the discussions on Myers-Briggs (which
I used some while back in UK) I would say that, whilst LSI/OCI/GSI are
still numbers driven, I found these tools broader, more detailed and of
more personal help in changing than the M-B analysis.
During our programme we had to refocus from an all-inclusive,
collaborative process to targetting the key management group and had
several painful workshops, one of which had a profound effect on me at an
emotional level. Being in a position where, to maintain personal
integrity, one has to "stand up and be counted" was, for me, where
'organisational change' ceased being theory (and packaged, managed
workshops) and became a personal reality that profoundly affected my
outlook on work and the organisation I am in. This was also, I believe,
where the Change Agent team (internal and consultants) finally gelled.
Around this time a major threat to staff emerged as a potential future
change. Resistance escalated as some perceived this as 'management's
hidden agenda'. To some extent the change agent team (though we knew
nothing about this beforehand) became the 'messengers of bad tidings',
associated with introducing the change rather than helping people to cope
with it. Added to this we were also perceived as not having a "real job"
either!
Despite (or rather because of) all this I found the whole exercise a high
point in working for the organisation! It was traumatic, frustrating and
yet also a tremendous personal learning experience. Ironically (but,
perhaps, not surprisingly in retrospect) the "change team" were the most
changed by the end of it. We were thrown together by chance, bonded and
became a 'real team' that, in part, continues to exist as a 'virtual team'
now that we have all gone our separate ways (some within the organisation,
some elsewhere).
My interest in organisational learning indirectly led to my current role
as a 'Service Quality Manager' but I feel I have little time at present to
undertake this properly, being more involved with 'fire-fighting'. I am
also concerned at the narrowness of many quality initiatives I see
(ISO900x awards seem to be favourites for advertising these days) and
which can focus on documenting existing processes and procedures rather
than re-thinking and simplifying processes or tackling the systemic
issues. However, I am impressed by the breadth of the "Baldrige Award"
criteria and see this as a real opportunity for change in organisations
that commit to this or similar national awards.
What of the future? Within the organisation I hear a lot of talk about
'learning' and 'sharing best practice' yet I have still to see it really
happen. Up to now I have found little understanding of the need for "soft
skills" and related theory and knowledge because we have a
results-oriented management and an organisation that responds to
organisational theory and different ideas by demanding to "see the marks
of the cross". Competitive behaviour is apparently successful and success
is rewarded thus non-constructive behaviour tends to be perpetuated whilst
I feel collaborative behaviour and openness can be abused. Politics
(along with 'saving face') can inhibit opportunities for learning by
covering up for deficiencies rather than preventing repetition. As a
result I have been following the "Will Snr. Managers Change",
"Conspiratorial LO teams" and related debates with considerable interest.
To try and make a difference, six months ago a UK-based colleague and I
started a "learning organisations" database within the Bank (using Lotus
Notes) to try and stimulate ideas and discussion. I am very interested in
other people's experience with such tools so am following the "Knowledge
Repository/Intranet" thread. Within our bank the response so far has been
very poor (mainly those who participated as 'change agents' in various
programmes) though a few new like-minded contacts have emerged.
Also, I would like to hear from anyone who has experience of initiating
and sustaining change in the middle of a large, geographically dispersed
organisation. I find innovation difficult where one has to contend with an
organisational focus on financial measures (cost containment whilst
boosting revenue) rather than using a broader base of measures such as the
balanced scorecard.
Cheers
Phillip
--Phillip Spencer phillip@singnet.com.sg (please note *exact* spelling for replies)
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>