I wish to inform everyone in the digest as to the progress I have made
with my research into motivation in learning organisations, and to gain
some feedback on my thoughts. I am very keen to receive as many opinions
on this article as possible (either to me personally, or, preferably,
within the digest).
I have undertaken a literature review of this topic, and sent out
approximately 100 postal questionnaires to organisations in various
industrial sectors in the UK, USA, Germany and Denmark. Preliminary
results suggest the following :- (PLEASE FEEL FREE TO AGREE OR DISAGREE!)
1. Methods of employee motivation HAVE NOT CHANGED since the adoption of
organisational learning in a firm - hence, organisational learning does
not teach us anything new about motivating employees.
2. Theories and practices of organisational learning are more widespread
in North America than in Europe (particularly continental Europe), judging
by the amount of literature available from either side of the Atlantic,
and the experiences of organisations recounted within the literature.
3. Organisational learning has been greeted more enthusiastically by
organisations in the United States, and with more of a luke-warm reception
in the United Kingdom. This is arguably true of both senior management and
lower levels of the employee hierarchy.
4. A great deal of the literature available on learning organisations
contains highly theoretical material, and little in the way of practical,
day-to-day advice for organisations. On occasions, even where the author
of an article even intends to present a practical emphasis on his/her
work, the result still leans towards a theoretical treatment of the
subject.
5. A number of firms that have responded to the survey indicate that there
organisational structure has changed recently - typically, they report a
'flattening hierarchy'. Is this caused by organisational learning, an
effect of it, or completely independent of it?
6. IT is being used for employee training and learning, but few firms have
adopted Microworld-type IT simulations for training.
*** QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY ***
I wish to extend the range of my questionnaire survey to include as many
organisations as possible. If you would like to contribute to my research
by completing a questionnaire, or know someone who would, please E-Mail me
at ajc101@tower.york.ac.uk .
Please note that, due to financial and time pressures, the questionnaire
will be sent via the Internet (either as an E-Mail or text file
attachment).
I look forward to hearing from you all!
Andrew Cripps
Department of Computer Science
University of York
UK
--Andy Cripps <ajc101@york.ac.uk>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>