Building the Learning Organization
卡通森林Darden School of Business Administration
普法宣传日Overview
Brief
Glenn Kessler
February 5, 1994
"... the rate at which individuals and organizations learn may become the only sustainable competitive advantage, especially in knowledge "
Ray Stata
Inc.
Devices
Chairman,
Analog
Background
There is general agreement about why GM, IBM, the American steel industry, etc. are down on their luck: times changed, the companies didn't. They followed a well established business strategy: IIABDFI ("if it ain't broke, don't fix it"). While this strategy may be adequate in periods of relative calm, it is certain to fail in a turbulent environment. Witness the current landscape of American business.
We are now in a period of enormous change--social, political, cultural, and technological. Even more important the rate of change is accelerating exponentially. (See the attached discussion of changes in the publishing industry.) This is forcing us to reevaluate venerated models of management and modes of corporate thinking and arch for alternatives which are more appropriate to the current business climate. American business is now undergoing a "paradigm shift" not unlike that experienced by the scientific community in moving from the Ptolemaic to the Copernican view of the univer or from Newtonian mechanics to the special theory of relativity.
The problem is that the new paradigm is not yet fully defined or accepted. We can begin to e its ou
tline by looking at the some of the characteristics of an organization which thrives on change. The characteristics include flexibility, adaptability to changing markets, openness to new ideas, innovative-ness and creativity, a healthy do of skepticism about past practices and success, a relentless eking of information (about itlf, its customers, and the changing environment in which it functions), a shared vision which keeps the organization on cour and, most important of all, a recognition that no one person has all the answers, that there is much to be learned and that everyone in the organization must contribute to the learning process.
The Learning Organization
This list enumerates a few of a network of features which characterize a learning organization. We could mention others as well: a "flat" rather than a hierarchical organizational structure; viewing information as a shared resource which is available to everyone in the organization; existence of cross-functional teams which contain members from all departments at all levels; evaluation and reward criteria which encourage creativity, learning, and informed risk; a shared feeling of purpo by all members of the organization, etc.
The characteristics are interrelated parts of a single whole. They are "symptoms" of an underlying
organizational philosophy from which they flow naturally and inevitably. They derive from a shared belief in the primary importance of continuous learning and personal growth throughout the organization. This carries with it a commitment to openness, sharing of information and a respect for the capacity of all individuals in the organization to learn, to grow, to contribute, and to create. From the perspective of a learning organization, an organization's most important ast is the knowledge which its members posss and its ability to continually u and create new knowledge.
Building the Learning Organization
干操视频To build a learning organization we have to start from the premi that "we all have a lot to learn" about our business, our customers and, most importantly, about ourlves. We all function according to certain "mental models" or internalized views about how the world "really is" and how the world "should be". We all have devices that we employ automatically (and usually tacitly) to avoid embarrassment, to maintain control, to "win", etc. Left unexamined the can also function as barriers to genuine communication and creative learning. It is this sort of "reflexive" learning--learning about our learning process--that is the hallmark of a learning organization. It is only when we can take a step back and say things like "Oh. This is where the communication process is breaking down. This is why we're not getting anywhere. Let's fix it." that we will be able to create tea
ms which have higher IQs than their individual members and an organization which fully utilizes the creative potential of all of its employees. At that point we can begin to achieve a significant and sustainable competitive advantage. We begin to have a learning organization.
Is This A Fad, Yet Another Program Du Jour?
There were eighteen participants in the Darden BLO Executive Program. I reprented the smallest business organization. The next smallest had annual revenues of about $100M (up to veral billion dollars per year for the largest). Reprented companies included South African Breweries, Ethyl Corporation, Lederle Labs, Chemical Bank, BC/BS Florida, Philip Morris and Mobil Oil. Every company in the group was already committed to some degree to the ideas embodied in the program. They have all taken steps towards building a learning organization.
This is not to say that the initiatives will all work. It does suggest that the ideas are becoming a part of the fabric of business in America. The move from command and control to learning organizations is not being impod upon business by academics. It grows out of the changing nature of customers, competition, and change itlf. The concepts underlying the learning organization are not new. In some respects they appear obvious and trivial. They have been clearly articulated for at
30 years. That they are just now coming into "fashion" is perhaps not all that surprising. After all, IIABDFI.
BLP and the Learning Organization
王智伟Is any of this relevant to our business? Even if one agrees with the basic principles of a learning organization, how does vague theory get translated into actual practice? There are no simple answers to the questions. The answers differ for each organization. The following very general steps are frequently mentioned:
Attend to and reevaluate our core competencies ("What do we do and what do we want to do?"), our core process ("How do we do it?"), and our corporate culture ("What is it and how is it reinforced?")
Build a shared vision or a picture of what the organization will look like in the future. This should rve as a guide and a magnet which draws the organization forward. To function in this way the vision must be concrete, compelling, and truly shared by everyone at every level in the organization.
艺术教育Articulate a t of organizational values which will frame the strategies necessary to realize the vision.
The values will become the basis of the new corporate culture. E.g., we might include among our values the overriding importance of providing to our customers not only the highest quality products but highest quality rvice as well. Other corporate values might include openness, sharing of information, etc.
Make an individual commitment to openness and personal learning. Senge refers to this as "personal mastery." Without this sort of individual commitment at a personal level a learning organization is impossible.
Make an individual and organizational commitment to learn to work in teams. This involves appreciating different learning styles and problem solving strategies, developing listening skills, understanding our own defensive routines, taking risks, replacing winning with learning as our primary criterion of success, etc.
On a more concrete level we might:
U every opportunity to articulate and re-articulate our shared vision to anyone who will listen. Make sure that this vision and the values which frame it are reflected in our daily routines.黑豆苗怎么做好吃
Begin pilot reengineering projects which embody some basic ideas of the learning organization such as cross-functional teams. What we learn from the projects is no less important than whether they "succeed".
不可思议造句Read and discuss together articles and cas about how other business are making the transformation from command and control to learning and participation.
Make an awareness of the ideas part of our corporate culture. Discuss them at every opportunity.
情与理Incorporate them into our daily routines. Set up a library which is available to everyone in the organization.
Treat information as a resource to be shared by everyone in the organization. Move from information as a need to know commodity to information as a want to learn resource. Develop both the mindt and the technology which is required to give people a clear n of what we are doing and how we are doing it. Our goal is to encourage creativity and learning at every level. This won't happen unless people at every level are part of the team. Availability of information is a necessary condition.
Invite a couple of customers to one of our executive meetings just to chat and e what they have to say. Invite a couple of authors to an executive meeting for the same purpo.
Reformulate evaluation and reward criteria. Make explicit the importance of learning, openness and informed risk taking. Reformulate hiring and promotion criteria. Make explicit that what a person can and is willing to learn is no less important than what a person knows.
Initiate small regular discussion ssions drawn from people at all levels in all departments to review articles or ideas of interest.
The learning organization provides one model for channeling the creative potential of everyone in the company towards the same end. Whether it will work for BLP is to a large degree a matter of choice, commitment and our willingness to take a risk.
Selected Bibliography
Chris Argyris, "Teaching Smart People to Learn" (HBR, May 1991)
_____________, Knowledge for Action (Josy-Bass)
Peter Drucker, "The New Society of Organizations" (HBR, Sept. 1992)
_____________, Managing for the Future
Sumantra Ghoshal & Charlotte Butler, "The Kao Corporation: A Ca Study" (European Management Journal, June 1992)
Robert Howard & Robert Hass, The Learning Imperative(HBR Book)
Fred Kofman, Peter Senge, "Communities of Commitment" (Organizational Dynamics, Autumn 1993) Daniel Mills & Bruce Frien, "The Leaning Organization" (European Management Journal, June 1992)
Michael McGill & John Slocum, "Unlearning the Organization", (Organizational Dynamics, Autumn 1993)
Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline (Doubleday)
___________, "The Leader's New Work: Building Learning Organizations" (Sloan Management Review, Fall 1990)
