Learning Organization - Creating a Learning Organization and Leading it
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Keywords
Knowledge economy, teamwork, Top management, learning, study, practise, I learned something, Jack Welch, Boston Celtics
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Learning Organizations in Practice
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Understanding Is a learning organization a promising possibility or a hoax? I see it as a promise. It is assumed by majority that learning organization is a state of organization that no organization will probably reach. Contrary to this prevalent assumption, learning organization is already here. One can observe some of the five disciplines: systems thinking, mental models, personal mastery, shared vision, and team learning already operating in organizations like General electric, and Shell. These disciplines provide help in shifting the mind from seeing parts to seeing wholes, from perceiving people as helpless things (those can be manipulated) to active participants, from reacting to present to creating future. Systems thinking integrates all the remaining learning disciplines.
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Mental models determine how we see the world. They are invaluable to live in a complex world like ours. But all the mental models are flawed in some or other way. They are at best half-truths. Mental models are: maps which people hold in their long-term memory and perceptions which they hold in short-term memory. These mental models play a key role in decision making in organizations. Some mental models might cause behavior that is not in the best interests of the either employee or organization.
For example, "organization exists to make money" is the mental model held by majority of employees in an organization. This mental model might be useful in the short-term, but it is strictly dangerous in the long term. Once the organization becomes reasonably successful, people get complacent and the organization starts ignoring customers and competition. Mental models such as these have to be changed. But the problem is mental models are hard to identify. In order to change them they have to be first identified. A precautionary measure organizations can take is to at least create mental-models in the desirable way. That is what Jack Welch used to at GE (refer exhibit 1).