What is a Learning Organisation? Comparing models of organisational learning and development

1. What is a Learning Organisation?Comparing models of organisational learning and development

2. What is a Learning Organisation? • "The essence of organisational learning is the organisation's ability to use the amazing mental capacity of all its members to create the kind of processes that will improve its own"Nancy Dixon, 1994 • "Organisations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to learn together" - Senge P. 1990 The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization, Century Business/Doubleday. • an abstraction • pundits’ concepts • introduced into imperative language • Contingency viewrespond to forces & environmental development otherwise we atrophy & die • supply-chain learning • Be excellent dude!

3. Rowden on Learning Organisation “a model of strategic change in which everyone is engaged in identifying and solving problems so that the organisation is continuously changing, experimenting and improving, thus increasing its capacity to grow and achieve its purpose.” Rowden R.W. 2001, The Learning Organisation & Strategic Change, S.A.M. Advanced Management Journal, Vol 66, Issue 3 pg 117p

4. Systems, mechanisms and processes Learning organisations are those that • have systems, mechanisms and processes in place, • used these to continually enhance their capabilities and those who work with it or for it, to achieve sustainable objectives - for themselves and the communities in which they participate. What systems, mechanisms and processes? Requires • Trust • High levels of communication • Concern for interdependencies and interrelationships

5. M. Pedler al: The Learning Company - Eleven characteristics • Adopt a Learning Approach to Strategy • Participative policy making • Informating (Information Systems) • Formative accounting - self-responsibility, accounting, budgeting and reporting systems • Internal Exchange (Client-Server relationships) • Reward Flexibility • Roles and flexible, matrix structures • Boundary workers as intelligence agents • Company-to-company learning • Learning climate • Self-development opportunities for all http://www.brunel.ac.uk/~bustcfj/bola/culture/learnco.html

6. Pedler stresses that the model is • a simplification • symbolic rather than concrete • not complete or rigid • not sequential - starts with strategy and ends with creation of learning opportunities. • Flowery, metaphorical talk of ecological flows, energies, life forces, and balances"vertical and horizontal loop energy flows providing linkages between individual and collective activity/change and dynamics between vision and action".

7. Hot air - recursive polemic? As representative elements in a policy and culture the eleven LO characteristics become • energetic, normative, persuasive devices for those wishing to manage change. • a "change agent's'" model? Independent of context or processes of analysis of change factors? • prescriptive commitments to flexible, self-managing, incremental, experimental, participative activities ? • ethically correct, personal values model? How well does down-sizing and asset stripping fit in?

8. Summary Characteristics of L-Orgs • Adapt to their external environment • Continually enhance their capability to change/adapt • Develop “collective” as well as individual learning • Use results of learning to achieve better results

9. Peter Senge’s Five Disciplines

10. Five Disciplines - expanded Systems thinking • mind shift & understanding change processes. • ‘feedback’ to reinforce/counteract action. • recognise recurring structures • remove root causes/problems Personal Mastery • personal competence and vision • developing patience to look at reality objectively Mental Models • changing ingrained assumptions about influencing factors. Shared Vision • use instincts, intuition by sharing personal vision • pictures of the future Team Learning • dialogue, discussion, group relationships • accelerate org. learning thru. Synergy 2+2=5

11. Reality and Problems? Personal Mastery How can this be “operationalised”? Evidence of it happening well? Making It Work • Managers must • redefine their job  • provide the right conditions for employees to be proactive  • Generating a sense of purpose The Tricky Part • Individual resistance to PM • difficulty in measuring/tracing ing results  • Ideas heard before "be excellent"  • "push" people to develop PM - may be stressful & unnecessary

12. Reality and Problems? Mental Models How can this be “operationalised”? Evidence of it happening well? Making It Work • Skills learnt must be • put into regular practice  • continually challenged  • Strong role of manager to integrate mental modelling and systems-thinking skills  The Tricky Part Managers not always good at theorising & innovating new ideas  Find it difficult to challenge tethered assumptions of existing "models"  Bounded rationality Some act in routinised ways when at work

13. Reality and Problems? Shared Vision How can this be “operationalised”? Evidence of it happening well? Follow me - this is the future! The visionary • focus and energy for learning?  • put together by many not just a few? • better when emerging intrinsically at the organisational level and not externally imposed • vision goes hand in hand with belief and commitment Tricky Bits Compliance not commitment Making the slogans & visionary rhetoric real  Visions are usually personally held People talk to and defend their visions Vision is usually top-down - those on receiving end may be sceptics

14. Making It Work Everyone pulling in the same direction  Teams to master the open "art" of dialogue & discussion  Conflict can still appear in good team learning - give issues an airing. Essentially a unitary frame of reference - not one where conflict is endemic. Reality and Problems? Team Learning How can this be “operationalised”? Evidence of it happening well? Tricky Bits openness, trust, practice team style consistency, no quick fixes boredom with constant "team message" problems of temporary teams in project-based organisation  fast response, fast learning, open minded - own views + views of others

15. Reality and Problems? Systems Thinking How can this be “operationalised”? Evidence of it happening well? Making It Work Management must • understand concepts to put into place • look at the whole picture, not “snap shots in time” • provide the right workplace conditions Tricky Bits People find it hard to "see" the whole constant patterns of change time to see newly initiated ideas worked thru. easier to "learn" at early design stages rather than when uncoupling tangled messes. Foresignt over fire-fighting and panic

16. Inhibitors to Becoming a Learning Organisation • Operational / “Fire-fighting” • Short term fixes rather than long-term solutions • How to focus on embedded systems and processes • Reluctance to train (or invest in training) • Too many hidden personal agendas • Tension between top-down order and bottom up anarchy • Management exasperation? • The knee-jerk reaction to Theory Y failure?

17. Senge’s Reality? • Fundamentally it is about profit. If companies felt that there was no advantage in trying to behave as a learning organisation, most likely they would not change. • Senge’s disciplines represent an ideal business world – not impossible but highly improbable to master.

18. Training vs. Learning Organisation? “Training is obviously necessary and development is fashionable” Discuss. “It is glib to talk of a learning organisation. The concept is gloss and elusive . Demonstrating it in action is more difficult . Almost anything could be presented to say that a L-organisation exists and operates yet many could also present instances to refute the proposition.” Discuss.

19. Training “Training by its nature pre-specifies outcomes.” “A planned process to modify attitude, knowledge, or skill behaviour through learning experience to achieve effective performance in an activity or range of activities. Its purpose, in the work situation, is to develop the abilities of the individual and to satisfy the current future” Manpower Services Commission, 1981

20. Management Development Key Issues (Strategy, Policies, Operations, Procedures, Products) Development for Future Roles Managerial Competencies(Boyatzis, Pedler/Burgoyne et al) Organisation culture and Socialisation Training for Specific Groups New Employees • Induction Training • Key Issues (Strategy, Policies, Operations, Procedures, Products) • Competencies • Organisation culture and Socialisation

21. Recent Developments in Training • Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) • National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) • National Training Organisations (NTOs) • Modern Apprenticeships • Lifelong Learning and Continuous Professional development • Investors in People (IiP) • New Deal • Multimedia-based learning

22. London Borough of Dickens • Achieved IiP status early 2001 • Modern Apprenticeship Scheme • NVQs • Appraisals Not Equilateral • Programme of Training Courses • Department-wide Training Initiatives • Valuing Diversity • Let’s Talk • Talk Back Still bureaucratic Training budget agreed - but 1/3 held back for management development training! Management visibility - a walk around the offices - not ad-hoc!

23. Internal Training Courses - London Boro. of Dickens • Usually 1 – 2 days • Examples: • Corporate induction • Health & Safety • Introduction to customer care • Managing absence • Recruitment and selection • Often external trainer - out-sourced • Problems of on-the-job follow-up and integration into job performance

24. London Boro. of Dickens: Action on Internal Courses • Corporate training at LBD put higher on agenda • Corporate aims adopted at dept level. • focus on ensuring that staff attend certain compulsory courses. • Non-compliance means staff will be unable to undertake key elements of work which may cause serious effects on department operations.

25. External Training Courses - L. B. of Dickens • Longer then a week. Examples: • Two weeks Database Developer • Day-release for Postgrad MBA/MSc • Professional training e.g. ACCA, CIMA, RICS • Diploma in Social Work • NVQ’s and Modern Apprenticeship • Leadership for Team Coordinators • Staff appraisal skills • Recruitment skills and equal opportunities • Using Windows XP

26. Examples of budget implementation

27. L. B. Dickens as a Learning Organisation So has evidence been presented?What has not been considered?How would you research further evidence for L.B. Dickens being a learning organisation?