Learning Organizations
Missing:
- going over BB1 again
- BB2 - 6 sigma is not well explained
- the risk for organizations
- final considerations
1.1 Executive summary/ L.O!
In times of uncertainty and change, organizations need new and effective managerial tools in order to cope with the rising competitiveness of markets. In this context, the concept of organizational learning is receiving growing attention among both managerial and academic surroundings in the last two decades.
Among many possible definitions of a Learning Organization, David A. Garvin, a leading scholar in this field, suggests the following:
“an organization made up of employees skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge. These people could help their firms cultivate tolerance, foster open discussion, and think holistically and systemically. Such learning organizations would be able to adapt to the unpredictable more quickly than their competitors could.”.
A learning organization is aimed at increasing the flexibility and effectiveness of a company, making it react faster to changes in a competitive environment. This is achieved in cultures who constantly foster knowledge inside their organizations.
Although this general idea of organizational learning may appear rather simplistic at first glance, it's practical integration into day-to-day operations proves to require a more refined, systematic approach: “Generative learning cannot be sustained in an organization where event thinking predominates. It requires a conceptual framework of “structural” or systematical thinking, the ability to discover structural causes of behavior“.
This paper provides a deeper insight into the implementation and performance assessment of learning organizations (L.O.’s), mainly using the Three Building Blocks Model outlined by Garvin, Edmondson & Gino. To better understand this concept, the work will rely on Xerox as an example to highlight how L.O.’s can provide competitive advantages to
- going over BB1 again
- BB2 - 6 sigma is not well explained
- the risk for organizations
- final considerations
1.1 Executive summary/ L.O!
In times of uncertainty and change, organizations need new and effective managerial tools in order to cope with the rising competitiveness of markets. In this context, the concept of organizational learning is receiving growing attention among both managerial and academic surroundings in the last two decades.
Among many possible definitions of a Learning Organization, David A. Garvin, a leading scholar in this field, suggests the following:
“an organization made up of employees skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge. These people could help their firms cultivate tolerance, foster open discussion, and think holistically and systemically. Such learning organizations would be able to adapt to the unpredictable more quickly than their competitors could.”.
A learning organization is aimed at increasing the flexibility and effectiveness of a company, making it react faster to changes in a competitive environment. This is achieved in cultures who constantly foster knowledge inside their organizations.
Although this general idea of organizational learning may appear rather simplistic at first glance, it's practical integration into day-to-day operations proves to require a more refined, systematic approach: “Generative learning cannot be sustained in an organization where event thinking predominates. It requires a conceptual framework of “structural” or systematical thinking, the ability to discover structural causes of behavior“.
This paper provides a deeper insight into the implementation and performance assessment of learning organizations (L.O.’s), mainly using the Three Building Blocks Model outlined by Garvin, Edmondson & Gino. To better understand this concept, the work will rely on Xerox as an example to highlight how L.O.’s can provide competitive advantages to