Slow learning businesses that have endured in the past will perish in the time ahead, much as dinosaurs did some thirty million years ago after ruling the world for more than a century. The speedier, more information-rich environment of the next millennium will not support organizations with brainpower the size of dinosaurs. An organization must adapt to the environment's rapid change and learn more quickly if they want to survive (Schwandt, and Marquardt, 2000 p 2).
“Organizational learning is concerned with the methods adopted by organizations to promote learning; it is not simply the sum of all the Learning and Development activities that are carried out in an organization” ( Armstrong, and Taylor, 2014, p 295). Definitions of organizational learning vary widely in their points of emphasis. Two major schools of thought are particularly noteworthy: the cognitive school, which emphasizes the "thinking" aspect of organizational learning, and the behavioral school, which concentrates on its "doing" component. According to the cognitive school, learning happens as a result of our mental models, structures, or schemas, which provide us the ability to comprehend events and circumstances as well as analyze and react to our surroundings. According to the behavioral school, we learn through using experimentation, observation, analysis, and examination to gain knowledge and understanding from our experiences (Leavitt, 2011).
Experiential Learning Theory
Since its introduction, Kolb's (1984) experiential learning theory (ELT), which is based on psychology, philosophy, and physiology, has had a significant impact on leadership and organization development and added to the fundamentals of the learning organization. Its fundamental tenet is that learning happens when experience is grasped and transformed. ELT consists of a four-stage learning cycle: the grasping component is made up of concrete experience and abstract conceptualization, while the transforming experience component is made up of reflective observation and active experimentation.
Adaptive and Generative Learning Theory
Kolb's ELT model had an impact on researcher Peter Senge, who created a different cognitive theory of organizational learning that prominently highlighted mental models as a crucial element. Mental models are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or pictures and images that affect how we perceive the world and how we act. According to Senge's thesis, the other four disciplines are personal mastery, building shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking. These are necessities in developing skills and competencies at the individual, team, and organizational levels.
Assimilation Theory
Behavioral approaches to organizational learning place a stronger emphasis on the action-based changes that occur as people learn via performance, in contrast to cognitive models. These theories define learning as something that can be observed, reasoned about, and measured. There are three distinct stages in the learning process.
1) Knowledge acquisition consists of the development or acquisition of knowledge, insights, and connections.
2) Knowledge sharing reflects sharing of gained knowledge.
3) Knowledge utilization includes the incorporation of knowledge such that it is widely accessible and adaptable to new circumstances.
All three of these stages are strongly behavior-linked and focused on the practical application more than cognition.
Organizational Learning culture
A group of standards and principles concerning how an organization should operate that encourage methodical, in-depth methods intended to achieve higher-level, double-loop, strategic, or generative organizational learning through phases of information acquisition, information interpretation, and accompanying behavioral and cognitive changes. These businesses view learning as being essential to their commercial success (Škerlavaj, and Dimovski, 2011).
Methods used in the Sri Lankan banking sector to promote a learning
culture.
Understanding
the significance of organizational learning and development banking
institutions in Sri Lanka have increased their attention towards creating a learning
culture within the organization. As a result, they have implemented the
following strategies to encourage an organizational learning culture.
1) Encouraging learning by making formal learning readily available to employees. Therefore creating online information hubs, providing library facilities, and promoting knowledge sharing among staff members.
2) Promote continuous learning habits of the staff by organizing events like quiz programs and creating educational clubs example: Toastmasters club – Commercial bank branch
3) Filling skill and knowledge gaps by identifying the learning needs of employees at the periodic staff appraisals and by conducting Q and A sessions.
4) Providing financial encouragement to promote individual learning by way of educational expense reimbursements and issuing honorarium payments to employees for successful completion of professional qualifications.
Referencing
Leavitt, C. C. (2011) A Comparative Analysis of Three Unique Theories of Organizational Learning. (Online). Available at: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED523990.pdf. Accessed on August 27, 2022.
Škerlavaj, M. and Dimovski, V. (2011) The organisational learning culture and organisational performance in Macedonian companies. European Journal International Management, 5(6), pp 574-607.(Online). Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259244609_The_organisational_learning_culture_and_organisational_performance_in_Macedonian_companies. Accessed on August 27, 2022.
Learning how to unlearn what is already known is the key to the perfect acquisition of skills and abilities. And that is the point of making room for new knowledge (Grosemans et al, 2015).
ReplyDeleteDespite the fact that learning is something that everyone does and develops, organizational structures can help or hinder the process. The learning process engagement of individuals is influenced by the company culture in which they work. More importantly, it's unclear whether and how the organization will be able to use the learning that each member has acquired (Davies, 1999).
ReplyDeletean organizational learning theory of Japanese management in comparison with Theory Z. Clearly some elements of Japanese
ReplyDeletemanagement are described by some dimensions of Theory Z, but as we noted above, the theory is more of a prescription of the way Japanese managers would like things to be (or to be seen to be) rather than a description of reality (Sethi et al. 1984).