BUILDING LEARNING

ORGANIZATION AND
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
DSIMS

SHRUTI DHAWAN SINGH

Ref. Books- The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge

WHAT IS LEARNING
Learning is the act of acquiring new, or modifying and
reinforcing, existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values
, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different
types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by
humans, animals and some machines. Progress over
time tends to follow learning curves. Learning is not
compulsory; it is contextual. It does not happen all at
once, but builds upon and is shaped by what we already
know. To that end, learning may be viewed as a process,
rather than a collection of factual and procedural
knowledge. Learning produces changes in the organism
and the changes produced are relatively permanent.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

EMERGING BUSINESS REALITIES

WHY ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING? THE C WORDS0

Complexity: Situations that are difficult to understand, have

considerable ambiguity and uncertainty, and often have no
solutions, only options and tradeoffs

Chaos: Seemingly random events that have an underlying

pattern (which is difficult to discern)

Change: turbulent environments in which the future is

difficult to predict or control

EMERGING BUSINESS REALITIES

ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING -- WHAT?
In learning organizations, people are encouraged
to
reflect as they act, share lessons learned and
other key information, so that they (and their
customers) can easily access the best
thinking of the entire organization.

Put more simply: In a learning organization,

when one of us gets smarter, we all can get
smarter.
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WHAT IS LEARNING ORGANIZATION

& WHY ORGANISATIONS NEED TO
LEARN
It is team learning, not individual
learning, that adds to organizational
learning.
Peter Senge
The Fifth Discipline

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LEARNING ORGANIZATION
A learning organization is an organization
skilled at creating, acquiring, and
transferring knowledge, and modifying its
behavior to reflect new knowledge and
insights
New ideas are essential if learning is to take
place
Without accompanying changes in the way that
work gets done, only the potential for
improvements exist

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HOW ORGANIZATIONS LEARN

Organizational
Team

Learning

Learning

Individual

Learning
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WHAT IS LEARNING ORGANIZATION

& WHY ORGANISATIONS NEED TO
LEARN

Towards being a Learning Organisation

Some Characteristics of Learning
Organizations

belief that systems thinking is fundamental

climate that encourages, rewards, and

enhances individual and collective learning

surprises, mistakes, and failures viewed as

learning opportunities

widely available access to information and

resources
continued . . .

ASTD - The Top Ten Trends

Copyright 1996 ASTD

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WHAT IS LEARNING ORGANIZATION

& WHY ORGANISATIONS NEED TO
LEARN

Towards being a Learning Organisation

Some Characteristics of Learning
Organizations

desire for continuous improvement and

resources

learning integrated with work

opportunities for open dialogue and inquiry

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ASTD - The Top Ten Trends

Copyright 1996 ASTD

WHAT IS A LEARNING
ORGANIZATION?
A

learning organization is a
group of people
working together
to collectively enhance their capacities
to create results
they really care about.
Peter Senge
The Fifth Discipline

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THE WHEEL OF LEARNING

MASTERING THE RHYTHM OF A LEARNING ORGANIZATION

REFLECTING
CONNECTING
DECIDING
DOING

More
concrete

Individual
Doin
g

Reflecting
(thinking and
feeling)

[RCDD]
Deciding
More
abstrac
t

More action

Connectin
g

More
reflection

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FIVE REQUIREMENTS OF A
LEARNING ORGANIZATION
[STOP]
SHARED VISION
TEAM LEARNING
SYSTEMS THINKING
ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
PERSONAL MASTERY

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CONCLUSION
Learning organizations foster an environment
that is conducive to learning
Learning organizations open up boundaries and
stimulate the exchange of ideas

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WHAT IS CULTURE?
The layers of culture/onion metaphor:
Visible cultural
differences
Language
Housing
Food
Clothes

Norms and values

What we can do and
cannot do.
What is right or wrong.

Key beliefs
Our understandings
about what is true.

Other metaphors such as iceberg and ocean have also been used.
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WHAT IS CULTURE?

Some definitions:
Culture consists in patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired
and transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements
of human groups, including their embodiments in artefacts; the essential core
of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas
and especially their attached values.

Hofstede, 2001: 9)

(Kluckhohn, 1951: 86 cited in

the collective programming of the mind

that distinguishes the members

of one group or category of people from another

(Hofstede, 2001: 9)

Culture is the characteristic way of behaving and believing that a group of21
people in a country or region (or firm) have evolved over time and share.

(Briscoe and Schuler, 2004: 116)

LEVELS OF CULTURE IN MULTINATIONAL

MANAGEMENT

National Culture

Business Culture
Organizational Culture

Occupational Culture

Multinational Management
(Source: Cullen and Parboteeah, 2008: 49)
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THE CHANGING SOCIAL CONTRACT

New Contract

Old
Contract

Employee Employability, personal

Job security
A cog in the machine
Knowing

Employer Continuous learning, lateral

Traditional compensation
package

responsibility Partner in business

improvement Learning

career
movement, incentive
compensation
Creative development
opportunities
Challenging assignments
Information and resources

Standard training program

Routine jobs
Limited information
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HR ISSUES IN THE NEW

WORKPLACE

Teams and Projects

Temporary Employees

Technology

Work-Life Balance

Downsizing

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HR ISSUES IN
THE NEW
WORKPLACE

Teams and
Projects

Teams and Projects major trend in todays workplace

With emphasis on projects, distinctions between job
categories and descriptions are collapsing
Many of todays workers straddle functional &
departmental boundaries; handle multiple
tasks/responsibilities
Virtual team = made up of members who

are geographically or organizationally dispersed,

rarely meet face to face, and
do their work using advance information technologies.

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HR ISSUES IN
THE NEW
WORKPLACE

Temporary
Employees

In opening years of the 21st century, largest

employer in U.S. was a temporary employment
agency, Manpower, Inc.
Temporary Employees do everything from data
entry to interim CEO
Contingent workers = people who work for an
organization, but not on a permanent or full-time
basis, including temporary placements,
contracted professionals, or leased employees
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HR ISSUES IN
THE NEW
WORKPLACE

Technology

Telecommuting and virtual teams are related

trends
Telecommuting = using computers and
telecommunications equipment to perform work
from home or another remote location
Work anywhere - wireless Internet devices,
laptops, cell phones, fax machines
Extreme telecommuting = people live and work in
countries far away from the organizations
physical location
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HR ISSUES IN
THE NEW
WORKPLACE

Work-Life
Balance

Many European companies ahead of U.S. companies

Telecommuting is one way organizations help

employees lead more balanced lives
Flexible scheduling important in todays workplace
27% of workforce/flexible hours
Broad Work-Life Balance initiatives critical
retention strategy on-site gym & childcare, paid
leaves & sabbaticals
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HR ISSUES IN
THE NEW
WORKPLACE

Downsizing

Downsizing = intentional, planned reduction in the

size of a companys workforce
Managers can smooth the downsizing process
Regularly

communicating with employees

Providing

them with as much information as possible

Providing

assistance to workers who will lose their jobs

Using

training and development for remaining employees

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LEARNING ORGANIZATION
A learning organization is an organization
skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring
knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to
reflect new knowledge and insights
New ideas are essential if learning is to take
place
Without accompanying changes in the way that
work gets done, only the potential for
improvements exist

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ORGANIZATION AND QUALITIES

Meaning

Plausible,

well grounded definition, actionable and

easy to apply.

Management
Clear

guidelines for practice, filled with operational

advice rather than high aspirations.

Measurement
Tools

for assessing organizations rate and level of

learning to ensure gains have been made.

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ORGANIZATION AND QUALITIES

Three distinct stages.

Cognitive

Exposed to new ideas, expand their knowledge and begin to

think differently.

Behavioral

Employees internalize new insights and alter behavior.

Performance

Improvement

Changes in behavior leading to measurable improvements

in results.

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BUILDING BLOCKS
Systematic

Problem Solving
Experimentation
Learning from Past Experience
Learning from others.
Transferring knowledge
Measuring learning
Each is accompanied by a distinctive
mindset, tool kit and pattern of behavior.
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SYSTEMATIC PROBLEM SOLVING

Rely on scientific method for diagnosing problems
plan, do, check, act
Data
Statistical analysis

Generating

ideas and collecting information

Reaching consensus
Analyzing and displaying data
Planning actions

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EXPERIMENTATION

On-going programs
Series

of small experiments
Steady flow of new ideas
Incentive system
Need managers and employees trained in evaluating
and performing experiments

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EXPERIMENTATION

Demonstration Projects
First

projects to embody principles and approaches

company hopes to adopt on a larger scale
Establish policy guidelines and decision rules for
later projects
Encounter severe tests of commitment from
employees (testing rule change)
Limited impact on rest of organization (until
implemented)

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LEARNING FROM PAST EXPERIENCE

Companies revive successes and failures.
Assessment done systematically and in an open
and accessible forum

Those who cannot remember the past are

condemned to repeat it

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LEARNING FROM OTHERS

Most powerful insights come from looking
outside ones immediate environment to gain a
new perspective
SIS-Steal ideas shamelessly
Benchmarking

Ongoing

investigation and learning experience that

ensures the best industry practices are uncovered,
analyzed, adapted and implemented.

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TRANSFERRING KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge must be spread quickly and efficiently
throughout the organization
Maximum impact when shared broadly

Written

reports
Oral reports
Site visits and tours
Personnel rotation programs
Standardization programs
Education and training programs

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MEASURING LEARNING
If you cant measure it, you cant manage it
Actual data comparision
Learning or experience curves.

Incomplete

measures, ignore other competitive

variables, like quality, delivery or new product
introductions

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CASE STUDY
Fun Technologies is a Sunnywale based company in mobile
technologies. It is setting up its development centre in
Hyderabad , India.. It wants to hire 150 software
professionals with niche skills from all parts of India. After
1 year of rigorous training , approx 75 professionals will be
sent to Finland at the clients office for assignments ranging
from 9 months to 2 years.
The levels of software professionals are:

Trainee

Engineer 6 months probation

Software Engineer on confirmation
Sr. Software Engineer
Project Engineer
Program Manager
Software Architect

Justify its need for becoming a learning organization

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CASE STUDY
mHealth

is a London, UK based company in mobile

technologies providing mobile health solutions to NHS. It was
founded by an European & Australian partners. It has a
development centre at Czech with IT director & a team of 15
software professionals.
The team in London consist of 2 co-founders, 1 Marketing
Director, 1 Program Director (female) , and a team of 10
employees. The team of team employees should have around 8
telecallers/CSA. They are expected to work 10 hours in a day.
The company is facing the following issues:
High Attrition rate in London office compared to 100% loyalty in
Czech Republic
High Absenteeism in London office
Delayed delivery deadlines from Czech Republic.

Give

your suggestions for improving the issues faced by the

company and draw a step wise plan for the same.

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