Teaching Smart People How to Learn

The chapter focuses on putting it all together: integrating everything learned about organizations and leadership into more comprehensive and powerful understanding and action. The reframing process illustrated in the chapter can be applied to almost any case or experience: students’ personal cases, published cases, films or fiction, or class experiences (role plays, experiential activities, team experiences, the course). Instructors can, for example, have students study a challenging case (multiple suggestions are offered elsewhere in this instructor’s guide) and then, either individually or in teams, reframe to develop both diagnoses and solutions. Individuals or groups will differ in what they see and what

Casey, A., & Goldman, E. (2010). Enhancing the Ability to Think Strategically: A learning model. Management Learning, 41, 167–185.

Organizations are complex, and understanding true root causes, versus shadows, requires educational leaders to embrace complicated nuances present in everyday situations. As leaders for learning, administrators continuously reflect upon their vision and steps for enhancing the organization; consequently, they are called to step outside the box into more ambiguous terrain. Professional and personal experiences shape individuals’ actions, and as a result, the observational lens that impacts judgment is inherently biased. Understanding the complexity of decision-making and individual bias requires moving beyond a superficial acceptance stance. As I reflected upon my own observational lens and individual bias while observing my leader, I realized that I interpret and draw conclusions based on my expectations and overall

For most companies, identifying what a learning organization should be and actually becoming one is tricky at best, impossible at worst. One way that manager's and companies can promote the concept of being a learning organization is to assess whether the company is in need of a short-term fix or whether it is more focused on long-term results. Organizational learning is a long-term activity that will build competitive advantage over time and requires sustained management attention, commitment, and effort. Learning organizations maximize their competitive positions during strong economic times and they prudently train their employees and prepare for change even in turbulent times. As a result, learning organizations and learning

When a new employee starts at a company they are expect to learn about the programs they will be working in and how the company safety policies and practices are there to protect them and others. The process of learning for each employee can be different, and each person has a different level of knowledge they can obtain (Levine, 2013). Discipline in the terms of learning and trying is critical to growth and allows for an individual to become smarter and more proficient as they work to accomplishing

The main point of the article is that "[organizational] wisdom transcends organizational learning in its commitment to doing the right thing over doing things right" (Hays, 2007, p. 78).  This commitment is one of the guiding ideas behind the disciplines the author included in his discussions.

A learning organization is an organization that can change quickly, adapting to the new rules that the market environment has created. Businesses that know how to learn and develop quickly and effectively will thrive; those that don’t will not survive. It is easy to think of newer companies like Apple and Google as being the best learning organizations. Yet, some of the best examples of organizational learning practices are found in more mature organizations, such as the U.S. military. Throughout our lives we collect tidbits of information, knowledge through what we experience, we try to apply the lesson from these experience as we grow, we are curious by nature, adventurous we are learners and for many of us the process of learning never stops.

Byron, I enjoyed reading your posted. Your comment Learning organizations are able to transform industry changes through constant learning of its members, is an important statement. When you have an organization that invest in their employees have some of the strongest employees throughout the industry. Organization that doesn’t invest in the training of their employee experience different controversial within the company because of the untrained employees that doesn’t have the ability to make wise decision in their job function.

Knowledge is power and with great power comes great responsibility (Anonymous). This writer had attended seminars for leadership and management in the course of her career. However, the course presented this writer the opportunity to acquire deeper knowledge and understanding of leadership principles which will prepare her for future opportunities in a much

Another way organizations, particularly for-profit corporations, benefit from transformative learning is by promoting the exploration of new ideas. As companies try to squeeze out larger profits, in part by streamlining operational costs, one potential benefit of encouraging a transformative learning framework is that reflective thought may increase an

Throughout our final semester of study at Maryville, our cohort has studied Peter Senge’s, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. Rather than set of management practices, the book describes how organizations, especially those that are sustainably competitive, know how to learn. These “learning organizations” are continuously learning how to work together, where the norm is producing their best. In the book, Senge identifies five essential elements, that when practiced together, create perfect conditions for an effective learning organization. These five practices are Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Shared Vision,

     In his book The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge emphasizes his model of a "learning organization," which he defines as "an organization that is continually expanding its capacity to create its future." A learning organization excels at both adaptive learning and generative learning.

There are many examples of poor leadership behavior in today’s workplace. Inadequate leadership can be detrimental not only to a team within an organization, but also to the entire organization itself. I believe it is vital for upper management to ensure that their leaders are properly trained and aware of how to handle certain situations and employees. When a leader’s weaknesses are overlooked, large problems occur.

There are two terms that describe learning in the workplace: organizational learning and a learning organization while the two terms appear to both mean learning in an organization they both have their own distinctive meaning of what it means for an employee to learn within their organization. The first is described by Confessore and Kops (1998) as “a process by which information, determined by the collective as meaningful, is communicated by and throughout the collective (Confessore & Kops, 1998, p. 366),” this defines the term organizational learning. While a learning organization is defined as “an environment in which organizational learning is structured so that teamwork, collaboration, creativity, and knowledge processes have a collective meaning and value (Confessore & Kops, 1998, p. 366).” Confessore and Kops (1998) state that SDL is more likely to occur in organizations where employees feel they can contribute to the organization’s goals and values where risk taking and innovation are valued (p.368). These definitions shed light on what an organization must provide as an environment to encourage organizational learning to create a learning organization.

Peter Senge argues that not only we humans learn, but organizations also. However, learning itself may not be enough for the organization to survive in this ever-challenging era. In his book, The Fifth Discipline, Senge introduced five ‘disciplines’, namely systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision, and team learning, that characterizes an organization as a learning organization.