preview

What Is A Learning Organization? Essay

Good Essays

Improvement programs are continuously emerging all over, as different organizations make an effort to improve themselves and attain an edge. However most organisations are yet to embrace the basic truth; continuous improvement requires high levels of dedication to learning. Problem solving, introducing a new product to the market, and re-engineering of a procedure require viewing the world in a new perspective and acting correspondingly. Without the presence of learning, organizations simply end up repeating the old practices (Garvin, 1993). Change remains aesthetic, and improvements short-lived.
Various executives such as Gordon Forward of Chaparral Steel, Ray Stata of Analog Devices and Paul Allaire of Xerox, have realized the link that exists between continuous improvement and learning and have started redirecting their companies around it. In addition, several scholars also share the same thoughts on learning organizations and knowledge-creating organizations.
What is a Learning Organization?
Organizational theorists have examined learning for quite a long time. Majority of the researchers view organizational learning as a process, which unfolds over certain period of time, and associate it with acquisition of knowledge and enhanced performance. They, however differ on certain essential issues. For instance, some believe that behavioral change is needed for learning; while others maintain that new ways of thinking are enough (Garvin, 1993). Others refer to information

Get Access