Facing up to the learning organisation challenge: key issues from European perspective: volume 1 (original) (raw)
Related papers
European perspectives on the learning organisation
Journal of European …, 2004
This paper, based on a publication entitled 'Facing up to the learning organisation challenge' published in April 2003, provides an overview of the main questions emerging from recent European research projects related to the topic of the learning organisation. The rationale for focusing on this topic is the belief that the European Union goals related to 'lifelong learning' and the creation of a 'knowledge-based society' can only be attained if the organisations in which people work are also organisations in which they learn. Work organisations must become, at the same time, learning organisations. This paper has four main messages. The first is that, in order to build learning organisations, one has to ensure that a) there is coherence between the 'tangible' (formal/objective) and the 'intangible' (informal/subjective) dimensions of an organisation; and b) that the organisation's learning' goals are reconciled with individuals' learning needs. The complexity involved in ensuring the right balance between these different dimensions, means that in the final analysis one cannot realistically expect more than incomplete or imperfect learning organisations. However, this does not in any way negate the validity of the quest to reconcile these competing but 'real' interests. The second message is that challenging or developmental work is a prerequisite for implementing a learning organisation. One of the keys to promoting learning organisations is to organise work in such a way that it promotes human development. The third message is that the provision of support and guidance is essential to ensure that developmental work does in fact provide opportunities for developmental learning. The fourth message is that to address organisational learning there is a need for boundary-crossing and interdisciplinary partnerships between the vocational education and training and human resource development communities.
2003
This volume, the second of a two-volume publication, comprises 15 papers that present the work of individual European projects dealing with learning within organizations. These five chapters in Part 1, The Meaning of the Learning Organization, examine the conceptual frameworks and dilemmas at the heart of the notion of the learning organization: "Developmental Learning-Condition for Organizational Learning" (Ellstroem); "Challenges and Open Questions Raised by the Concept of the Learning Organization" (Fischer); "How Organizations Learn-Theory of Learning and Organizational Development" (Franz); "Competing Perspectives on Workplace Learning and the Learning Organization" (Brown, Keep); and "Conundrum of the Learning Organization-Instrumental and Emancipatory Theories of Learning" (Cressey, Kelleher). These six chapters in Part 2, Organizational Learning Realities in Different Contexts, present or report on company case studies: "Social Dialogue and Organizational Learning" (Kelleher, Cressey); "Implementing Organizational Change in British Telecom" (Cressey); "Banking on Learning-Deutsche Bank Corporate University" (Reimann); "Stimulating a Thirst for Learning-Case of the Guinness Dublin Brewery" (Findlater); "Learning to Network-Transformation of a Social Research Institute" (Franz); Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
A framework for building a learning organisation in the 21st century
International Journal of …, 2005
The concept of the learning organisation that strives continually to develop its people and processes is now accepted by many as a competitive necessity in today's business environment . Organisations are increasingly being challenged to leverage learning, as it has been widely articulated that knowledge creation and continuous learning at the individual, team, and organisational levels may be the only source of sustainable competitive advantage. Organisations of the future will not be able to expand into new markets and win market share unless they have a coherent framework (technologies, people, processes and methodologies) to systematically and effectively use their past knowledge to gain a competitive advantage. Many organisations claim that they have initiated measures to convert their organisations from a traditional model to the learning model. However, we believe critical knowledge gaps exist in understanding of how to exploit technologies to create a suitable framework for a learning organisation. This paper attempts to address this apparent void. Our framework sets up guidelines for the building of learning organisations.
Organizations and Learning: A Critical Appraisal
Sociology Compass, 2012
Discussions about organizations and learning continue to attract critical interest. Since the emergence in the 1970s of the notion of the ''learning organization,'' notions of systems' learning, knowledge management and lifelong learning have progressively entered into the debates. Earlier debates, which drew on education and psychology fields as well as organization and management studies, frequently explored plural objectives for learning occurring within organizational and workplace arenas. They included emphasis on workers' as well as managerial interests in various forms and objectives of learning. Latter debates on organizational learning appear predominantly shaped by a distinctive economic rationality and management interest. This article, from a sociological vantage point, reviews key thematic issues and critically explores some current questions in regard to organizations and learning. It proposes that a prevailing economic model in accordance with generalized policy objectives evident across the advanced economies for a neo-liberalized ''knowledge-based economy'' and ''learning society'' poses a particular set of contemporary issues and problems. The current juncture may, however, stimulate further innovation in models of learning organizations that widen agenda and prospects for learning.
A Case Study of the Development of a Learning Organization
In this paper I present the results of developing a learning organisation based upon a dual systems thinking of organisations and a conventional theory of learning and knowledge. The point of departure is a case study of a Danish public enterprise whose management relied upon some consultants' view of a learning organisation as tightly coupled with another management philosophy, namely that of Total Quality Management. I argue that this relation created a boundary between, on the one hand, human actions and learning, and, on the other hand, the development of the core work practices of the organisation. I, further, point to how the learning-theory inherent in most literature on learning organisations hold a rather simplistic understanding of learning. The result is that the method for developing a learning organisation stays within a traditional educational mode, which does not contribute to fully release the human potential in work organisations.
Understanding learning at work
1999
Learning at work has become one of the most exciting areas of development in the dual fields of management and education. It has moved to become a central concern of corporations and universities; it is no longer the preoccupation of a small band of vocational training specialists. A new focus on learning is changing the way businesses see themselves. At the same time, educational institutions are realising that they need to engage with the world of work in a more sophisticated manner than ever before. Modern organisations ignore learning at the cost of their present and future success. In the complex enterprises of the new millennium, learning has moved from the peripheryfrom something which prepared people for employment -to the lifeblood which sustains them. There are few places left for employees at any level who do not continue to learn and improve their effectiveness throughout their working lives. There is no place for managers who do not appreciate their own vital role in fostering learning. The future of enterprises and the agendas of educational institutions are becoming intimately linked within the present reconceptualisation of work and learning. Today we see employees extending their educational capabilities in learning through their work. At the same time opportunities and problems within work are creating the need for new knowledge and understanding. Employees develop skills of expression and communication which spill over into their personal lives. They learn new ways of collaborating and planning which they apply in the families and community organisations to which they belong. They not only become more effective in their present responsibilities, but help transform the nature of the work in which they are engaged creating new work practices and forms of production. These are a part of the increasing pressures from work, with increased commitment demanded of employees. There are groups of workers who are marginalised and do not benefit from these trends. And, of course, there are those who find no place in the world of work. In all this, boundaries of education, learning and training begin to dissolve. Study and work are no longer polarised. Each feeds the other.