The Learning Organisation

The learning organisation is seen as a strategy for performance improvement and competitive advantage (Weldy, 2009). In the UK, the idea was first developed by Pedler et al.’s (1988) learning company project report, which provided the following definition: an organisation that facilitates the learning of all its members and continuously transforms itself. Pedler et al. (1991) went on to provide a list of dimensions of a learning company that could be used to differentiate it from a non-learning company. Among these were a learning approach to strategy, participative policy-making, ‘informating’ (the use of information technology to inform and empower people), reward flexibility and self-development opportunities for all (Bratton and Gold, 2012).

According to Peter Senge (1990) learning organisations are: 

'Organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together'.

'Learning organizations are possible because, deep down, we are all learners. No one has to teach an infant to learn. In fact, no one has to teach infants anything. They are intrinsically inquisitive, masterful learners who learn to walk, speak, and pretty much run their households all on their own. Learning organisations are possible because not only is it our nature to learn but we love to learn. Most of us at one time or another have been part of a great "team," a group of people who functioned together in an extraordinary way— who trusted one another, who complemented each others' strengths and compensated for each others' limitations, who had common goals that were larger than individual goals, and who produced extraordinary results. I have met many people who have experienced this sort of profound teamwork—in sports, or in the performing arts, or in business. Many say that they have spent much of their life looking for that experience again. What they experienced was a learning organisation'.

Another source of encouragement for the learning organisations was Senge’s (1990) idea of five disciplines that were required as a foundation:

• Personal mastery
• A shared vision
• Team learning
• Mental models
• Systems thinking.

Still another view was presented by Watkins and Marsick (1996), who developed a model and a survey instrument, the Dimensions of the Learning Organisation Questionnaire (DLOQ), which examined seven dimensions of the learning organisation: continuous learning, dialogue and inquiry, team learning, embedded systems, empowerment, system connections, and leadership. What became clear was that such models represented an ideal of a learning organisation but became difficult to implement. One survey (KPMG, 1996), for example, found that even where managers were in favour of learning organisations, they often faced difficulties in finding support for the idea: ‘I have been trying to foster the learning concept for some time but with little success as the resistance to change is too great’ (p. 2).

Part of the journey towards the image of a learning organisation is to use instruments such as the DLOQ, whose dimensions were validated by Yang et al. (2004), as a form of organisational needs assessment to begin the journey. For example, Jamali et al. (2009) show its use in the IT and banking sectors in Lebanon. As Weldy and Gillis (2010) show, the DLOQ will highlight the different perceptions at different levels of an organisation, as well as weaknesses such as lack of communication, involvement or participation, which are seen as necessary for enacting the learning organisation.

References

Bratton, J. and Gold, J. (2012) Human resource management: Theory and practice. 5th ed. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan.

Jamali, D., Sidani, Y. and Zouein, C. (2009) The learning organization: tracking progress in a developing country. Learning Organization, 16(2): 103–21.

KPMG (1996) Learning Organisation Benchmarking Survey. London: KPMG.

Pedler, M., Boydell, T. and Burgoyne, J. (1988) The Learning Company Project Report. Sheffield: Manpower Services Commission.

Pedler, M., Burgoyne, J. and Boydell, T. (1991) The Learning Company: A Strategy for Sustainable Development. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill.

Senge, P. (1990) The Fifth Discipline. New York: Doubleday.

Watkins, K. E. and Marsick, V. J. (1996) Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ). Warwick, RI: Partners for the Learning Organization.

Weldy, T. G. (2009) Learning organization and transfer: strategies for improving performance. Learning Organization, 16(1): 58–68.

Weldy, T. G. and Gillis, W. E. (2010) The learning organization: variations at different organizational levels. Learning Organization, 17(5): 455–70.

Yang, B., Watkins, K. E. and Marsick, V. J. (2004) The construct of the learning organization: dimensions, measurement, and validation. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 15(1): 31–5.