Organizational learning and managing change

 Organizational  learning 

Not all the people within an organization are trained for change and innovation,  that’s why the desire of change and the creation of strategies to motivate the employees has to start by the management innovation, using technological techniques, innovating processes, etc.

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Many countries and their organizations have been applying organizational learning in order to compete with others: India and China for example, had economies damaged by political or social conflicts in the past, however, they are implementing this kind of processes in the organizations and nowadays they are becoming powerful countries with strategies according their competitive advantages.

Learning organizations are defined by Pedler (1991) “as an organization which is in a continuous process of transformation through the learning of all members within and outside the organization”. We have to take into account that it needs the proper environment in order to obtain good outcomes. This involves some aspects such as new ideas from employees within the company, research of social framework, proper training of employees to be pro-actives and taking a deep feedback of the company and the sector.

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But this is not a concept that can be applied for one or several persons, even all the persons by their own because it would not work and would not bring the expected outcomes from change and learning. For this reason, there’s a need of interaction, communication and sharing of information in order to fit the strategies to the context.

A Learning organization is well interrelated with the concept of organizational culture, where the culture of the organizations influences many common behaviors and lifestyle of workers especially in the workplace. Goals’ setting is a Process of establishing desired results that guide and direct behavior, which leads to collective achievement and Increases work motivation and task performance. In this case, the Know-how may be considered as an asset, in which the development of new markets has made know-how a source of the competitive advantage of firms. 

Learning organizations are “experimented with new ways of conduction business in order to survive in turbulent, highly competitive markets” (Senge, 1990) and to obtain and sustain competitive advantage, organizations must enhance their learning capability and must be able to learn better and faster from their successes and failures.

The importance of learning in organizations is the knowledge creation which takes place when tacit knowledge is converted into explicit knowledge, spread throughout the organization and results in innovation in the form of a new product, services or systems.

According to Kavita Singh, what is the relationship between the learning organization and organizational culture ?

Learning organization is well interrelated with the concept of organizational culture, in which the culture of the organizations influences many common behaviors and lifestyle of workers specially in the workplace. For this reason, the degree of acceptance to change of one organization is going to depend of the strength of weakness of organizational culture and Pareek (2004) proposes some dimensions of the organizational culture that are related with learning organization directly:

-      Openess

-      Confrontation

-      Trust

-      Authenticity

-      Proactivity

-      Autonomy

-      Collaboration

-      Experimentation

Bibliography

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Blackwell Reference Online.  Retrieved from13 January 2011:

http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/book?id=g9780631233176_9780631233176

•  Learning Theories Knowledgebase (2011, January). Social Learning Theory (Bandura) at

Learning-Theories.com. Retrieved from January 12th, 2011:

http://www.learning-theories.com/social-learning-theory-bandura.html

•  Makridakis, S (1991) What can we learn from organisational failures ?, Long Range

Planning, 24(4), 115-126.

•  Nelson, D.L. & Quick, J.C. (2010) Organizational Behavior: Science, The Real World and

You. South-Western College Publication, 7th. Ed.

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Organisational Dynamic@, 53-64.

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from January 12th , 2011: http://www.solonline.org/res/kr/shareknow.html

•  Shukla, M (1994) CORPORATE FAILURES: Why Organisations Fail To Learn.

Productivity,  34(4), 629-639.

•  Teece, D. (1998) Capturing value from knowledge assets: The new economy, Markets for

know-how, and intangible assets. California Management Review. Vol 40 No 3. Spring

1998. Retrieved from January 2011:

http://apps.business.ualberta.ca/mlounsbury/techcom/readings/teece.pdf

Managing  Change

Change has become the norm in most organizations, in which there are some experiences that are common to American companies like plant closings, business failures, mergers and acquisitions, and downsizing. The Characteristics needed to succeed are Adaptiveness, Flexibility and Responsiveness.

In Organizational Change you can find planned and unplanned changes, in which Planned Changes  result from a deliberate decision to alter the organization and Unplanned Changes are imposed on the organization and is often unforeseen.

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“Organizational change involves moving from known to unknown” (Duck, 1993).

A Change Agent, is the individual or group who undertakes the task of introducing and managing a change in an organization. Change affects basic aspects of an organization like the Strategy, Technology and Structure. It also threatens the status quo by creating New problems and situations, Ambiguity and Uncertainty.

The Consequences of conflict might be positive or negative. The Positive consequences are that it Leads to new ideas, Stimulates creativity, Motivates change, Promotes organizational Vitality, Helps individuals and groups establish identities and Serves as a safety valve to indicate problem. On the other hand, Negative consequences are that it Diverts energy from work, Threatens psychological well- being, Wastes resources, Creates a negative climate, Breaks down group cohesión and that it can increase hostility and aggressive behaviors.

Managing change In an age of stability (1950-1970) may be analizad by the Model of Kurt Lewin (1947), in which there are three stages, which are Unfreezing, changing, and Refreezing.

After the 1970s, The crisis brought instability and required a new model Deal and Kennedy (1982) which says that  Culture was the most important factor accounting for success or failure in organizations. The Model of Beer (1970s Post-crisis), focuses on enforcing changed  ways of thinking, attitudes and behaving. In this way employees' roles, responsibilities and relationships are seen as key to bring about new situations.

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In the age of globalization, Change its all about competition, Geographic boundaries are evaporating, Traditional oligarchies are collapsing, Regulatory changes and privatization spawning new industries, Customers learning to expect more and Government policy changes.

In the Search for Competitive Advantage, you must take into account the Intellectual Capital, which is the organization’s collective knowledge and Organizational Capabilities.

Is it possible to change corporate culture? If so, how? 

Culture change is difficult and time consuming because "culture" is rooted in the collective history of an organization, and because so much of it is below the surface of awareness. In general, the process of culture change must include the following steps:

Uncover core values and beliefs. These may include stated values and goals, but they are also embedded in organizational metaphors, myths, and stories, and in the behaviors of members.

Acknowledge, respect, and discuss differences between core values and beliefs of different subcultures within the organization.

Look for incongruencies between conscious and unconscious beliefs and values and resolve by choosing those to which the organization wishes to commit. Establish new behavioral norms (and even new metaphor language) that clearly demonstrate desired values.

Repeat these steps over a long period of time. As new members enter the organization, assure that they are surrounded with clear messages about the culture they are entering. Reinforce desirable behavior.

It's clear that culture change is an ongoing process, so it’s very hard to identify organizations that have "completed" a successful culture change. We can, however, find examples of change-in-progress, in organizations that range from Harley-Davidson to the Pittsburgh Symphony. As we look at several examples, in this installment and the next, we will see some version of the process described above in each–even in organizations that did not originally set out to change their cultures!

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Levi-Strauss is a company that did engage in a purposeful culture change process. In 1985, a group of minority and women managers requested a meeting with the CEO, complaining of discrimination. The CEO convened a three-day facilitated retreat at which white, male managers engaged in intense discussions with minority and female managers. These discussions revealed that there were, indeed, hidden attitudes in the organization that were in conflict with its espoused values.

Since that time, Levi-Strauss has worked hard to generate cultural change. The company developed an "Aspiration Statement" including desired beliefs, attitudes, and behavior. The statement specifies the company’s commitment to communication, ethical management practices, employee empowerment, and recognition for those who contribute to the mission of the company.

Employees at all levels also participate in training sessions on leadership, diversity, and ethics. Employee evaluations are based partially on how well they support the "Aspiration Statement."

To underscore the fact that changing an organization’s culture can take a long time, we would note that at Levi-Strauss, change has not been entirely positive in the lowest tiers of the hierarchy. Increased teamwork and peer evaluation have demanded major adjustments in people’s expectations and behavior, and that has led to increased conflict at times.

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