What Does It Means to Say That an Organization Learns - Essay Example

Not relying on any chance or luck, an organization learns by changing as improvement with its environment. The development life-cycle of an organization is historically and typically spanned between the major changes in the socioeconomic happenings.

Taking Microsoft as an example, as competition grows in the business climate the organization outstands and outlasts its arena of competitors by innovating its old ways, transforming itself rightly to adopt cultures fitting to the organizational needs. Armed with these thoughts, the organization channeled its resources into its core competence unique to all and not to be copied.

2. What are the different levels of learning?

According to Peter Senge, learning organizations are organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create 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 (1990:3). Evident of such higher learning organizations has among their members a fundamental shift of mind to create their future. The top leaders function in making the right choices for the organization and learning about the organization's requirements in the new view of leadership.

3. How is organizational learning related to individual learning, planning, and organizational change?

The learning organizations directed by their shared values and principles consist of the total collaboration of employees with their collective ideas of making the right changes in all process involvements. The organization equips the employees with continuous learning opportunities to encourage and provide for the to work toward their goals. Learning organizations inquire and dialogue with their people to safely share in the open and progressively enrich themselves with more corporate activities. Dialogue is the essential
discipline to build in its organization the shared vision and to develop within individuals strong mental models. The learning organizations provide managers and individuals or teams with visualized ideas of how things could be within an organization. To solve the problem of present organizations’ failure to adapt to the changing environment, they should include in their structure the ability to change and adapt or to have better leadership.

4. What responsibility does a leader have for the organization and its individuals?

What a leader encompasses in one’s responsibility for the learning organization and its individual is to act as a role model in the change process and meanwhile motivate and communicate, advancing the organization. The leader learns to look at one’s vision as an integral part of a larger one of the organization, and be receptive to other visions to change for the better one’s own necessary goals. The first task is to brainstorm ideas and design the purpose, vision, and core values with the organization’s people with concrete ways to live by them. It is crucial to building a shared vision to foster a long-term orientation, as an imperative part of learning. The leader’s tasks, in essence, are to design a learning process where people throughout the organization can emerge productive out of the critical issues they encounter. At the same time, the learning organization and its individuals are to master and develop their ways of discipline in the values of learning.

Leaders initiate ways to motivate people, tap into the greater energy that is available when the team is fully engaged, provide people with more satisfying lives, and drive people to learn collectively to create a better and stronger organization. The earning organization instills greater levels of personal commitment in individuals and brings creativity to the workforce by connecting humans to the organization in a vital and mutually beneficial way showing learning organizations their worth. The leader desires people to work in harmony, not work at odds or be divided in their work. Leaders want to gain personal goals that should be in sync with the same purpose in achieving
a common goal of the organization.

A good leader also inculcates a restorative physical working culture and ethical working environment. One breeds a good value to influence another colleague to solidify the foundations of trust within the organization. When an employee or follower is well, it reflects the quality of leadership that underlines one’s good behavior. A leader needs to steer the organization to good financial health to maintain the survival of a learning organization. One for the long-lasting legacy of the company, scouts and nurtures its future leaders to take on the next lap of organizational growth with integrity and wisdom. This one achieves by being the example of such a talented character to inspire and replicate in the changing environment success for the organization financially, ethically, and of respectable image. Read More