Definitions |
|
![]() Learning organization
All definitions
|
The "learning organization" is described by organizational writer Peter Senge as "continually expanding its capacity to create its future" (Senge, 1990). Senge explains that organizations need to go beyond "survival" (e.g. "adaptive") learning to pursue "generative" learning, which enhances the capacity to create.
Elaborating, he further describes the learning organization as one in which "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 how to learn together" (Senge, 2006, p. 3) Before embracing this definition as practical or even possible, it's worth noting that the idea of the learning organization has been neither blindly nor whole-heartedly accepted. For example, Sloman (1999) has characterized it as "particularly woolly... Marvellously compelling for the training manager, but often meaning very little in practice" (Sloman, 1999, p. 210). Garvin et al., (2008; in Thompson, Eriksen-Brown et al., 2009) raise the issue of psychological safety, suggesting that supportive environment may be a necessary precondition to enabling a learning organization. Certainly, the question must be asked regarding whether truly supportive environments are possible in an employment context characterized by corporate downsizing and the demise of traditional psychological contracts. References Garvin, Edmondson and Gino (2008). Is yours a learning organization? Boston: Harvard Business School. Senge, P. (1990, 2006). The Fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Doubleday/Currency. Sloman, M. (1999). A handbook for training strategy. Aldershot: Gower. Thompson, I, Eriksen-Brown, A, Dewe, P, Bramley, P. (2009). Training and development subject guide. London: Birkbeck University of London. Read a practice exam essay in response to the question:
"What are the major obstacles to the successful transfer of training from the learning environment to the workplace? What guidance does the available research provide for practitioners seeking to overcome these obstacles?" Exam essay practice answer |
|
|