Learn-Unlearn-Relearn

Creating an Unlearning Organization

Source: Azmi, Feza Tabassum (2008) ‘Mapping the Learn-Unlearn-Relearn Model’ European Business Review. 20:3, 240-259

Researchers in different eras

Researchers in different eras

Dominant thought in each era

Dominant thought in each era

IT CALLS FOR A LEARN-ACT-SHARE

ORIENTATION ON THE PART OF ORGANIZATIONAL MEMBERS.

Learning is not a one-shot program,

it is an on-going process.

Learn-Act-Share

Learn. This forms the base of the iceberg. It refers to the subtle

and gradual acquisition of new knowledge, skills, capabilities and know-how on an ongoing basis.

Act. Once new learning has been acquired, it needs to manifest

itself in work patterns and role behaviors.

Share. Organizational members need to pass on new learning

to others leading to synergies and desirable outcomes.

While, learn and act may take place on an individual basis, sharing of information and knowledge calls for a collective give and take.

Hence, while learn and act are implicit; sharing is the explicit part of the learning iceberg.

Learn-Unlearn-Relearn

Creating

an Unlearning Organization

Creating an unlearning organization

All organizations can learn.

the role of leaders in organizations is to set the necessary conditions for the

organization to develop an effective learning capability.

Successful companies have managed their learning capabilities to ensure that it occurs

by design rather than by chance.

However, learning is not a sufficient precondition for organizational effectiveness.

Successful business organizations do not just have to learn.

In fact, they have to learn to unlearn.

It necessitates employees to unlearn the old ways of doing things.

Creating an unlearning organization is the imperative for facilitating the journey of

improvements.

The Unlearning Typology

Negligence.

This in unplanned loss of company data, information, knowledge, skill or methods due to dereliction and complacency. Several organizations tend to unconsciously perpetrate a system where employee negligence leads to a forgetting effect – one where knowledge is lost due to lack of care.

Many a times such loss may be accidental or due to short-sightedness. It may also happen if knowledge is not coded and stored systematically.

It has negative consequences for the organization, more so if vital information of the past is lost.

Sabotage

This is willful and deliberate destruction of valuable data,

information or knowledge, which hampers a company’s

competitiveness and has negative consequences on its

survival.

Often, such a forgetting phenomenon may be the result of a

wayward behavior of either employees or outsiders.

Emerging cyber crimes like hacking and data diddling, to

name a few, are some of the common examples of

information sabotage, threatening IT-enabled business

organizations of today.

Decay

This refers to the phenomenon of natural loss or decay of old

skills or knowledge due to continuous organizational life

cycle.

As organizations evolve and grow there is a natural tendency

to forget certain information and skills of the past that is no

longer required.

As skills and knowledge become obsolete, people tend to

gradually forget them. This may be a natural consequence of

time and growth.

Unlearning

This refers to a planned, active and deliberate attempt

towards strategic rethinking. Forgetting here involves a

conscious game-plan to carefully weed out knowledge that

has been producing dysfunctional outcomes.

It requires a deliberate effort to come out of a particular

frame of reference that is no longer workable or viable.

It is different from decay because here old and jaded skills

and knowledge are willfully and systematically parted with.

The relearning architecture

Learn-Unlearn-Relearn

Relearning

Relearning is based on a continuous process of organizational

renewal – where traditional and archaic systems are

replenished with life and vigour.

This process of organizational renewal can be related to the

concepts of time- and event-pacing.

Time pacing

Time pacing is a strategy for competing in fast-

changing unpredictable markets by scheduling changes at predictable time intervals.

ตวัอย่าง Intel

Way back in 1965, Gordon Moore, the Co-founder of Intel Corporation,

predicted that the capacity of the microprocessor computer chip would

double every 18 months. Moore’s law, as it is better known as, is a business

objective that Intel’s engineers and managers have taken to heart.

Over the course of time, Intel has created a series of new product

introductions that have set a blistering pace in its industry.

Intel is certainly the most visible practitioner of time pacing. Not only does

Intel make Moore’s law a reality through its new product introductions, but

it also time-paces in other areas. For example, about every nine months

Intel adds a new fabrication facility to its operation.

By expanding its capacity in this way, Intel deters rivals from entering the business and blocks them from gaining a toehold.

Event-pacing

involves a strategy of scheduling changes with changing events.

Companies that believe in event-pacing make changes not in response to time but in response to events such as moves by the competition, shifts in technology, poor financial performance, changing legal framework or new customer demands.

Event-pacing is about creating a new product when a promising technology comes out, entering a new market in response to a move by a competitor, or making an acquisition because an attractive target is visible on the horizon.

Time-pacing & Event-pacing

Companies that march to the beat of time-pacing

build momentum, and

companies that effectively manage event-pacing

sustain that momentum without missing important beats.

3-R principle

To synchronize time- and event-pacing

renewal, organizations need to keep track of

the 3-R principle.

Range

Rhythm

Route

Range

This refers to the size of change.

Organizations need to understand the magnitude of change

required for success.

Relearning will accordingly depend on the quantum of

change.

The more radical the change, the more will be the need to

assimilate new skills and techniques.

Rhythm

This refers to the speed of change.

Business organizations also need to be wary of the rate at

which change is required.

Too fast a change shakes the roots of the organization while

too slow a change tends to stifle organizational growth.

Thus, there needs to be a balancing act.

Route

This refers to the direction of change.

Apart from range and rhythm, the route along which change

takes place also needs to be taken care of.

Managers need to watch out where the organization is

heading. Many a times, as in a relay race, one may end up

finishing where one started from.

The direction of change has to be ahead; one that takes the

organization nearer to its vision and away from competition.

Relearning architecture

Strategic building blocks

Resistance, denial and nostalgia are the greatest enemies of

organization.

Organizational barriers

Organizational prerequisites