BUILDING LEARNING ORGANIZATION AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENTDSIMS

SHRUTI DHAWAN SINGH

Ref. Books- The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

WHAT IS LEARNING Learning is the act of acquiring new, or modifying

and reinforcing, existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals and some machines. Progress over time tends to follow learning curves. Learning is not compulsory; it is contextual. It does not happen all at once, but builds upon and is shaped by what we already know. To that end, learning may be viewed as a process, rather than a collection of factual and procedural knowledge. Learning produces changes in the organism and the changes produced are relatively permanent.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

9

EMERGING BUSINESS REALITIES

WHY ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING? THE “C” WORDS0

Complexity: Situations that are difficult to understand, have considerable ambiguity and uncertainty, and often have no “solutions,” only options and tradeoffs

Chaos: Seemingly random events that have an underlying pattern (which is difficult to discern)

Change: turbulent environments in which the future is difficult to predict or control

10

EMERGING BUSINESS REALITIES

ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING -- WHAT?

In learning organizations, people are encouraged to

reflect as they act, share lessons learned and other key information, so that they (and their customers) can

easily access the best thinking of the entire organization.

Put more simply: In a learning organization, when one of us gets smarter, we all can get smarter.

11

WHAT IS LEARNING ORGANIZATION & WHY ORGANISATIONS NEED TO LEARN

“It is team learning, not individual learning, that adds to organizational learning.”

Peter Senge

The Fifth Discipline

12

LEARNING ORGANIZATION

“A learning organization is an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights”

“New ideas are essential if learning is to take place”

“Without accompanying changes in the way that work gets done, only the potential for improvements exist”

13

HOW ORGANIZATIONS LEARN

Organizational Learning

Team Learning

Individual Learning

14

ASTD - The Top Ten Trends Copyright © 1996 ASTD

Some Characteristics of Learning Organizations

belief that systems thinking is fundamental

climate that encourages, rewards, and enhances individual and collective learning

surprises, mistakes, and failures viewed as learning opportunities

widely available access to information and resources

continued . . .

Towards being a Learning Organisation

WHAT IS LEARNING ORGANIZATION & WHY ORGANISATIONS NEED TO LEARN

15

ASTD - The Top Ten Trends Copyright © 1996 ASTD

Some Characteristics of Learning Organizations

desire for continuous improvement and resources

learning integrated with work

opportunities for open dialogue and inquiry

Towards being a Learning Organisation

WHAT IS LEARNING ORGANIZATION & WHY ORGANISATIONS NEED TO LEARN

16

WHAT IS A LEARNING ORGANIZATION?

“A learning organization is a group of people working together to collectively enhance their capacities to create results they really care about.”

Peter Senge

The Fifth Discipline

17

THE WHEEL OF LEARNINGMASTERING THE RHYTHM OF A LEARNING ORGANIZATION REFLECTING CONNECTING DECIDING DOING

Doing

Reflecting(thinking and feeling)

DecidingConnecting

Individual

Moreconcrete

More abstract

More reflection

More action

[RCDD]

18

FIVE REQUIREMENTS OF ALEARNING ORGANIZATION

[S²TOP] SHARED VISION TEAM LEARNING SYSTEMS THINKING ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING PERSONAL MASTERY

19

CONCLUSION

Learning organizations foster an environment that is conducive to learning

Learning organizations open up boundaries and stimulate the exchange of ideas

20

WHAT IS CULTURE?

Visible cultural differencesLanguageHousingFoodClothes Key beliefs

Our understandingsabout what is true.

Norms and valuesWhat we can do and

cannot do.

What is right or wrong.

The layers of culture/onion metaphor:

Other metaphors such as iceberg and ocean have also been used.

21

WHAT IS CULTURE?

Some definitions: ‘Culture consists in patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting,

acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artefacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values.’

(Kluckhohn, 1951: 86 cited in Hofstede, 2001: 9)

‘the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members

of one group or category of people from another’

(Hofstede, 2001: 9)

‘Culture is the characteristic way of behaving and believing that a group of people in a country or region (or firm) have evolved over time and share.’ (Briscoe and Schuler, 2004: 116)

22

LEVELS OF CULTURE IN MULTINATIONAL MANAGEMENT

National Culture

Business Culture

Occupational CultureOrganizational Culture

Multinational Management

(Source: Cullen and Parboteeah, 2008: 49)

23

THE CHANGING SOCIAL CONTRACT

New Contract Old Contract

Employee

Employer

Employability, personal responsibility Partner in business improvement Learning

Job security A cog in the machine Knowing

Continuous learning, lateral careermovement, incentive compensationCreative development opportunitiesChallenging assignmentsInformation and resources

Traditional compensation package

Standard training program Routine jobs Limited information

24

HR ISSUES IN THE NEW WORKPLACE

Teams and Projects

Temporary Employees

Technology

Work-Life Balance

Downsizing

25

HR ISSUES IN THE NEW WORKPLACE

Teams and Projects – major trend in today’s workplace

With emphasis on projects, distinctions between job categories and descriptions are collapsing

Many of today’s workers straddle functional & departmental boundaries; handle multiple tasks/responsibilities

Virtual team = made up of members who are geographically or organizationally dispersed, rarely meet face to face, and do their work using advance information technologies.

Teams and Projects

26

HR ISSUES IN THE NEW WORKPLACE

In opening years of the 21st century, largest employer in U.S. was a temporary employment agency, Manpower, Inc.

Temporary Employees do everything from data entry to interim CEO

Contingent workers = people who work for an organization, but not on a permanent or full-time basis, including temporary placements, contracted professionals, or leased employees

Temporary Employees

27

HR ISSUES IN THE NEW WORKPLACE

Telecommuting and virtual teams are related trends

Telecommuting = using computers and telecommunications equipment to perform work from home or another remote location

Work anywhere - wireless Internet devices, laptops, cell phones, fax machines

Extreme telecommuting = people live and work in countries far away from the organization’s physical location

Technology

28

HR ISSUES IN THE NEW WORKPLACE

Telecommuting is one way organizations help employees lead more balanced lives

Flexible scheduling important in today’s workplace – 27% of workforce/flexible hours

Broad Work-Life Balance initiatives – critical retention strategy – on-site gym & childcare, paid leaves & sabbaticals

Work-Life Balance

Many European companies ahead of U.S. companies

29

HR ISSUES IN THE NEW WORKPLACE

Downsizing = intentional, planned reduction in the size of a company’s workforce

Managers can smooth the downsizing process Regularly communicating with employees Providing them with as much information as possible Providing assistance to workers who will lose their

jobs Using training and development for remaining

employees

Downsizing

30

LEARNING ORGANIZATION

“A learning organization is an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights”

“New ideas are essential if learning is to take place”

“Without accompanying changes in the way that work gets done, only the potential for improvements exist”

31

ORGANIZATION AND QUALITIES Meaning

Plausible, well grounded definition, actionable and easy to apply.

Management Clear guidelines for practice, filled with

operational advice rather than high aspirations. Measurement

Tools for assessing organizations rate and level of learning to ensure gains have been made.

32

ORGANIZATION AND QUALITIES Three distinct stages.

Cognitive Exposed to new ideas, expand their knowledge and

begin to think differently. Behavioral

Employees internalize new insights and alter behavior. Performance Improvement

Changes in behavior leading to measurable improvements in results.

33

BUILDING BLOCKS

Systematic Problem Solving Experimentation Learning from Past Experience Learning from others. Transferring knowledge Measuring learning

Each is accompanied by a distinctive mindset, tool kit and pattern of behavior.

34

SYSTEMATIC PROBLEM SOLVING

Rely on scientific method for diagnosing problems “plan, do, check, act”

Data Statistical analysis

Generating ideas and collecting information Reaching consensus Analyzing and displaying data Planning actions

35

EXPERIMENTATION

On-going programs Series of small experiments Steady flow of new ideas Incentive system Need managers and employees trained in

evaluating and performing experiments

36

EXPERIMENTATION Demonstration Projects

First projects to embody principles and approaches company hopes to adopt on a larger scale

Establish policy guidelines and decision rules for later projects

Encounter severe tests of commitment from employees (testing rule change)

Limited impact on rest of organization (until implemented)

37

LEARNING FROM PAST EXPERIENCE

Companies revive successes and failures. Assessment done systematically and in an

open and accessible forum

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”

38

LEARNING FROM OTHERS

“Most powerful insights come from looking outside ones immediate environment to gain a new perspective”

SIS-Steal ideas shamelessly Benchmarking

Ongoing investigation and learning experience that ensures the best industry practices are uncovered, analyzed, adapted and implemented.

39

TRANSFERRING KNOWLEDGE Knowledge must be spread quickly and

efficiently throughout the organization Maximum impact when shared broadly

Written reports Oral reports Site visits and tours Personnel rotation programs Standardization programs Education and training programs

40

MEASURING LEARNING

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it”

Actual data comparision Learning or experience curves.

Incomplete measures, ignore other competitive variables, like quality, delivery or new product introductions

41

CASE STUDY Fun Technologies is a Sunnywale based company in

mobile technologies. It is setting up its development centre in Hyderabad , India.. It wants to hire 150 software professionals with niche skills from all parts of India. After 1 year of rigorous training , approx 75 professionals will be sent to Finland at the clients office for assignments ranging from 9 months to 2 years.

The levels of software professionals are: Trainee Engineer – 6 months probation Software Engineer – on confirmation Sr. Software Engineer Project Engineer Program Manager Software Architect

Justify its need for becoming a learning organization

42

CASE STUDY mHealth is a London, UK based company in mobile

technologies providing mobile health solutions to NHS. It was founded by an European & Australian partners. It has a development centre at Czech with IT director & a team of 15 software professionals.

The team in London consist of 2 co-founders, 1 Marketing Director, 1 Program Director (female) , and a team of 10 employees. The team of team employees should have around 8 telecallers/CSA. They are expected to work 10 hours in a day.

The company is facing the following issues: High Attrition rate in London office compared to 100% loyalty in

Czech Republic High Absenteeism in London office Delayed delivery deadlines from Czech Republic.

Give your suggestions for improving the issues faced by the company and draw a step wise plan for the same.