Learning Organization

I. INTRODUCTION

The evolution of "Organizational Learning" has started in 1938 when John Dewey, in his

book "Experience and Education", publicized the concept of experiential learning as an

ongoing cycle of activity.

But, how did this concept emerge? Or, what does it really mean for the businesses? In

order to understand this, we have to analyze the problems and needs.

The core idea behind "learning organization" is that organizations of all kinds will not

survive, let alone thrive, if they do not acquire an ability to adapt continuously to an

increasingly unpredictable future. Or in other words, in order to survive and succeed for

businesses, it is essential to establish or build stronger relationships with customers, where

there are rapidly changing, turbulent and/or highly competitive market. Through learning,

organizations may be better equipped to meet the challenges caused by continuous

environmental turbulence.

In addition, where products and processes can rapidly be copied, according to Arie de

Geus, head of strategic planning department of Royal/Dutch Shell, the only real source of

competitive advantage is to stimulate learning by employees. This may allow these

individuals to identify new ways of working more closely with customers, which in turn

permits the organization to differentiate itself from competition.

However, the style of learning has to reflect the operational needs of the organization. For

instance, a manufacturer which has adopted a transactional marketing style would probably

choose to operate in a relatively stable market, produce standard components and focus

primarily on offering adequate quality goods at a competitive price. In such circumstances,

assuming that the organizational systems are based around repetition of routine procedures,

the firm would probably be well advised to focus upon creating a single-loop learning

environment as the most appropriate way fur sustaining employee development aimed at

organizational efficiency.

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On the other hand, in market situations where firms face periods of significant,

discontinuous change and/or there is a desire to differentiate the firm from competition

through the adoption of a relationship marketing style, then possibly an incremental, more

adaptive learning style, which is called double-loop learning may be more appropriate, so

to involve the exploitation of new knowledge to evolve new practices, perspectives and

operational frameworks.

Figure 1: Single- vs. double-loop learning.

II. DEFINITION OF LEARNING ORGANIZATIONS

Keeping in mind what we have so far discussed, now let us check some definitions of the

Learning Organizations.

Peter M. Senge, who is also named as the father of this concept, describes learning

organizations as organizations where people can continuously expand their capacity to

create results which they truly desire. In such organizations, new and expansive patterns of

thinking are nurtured, and collective aspiration is set free. Individuals learn to learn

together. He declares "Deep down, we are all learners. It is not only our nature to learn, but

we love to learn."

Chris Argyris and Donald Schцn defined the concept of learning organizations through the

help of the definition of organizational learning: where the process of "detection and

correction of errors" rules.

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Moreover, how de Geus defined learning organizations is very remarkable: "Forget your

tired old ideas about leadership. The most successful corporation of the 1990s will be

something called a learning organization... The ability to learn faster than your

competitors, may be the only sustainable competitive advantage."

One last definition might be the one of Kim, D., "a learning organization is one that

consciously manages its learning process through an inquiry-driven orientation among all

its members".

III. FIVE DISCIPLINES OF SENGE

I have already mentioned that Senge was called as the father of the concept of "Learning

Organizations". When he first published his book The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice

of The Learning Organization in 1990, he caught a significant attention from academics

and the business world.

Peter M. Senge (1947- ) was named a 'Strategist of the Century' by the Journal of

Business Strategy, one of 24 men and women who have 'had the greatest impact on the

way we conduct business today'. Moreover, Senge has founded the Center for

Organizational Learning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1991 while he

is also the founding chairperson