Is the concept of the “Learning Organisation” a cliche? Depends who is saying it, probably, to some it almost certainly is. Is it a complete myth? Well it does not make Dr Kevin Morrell’s list of myths at work, (unlike Globalisation, Female Takeover and the End of Trade Unionism), so maybe there is something in it. Let’s look at some stats:

- More than 50% of the GDP in developed economies is knowledge based
- All ten leading US growth companies are in the service sector
- Intellectual activities generate the bulk of added value in manufacturing (R&D, product and process design)

Considering these statistics (sources in Dr Morrell’s Original Piece), does it stand to reason that a failure to manage the intellectual capital of the organisation may be an increasingly critical flaw? Not too big a leap to make is it?

If we are to agree that Organisational Learning is important, and maybe we should strive to encourage it somehow, we need to develop a clear understanding of what it is and how it works. For example, what are the barriers to Organisational Learning? Clearly these need to be managed or avoided. So what are they? It seems a major one is fear and protectionism, and this can take several forms

Barriers to Organisational Learning

1. Unwillingness to learn or even to acknowledge the need for learning
Well, a failure to learn from research, experience and mistakes is a very common phenomenon, but one which is rarely seen as acceptable under any circumstances. So we can all buy into that one

2. Blaming clients and customers for operational shortcomings
Easy way out isn’t it? Does anyone ever admit to taking it?

3. Hiding behind desks offices and bureaucracy
Capable Blog would be the last ones to argue with this, having been particularly vocal on the subject of transparency quite recently

4. Blame culture
A knee jerk reaction for managers who’ve run out of ideas but is this ever a good things?

Interestingly Kevin’s work also identifies another significant dynamic, and one we’ve picked up on before :

(an) “Absence of conflict can lead to conformity and groupthink”

and that organisations actually need:

“Upward communication of doubt”

Wow. This would be a major evolutionary step for some organisations. To actually discourage conformity (of thoughts and behaviours) and to encourage doubt and even conflict? That would take some managing, of that there can be no doubt, left to run riot it could certainly have destructive side affects. However if it’s important on the other hand it may be worth the effort. Ultimately it will definitely be beyond the capabilities of some, who as a fall back may well adopt defensive routines, that is;

” … actions and policies…that are intended to protect individuals from experiencing embarrassment or threat, while at the same time preventing individuals, or the organisation as a whole, from identifying the causes of embarrassment or threat in order to correct the relevant problems”

The ostrich syndrome in other words. Cut a long story short, it seems that a true learning organisation needs both maturity and talent in order to flourish, and this is probably bad news if you have little of either, as they are notoriously difficult to develop from a standing start. We at Capable Blog hope and pray that this is the way that the world is headed as there can be a lot worse scenarios for the world than being taken over by the mature and the talented

• Tags: leadership, learning organisation, organisational culture, organistional development
• This entry was posted on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 1:55 pm and is filed under Leadership & Management
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