Replying to LO24418 --
Hello Igal,
Here are some of my ideas on your questions:
Igal Voronel wrote:
> I wonder what your opinions on the following may be:
>
> Organizational Learning involves many disciplines and many areas of work.
> However, IT has been one of the areas that many researchers and
> practitioners have pointed out as an important element in developing
> learning organizations.
>
> Is Organizational Learning and IT connected in any other ways than the fact
> that IT demands learning from users?
Organizational Learning and IT have a common paradox, described by
Argyris: both fail when applied in order to control behaviour. So use of
IT (and Organisational Learning and Knowledge Management, and Total
Quality Management and Empowered Teams and Every Odd Fad) to control
behaviour - of others - inhibits the use of IT.
We know it is not nice to try to control behaviour of others- we've been
taught either to resist it fortright or to play by the book and oppose
silently - , so we do not say that we do or try or want or must do so.
Thereby we create a double bind: we say that we do not and at the same
time we do. (Controlling also creates problems with responsibility and
creativity and service, but i will not go into that).
We have developed a secret code to signal that we are trying to use a
method to-control-and-not-to-control: we use capitals and abbriviations.
So everybody knows: IT is not a game of control, even when it is. (or the
other way around: it is not a game of control, even when IT is, ;-)).
Typing this i start to wonder: this is probably why i use i instead of I.
Here in The Netherlands we used to write You when refering to you. We
dropped out of it somewere in the sixties. Some people still do when they
write about the one who's name we cannot say.
> In what way does IT in an organization affect learning?
Information technology is, like any other technology, necessary for
creating and sustaining and surviving ever increasing complexity. IT tends
to reinforce single loop learning: automation usually improves exsisting
processes. However the internet (written www, no capitals, see!) lacks
much of the controlling atmosphere of IT and therefore invites learning,
development, experiment, inquiry and personal growth. A short
illustration: Sometime ago i spoke with a ICT graduate, who said if it
hadn't been for the internet he would have quit his studies - too rigid.
Another illustration: some people are worried that the internet cannot be
controlled, are afraid of the chaos, the seemingly lawlessness.
> Does IT automatically induce learning other things than IT usage?
Yes, it induces learning better ways to fool The System. People can be
very pleased with themselves when they have succeeded at this.
> Is knowledge management something that an IT system really can create and
> support?
Now i have a problem, because you didn't write Knowledge Management or KM.
KM and IT are on the same level: the one can create and support the other,
as long as we agree that we do not aim at controlling behaviour and at the
same time do. (Note: a student on KM i met recently became very confused
when i explained the difference between knowledge management and Knowledge
Management: she had noticed the difference, but had covered up because she
wanted a good grade for her paper. She also seemed to dislike the
discussion on this crucial difference. I cannot blame her. This is the way
a paradigm works.). But you wrote knowledge management and there an IT
system cannot help you in supporting and creating. it can, but IT cannot.
> Is it possible that IT is only an organizational "fad" that does not
> necessarily have the impacts on organizational learning that it is often
> assumed to have?
Listen. The key word, to me, is information, or rather, informing. The
process of informing, in my opinion, is part of the way we - the people -
create meaning, part of the means to develop learning, to improve
organising. The idea that it appears to be a "fad" is due to the frame of
reference the idea of IT was presented in: as a way to
no-we-do-try-to-control-you-and-try-to-do-so. It is a byproduct of highly
ambiguous behaviour, like the top of the ice berg we've been trying to
cover-up. So yes, IT is possibly a fad and yes it does have a major impact
on organisational learning. Pun intended.
Hope it helped IT,
Kind regards,
Jan Lelie
--Drs J.C. Lelie CPIM (Jan) LOGISENS - Sparring Partner in Logistical Development Mind@Work - est. 1998 - Group Decision Process Support Tel.: (+ 31) (0)70 3243475 or car: (+ 31)(0)65 4685114 http://www.mindatwork.nl and/or taoSystems: + 31 (0)30 6377973 - Mindatwork@taoNet.nl
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