> Sounds like "Train by Fear" to me. The principles of adult education
> include creating context for the learners. I don't think "learn or lose
> your job" is quite what is meant.
Perhaps. I certainly don't think that it is the best way to do business.
Yet, when there is little incentive otherwise, one takes what one can get.
To establish the ideolgically pure LO (whatever that is) requires a
certain set of characteristics in the organizational context. Many of
those characteristics have been discussed here such as what to do with
those who don't appear to want to learn, whether a LO approach is
appropriate, etc. Often these characteristics do not just happen in the
environment.
One of the most important factors in the success or failure of an LO is
enlightened self interest. It is very nice that an organization will
simply pay for individual development. However, most companies will
eventually ask "what's in it for us?" If there is no clear and obvious
answer, they tend to stop supporting those development efforts. Likewise
with efforts to promote collective or organizational learning.
A friend is an avid Covey (7 Habits) advocate. The benefits to the
organization would seem to be intuitively obvious. However, there was no
clear case for a financial benefit (financial performance) to the company,
so there was an almost constant effort to kill that program.
I don't advocate reliance on fear as a learning motivator, but it DOES
sometimes provide the needed stimulus to get people off their dime and
learn something that they will certainly need in order to continue to be
successful. While I don't advocate reliance on this approach, I also,
won't look that gift horse in the mouth. If I can use it, I will.
Hopefully, I can instill enough of an interest that the future approach is
to continue exploring that topic rather than find a way to bring in
another subject matter expert to take those calls.
> Now, your staff is "seeing the light" in the glow of recent lay-offs. I'm
> not convinced that should be a positive sign for you. Sure, you'll be
> able to get them to regurgitate information to your customers out of a
> book, but are you really giving them an opportunity to serve the
> customers? Without and understanding of your business, it's goals or
> objectives, I may be totally off-base.
The staff that used the book actually found it very helpful. Several
wanted the company to provide a MAC for them to take home and play with so
they could better understand what they were regurgitating. Some were even
talking about getting one for themselves so they could have both types of
systems at home. Those are, to me, very positive signs of both
opportunity and potential.
Before we carry this too far into my specific situation, let me add that
the company has recently folded. There are allegations of wrong-doing and
certainly ample evidence of mismanagement. The experiences in tech
support which are being talked about above, however, would provide an
interesting case study for us to talk about. There is litte chance,
though, of a direct and immediate application within that organization of
whatever lessons are brought to the surface during any dialog or
discussion.
Anyway, here's to great learning! BTW my new email address is below for
anyone who is interested.
--Clyde Howell orgpsych@augusta.net
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>