Norman G. DeLisle, Jr. <ndelisle@voyager.net> writes:
>One of the great flaws in the current state of overall organization
>development is that we do not have effective ways of supporting those
>varied contributions.
>--
Whether we are talking about learning, knowledge management,
reengineering, or other methodologies being used to promote organizational
development, we have a perfectly good model for supporting them: the ISO
9000 series of standards. There are now guidelines for use in
manufacturing, service, academic, and design environments. The element
that would assist in supporting the od efforts would be section 4.18
Training.
The standard says "The supplier shall establish and maintain documented
procedures for identifying training needs and provide for the training of
all personnel performing activities affecting quality. Personnel
performing specific assigned tasks shall be qualified on the basis of
appropriate education, training, and/or experience, as required.
Appropriate records of training shall be maintained."
I know it doesn't look like much on the surface, but if we look closer, we
can see that it implies a current reality assessment, a needs assessment,
and a capture of the knowledge required to successfully run the company at
both the tacit and explicit levels of knowledge. The remaining 19
elements of the standard cover the documentation and transfer of the
knowledge once it's determined to be needed and correcting and preventing
knowledge deficits through continuous assessment and improvement efforts.
Not bad for an 8 page document.
-- John Zavacki jzavacki@wolff.com Wolff Group, Inc. 800-282-1218 http://www.wolff.comLearning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>