Replying to LO14333 Gray Southon commented about using ISO 9000
as a route to LO as follows.
>Is ISO 9000 the answer to the learning organisation?
>
>The information that I have recevied about it is that it might be good for
>making bad companies better and satisfying bureaucracies, but it leads to
>preoccupation with paperwork, is costly, and possibly inhibits innovation.
ISO 9000, the Bauldrige and like codified methodologies have a mixed
record of success. My experience is that if an organization implements
the 'spirit' of the methodology and concentrates on achieving outcomes
using the tools they are successful. Performance is improved and the
organization learns how to be better.
The organizations that implement the methodology and expect it to solve
their problems are waiting for the event called "and here a miracle
happens". These organizations seem to become buried in paper, the
bureaucracy grows out of control and eventually some manager nixes the
program. Possibly this last action was the only smart one for the
organization.
My observation is that it is the group that holds a vision of wanting to
learn to be better and then adopts a tool to help that succeeds. The
group that selects a tool as a solution, fails.
--"William J. Hobler, Jr" <bhobler@worldnet.att.net>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>