Nancy your disturbing thoughts are refreshingly provocative. You
wrote:
" People who are struggling to make ends meet, who may have other, more
pressing problems will most likely not be too concerned about learning,
about how effective or adaptive their organization is, about how connected
they feel to their colleagues, etc. Organizations are filled with people
doing the best they can to stay afloat."
I think it depends on how one perceives a learning organization (LO).
DiBella and Nevis (1998) in "How Organization Learn" name three
perspectives. One is Normative, where certain conditions must take place
for a learning organization to emerge. The next is Developmental, where
over time organizations become LOs. The last is the Capability
perspective. Briefly, this states all organizations are capable to
learning and in fact all organization learn, but what do they learn.
Later on in "How Organization Learn" these perspectives are integrated.
However, some list members to write as if there is only one (normative)
perspective.
Your disturbing thoughts seem to question a more normative perspective
(where certain condition must be met) and the rank and file are doing the
best they can. Instead, let's understand what people are learning and
therefore what they tacitly know. And let's begin where people are, not
where we would like them to be.
I am also reminded of highly readable book by Fred Hudson entitled "The
Adult Years- Mastering the Art of Self-Renewal." Many adults (myself
included) find it difficult to find fulfillment while balancing career and
family. Being part of learning organization can be part of the answer and
hopefully not part of the problem. The learning of employees need never be
isolated to only work related issues. LOs need whole persons, not just
hands or heads, to succeed in the long run.
Warm regards,
Tony
--Tony Barrett Ph.D. Student in Adult Education University of Idaho tonyb@uidaho.edu
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>