A number of people (Margaret, Bill, and others) have pointed out a few
ways in which companies actually do conduct activities akin to
'practicing'. Mental modeling, action research, project reviews,
reflection, etc were all mentioned as such activities. These are all
valid, and it may be that I want more than is realistic to expect.
however, when I think of teams practicing, or symphonies or ballets
practicing, I think of organizations in which the basic activities are so
highly choreographed that everyone really knows -- has total confidence --
what everyone else will be doing in a specific circumstance. This is the
model that Senge has put forward for learning orgs. The other
characteristic of these organizations is that they are composed of very,
very highly skilled individuals.
Most of the activities that have been listed result in _individual_
learning, but I think they are pretty marginal as organizational learning
tools. Does everyone really draw the same lessons, even if they
participate in the activity together (rare occurrence)? Reflection, for
example, does not result in me knowing exactly what Bill will do in a
given circumstance the next time it occurs. This is, therefore, not the
same as 'practice' as it occurs in symphonies and sports teams. practice
in those environments gives very high levels of certainty about what
people will do in given circumstances.
In thinking about this subject, I realize another problem is the lack of
true expertise in many organizations. This is in part because people move
around so often within the organization and among organizations that the
relative levels of expertise about a given area never approximate the
levels of expertise that a small forward has on a basketball team, or the
first violin has on a symphony. Insufficient expertise among participants
is a pretty big impediment to learning organizations.
Finally, it is true that shop floor learning -- as opposed to office or
information worker learning -- is being curtailed by severe pricing
pressure from off-shore companies. American workers are paid more than in
many other countries, and the competitive pressure obliges managers to
squeeze as much productivity as possible out of the workforce. One of the
key areas that gets cut off is training and learning. As Japan opens its
economy and becomes more exposed to low-cost competition, it will be
interesting to see how they respond to that, and if they can successfully
resist the pressures.
--Rol Fessenden
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>