A day or two ago Philip Pogson commented regarding the issue of measuring OL:
>Accounting at its best should be ethical, professional and values driven
>and practiced by folk who take a broader, more humane view of the world
>than that revealed by a simple balance sheet. (See, for example, the work
>of Leif Edvinsson and Karl Erik Sveiby for a more enlightened approach to
>financial measurement.) A good accountant should be able to teach me
>something of value, and several in my professional career have assisted me
>to understand and do my job better.
It is not necessary to measure OL behaviours or values that support OL
with GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles). This is a narrow
view of measurement possibilities. We as both researchers and managers
can use more qualitative or even perceptual measures. Many organizations
have resorted to using perceptual measures of OL behaviours and values
based on survey instruments. Although I warn any user to verify the
methodological rigour with which these scales have been developed, I do
encourage their use for diagnosis purposes.
The ASTD (American Society for Training & Development) has a list of 20 or
so OL survey instruments that are currently in use. Although I only have
significant knowledge of the SLAM (Strategic Learning Assessment Map
developed by Dr. Mary Crossan - mcrossan@ivey.uwo.ca) through my PhD work,
it may be worth contacting the ASTD (www.astd.org) for their OL survey
guide.
Cheers,
Nick
--Nick Bontis <nbontis@mcmaster.ca>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>