I'd be interested in your paper as I am conducting independent study on LO
and the impact on organizational effectiveness. For now, what have you
found to be the succinct characteristics of a LO? What literature supports
these ? Perhaps you would permit me to read what you have so far..so I
can cite it and provide feedback.
As far as "does one exist?" That may be a tough one to answer. If I were
to think of the LO characteristics much like leadership characteristics, I
would assume that each has spectrum of explicit use or visibility. This
may be situational....something like situational leadership.
Let's assume for a minute that a characteristic of a learning organization
is the questioning of current organizational norms. To illustrate this,
let's use performance measures. In a given situation a group, team, or the
whole organization my say something like: "In this situation we believe
that the norm, while having an impact on performance, is of more valuable
due to its worker safety aspect than how much is produced or how ell it is
produced." The situation may be a desire to increase the production rate.
The norm may be the use of a safety device that slows worker functions.
Result, the organization has validated (learner) the value of the norm. In
a different case, the norm may be determined to be invalid or not as
valuable as thought. The norm may be a decision making or planning process
that has specific step, it need no be a product that is the "life bread"
of the organization.
With that said, the characteristic of questioning of current
organizational norms has a spectrum of "observability" or better yet,
activity. In a given situation it might drive decision making efforts in
the next, not be thought of in any detail.
Does an LO exist? Sure. But what does that mean? More to follow if you
like.
--"Swan, Steve R. SETA CONTR" <SwanSR@ftknox5-emh3.army.mil>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>