BUSINESS RESEARCH

Learning Organisation

Organisational learning – the capacity to create, share, and retain knowledge in order to get results – is present in all organisations to some extent. But yet some companies clearly leverage this capacity better than others. Whereas some leaders only pay lip service to the concept in their value statements, others actively help their organisations to build learning processes that are robust, hard-to-imitate, and sustainable.

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November 2012

Getting organisational learning “right”, however, is hard – partly because it involves risk and (paradoxically) being “wrong” sometimes. But smart companies have strategies and capabilities for managing set-backs that act as springboards to bounce back. Amy Edmundson, a leading expert on organisational learning at Harvard Business School, calls this “Failing better to succeed faster”. Organisational learning depends crucially on developing a supportive learning environment built on concrete learning processes that great leaders positively reinforce:

1. Supportive learning environment: Employees feel safe to disagree with others, present minority viewpoints, and own-up to mistakes.
2. Concrete learning processes: The team or company has formal processes to generate, interpret, and disseminate information; experiments with new offerings; identifies and solves problems; and invests in developing employees’ skills.
3. Leadership that reinforces learning:  Leaders entertain diverse views; signal the importance of spending time on problem identification, knowledge transfer, and reflection; listen attentively; and acknowledge their own weaknesses.

Referenced techniques

Technique

Learning Organisation

The learning organisation is an organisation characterised by a deep commitment to learning and education with the intention of continuous improvement. This concept reviews several theories relating to the learning organisation, including some criticism. Also, it examines some evidence on how learning organisations operate.

Technique

Knowledge Capital

The concept reviews the critical points of current knowledge including substantive findings as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to knowledge transfer and intellectual capital. It also presents a compilation of possible and potential benefits and offers selective resources for further exploration.

Technique

Systems Thinking

Systems thinking is a highly influential technique that all leaders should understand. The advantages of systems thinking in a business context are explained and how managers and leaders can develop systems thinking to improve organisational performance.

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