With
the increasing pace of change, emphasis on organization learning
is also increasing. As management guru Peter Drucker said
work is becoming increasingly knowledge-based. A consequence
of this phenomenon is that workers are required to become
knowledge workers, and therefore, they require capabilities
for ongoing learning. Organizations as well as individuals
are required to become more reflexive and need to learn in
order to keep up with or be ahead of the bewildering pace
of change. Learning is a process which results in the capacity
for changed performance. Peter Senge (1990) in his book The
Fifth Discipline describes a learning organization as
a place where people continually expand their capacity to
create the results that they desire, where new patterns of
thinking are nurtured, where there is consideration for collective
aspiration and where people are continually learning how to
learn together. Thus, an organization that learns encourages
learning among its people. It promotes exchange of information
between employees, thus creating a more knowledgeable workforce.
The
two of types of learning most frequently cited in discussions
of organizational learning are adaptive learning and generative
learning (Argyris, 1985). The more basic form of learning
is adaptive learning, also known as single-loop learning.
This occurs within a set of recognized and unrecognized constraints
according to the organization's assumptions about itself and
its environment. Generative learning, also known as double-loop
learning, occurs when the organization is willing to question
long-held assumptions about its mission and capabilities.
Generative learning facilitates developing new ways of looking
at the world which is based on an understanding of systems
and relationships linking key issues and events. It is argued
that generative-type learning is frame-breaking and transformative
and more likely to lead to an organization's competitive advantage
than adaptive learning (Luthans, 1998). |
