First, a large part of organizational learning is verbal. It consists of people sharing ideas and thoughts in different ways -- written, verbal, diagramming, etc. Similarly, the plans are written, so it is necessary to be able to write well, understand what is written, and then apply what is understood. Many times, plans are written together by several individuals in the group.
Second, individuals who are on organizational learning teams must be effective communicators. They need to get their own ideas across. They need to communicate clearly, succinctly, and consistently. In addition, they must be able to listen to information communicated by others in the group and then take the correct actions on what is learned. This takes advanced listening skills, interpersonal awareness and communication, attention to body language, facial expression and tone of voice.
The bottom line is that organizational learning cannot take place without collaboration, coordination and communication. These are fundamental to the group's success. Karash talks about the fact that "The Learning Organization is about marshaling energy and human spirit to create new works and new capacities." I believe that the learning organization necessitates that the information gained through these action groups must be disseminated throughout the entire organization. This cannot be done, however, just through a written report or, for example, an employee newsletter article.
Rather, the individuals on the learning team must be able to sell the idea to others in the organization who are not part of the group. They have to motivate others to not only accept but to implement the new concept. If a company has decided on a new way of selling a product, for example, everyone...
Otherwise, success will be limited.
Another important element of organizational learning is experiential learning. That is, learning through experiences. It is important to take the information gained and learn from it -- should actions be changed? Prange (27) notes that when individuals review the processes of organizational learning "we encounter 'learning from experience' as a genuine component of almost all approaches'. Kolb's model of experiential learning is based on notions of feedback
Once again, this takes social, verbal and written communication expertise. It is necessary to communicate with others to get the feedback, put the ideas in terms that others can understand and then explain it to a wider audience. All in all, this activity showed me that I should work with a company that is farsighted enough that it is putting its resources behind knowledge management and organizational learning.
References
Karash, Richard. Mental Models & Systems Thinking: Going Deeper into Systemic Issues. The Systems Thinker. Cambridge, MA: Pegasus Communications, 1995.
Nevis, E.C., DiBella, A.J., and Gould, J.M. Eds. Understanding Organizations as Learning Systems. Sloan Management Review, Winter 1995: 73-85.
Prange, C. Organizational learning - desperately seeking theory? Organizational Learning and the Learning Organization. Eds. M. Easterby-Smith, L. Araujo and J. Burgoyne. London: Sage, 1999: 23-43.
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