Myths and Realities
At least since the 1990 publication of Senge's The Fifth Discipline, the concept of the learning organization (LO) has been promoted as a way to restructure organizations to meet the challenges of the coming century. What are learning organizations-in theory and in practice? Are they a real solution or the latest in a series of reform fads? The myths and realities are explored in this publication.
Getting a Grip on the Learning Organization
Of course, there is not yet a consensus on the definition of a learning organization. Any type of organization can be a learning organization-businesses, educational institutions, nonprofits, community groups. Some authors agree that LOs start with the assumptions that learning is valuable, continuous, and most effective when shared and that every experience is an opportunity to learn. LOs have the following characteristics (Calvert et al. 1994; Watkins and Marsick 1993):
They provide continuous learning opportunities.
They use learning to reach their goals.
They link individual performance with organizational performance.
They foster inquiry and dialogue, making it safe for people to share openly and take risks.
They embrace creative tension as a source of energy and renewal.
They are continuously aware of and interact with their environment.
Senge's "five disciplines" are the keys to achieving this type of organization: personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking. According to Senge, the fifth, systems thinking, is the most important and underlies the rest.
Of course, in a sense "organizations" do not learn, the people in them do, and individual learning may go on all the time. What is different a...
... middle of paper ...
...(ERIC No. EJ 483 293)
Smith, G. J., and Stodden, R. A. "Restructuring Vocational Special Needs Education through Interdisciplinary Team Effort." Journal for Vocational Special Needs
Education16, no. 3 (Spring 1994): 16-23. (ERIC No. EJ 482 768)
Solomon, C. M. "HR Facilitates the Learning Organization Concept." Personnel Journal 73, no. 11 (November 1994): 56-66.
Watkins, K. E., and Marsick, V. J. Sculpting the Learning Organization. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993.
West, P. "The Learning Organization: Losing the Luggage in Transit?" Journal of European Industrial Training18, no. 11 (1994): 30-38. (ERIC No. EJ 497 198)
West, W. "Learning Organizations: A Critical Review." In Proceedings of the Midwest
Research-to-Practice Conference,edited by L. Martin. Madison: University of Wisconsin, 1994. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 378 359)
Kate Chopin’s The Awakening takes place in the late 19th century, in Grande Isle off the coast of Louisiana. The author writes about the main character, Edna Pontellier, to express her empowering quality of life. Edna is a working housewife,and yearns for social freedom. On a quest of self discovery, Edna meets Madame Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz, falls in and out of love,and eventually ends up taking her own life. Kate Chopin’s The Awakening shows how the main character Edna Pontellier has been trapped for so many years and has no freedom, yet Edna finally “awakens” after so long to her own power and her ability to be free.
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2014). Fundamentals of human resource management (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
At the beginning of The Awakening Edna Pontillier is seen as a bad mother-wife but by the end of the novel she is seen as an independent, self-sufficient woman. Although she is not a traditional Creole woman her innovative outlook creates a new meaning to how a Creole woman is defined. Edna may not have been willing to give herself up for her children but she was willing to die for them and their happiness. This new branch of Creole woman is created by the characters in Edna’s life. While some make her character look negative others boost her new world ideas and want to help her change tradition.
Senge, P. M. (1990). The leader's new work: Building learning organizations. Sloan Management Review, 32(1), 7-22. doi: 812347
Most nurses are drawn into the debate when they are treating terminally ill patients. They believe that even though it is the doctor that prescribes the lethal substances or withdrawals them from their treatment it is them, the nurses that stay with the patients until the end. Some nurses choose to help with assisting a terminally ill patient if requested knowing the legal and professional repercussions and some choose not to. There are developed guidelines stating that nurses have the right to refuse to assist a patient who has requested death assistance if it goes against their moral principles, but with that their oppositions must be stated ahead of time. Nurses on both ends are required to understand their rights and their patients’ rights (Ersek
A controversial issue in today’s society is Miley Cyrus and her recent statements and appearances. As soon as her Hannah Montana contract with Disney ended, Miley went a little crazy not considering the consequences once due to how long she had to be the face of Disney. She had so many young fans who idolized her and wanted to be just like her. Now, parents everywhere are trying to keep their children discovering her and wanting to do the actions she does.
The end-of-life nurse’s primary objective is to provide comfort and compassion to patients and their families during an extremely difficult time. They must satisfy all “physical, psychological, social, cultural and spiritual needs” of the patient and their family. (Wu & Volker, 2012) The nurse involves their patient in care planning, as well as educating them about the options available. They must follow the wishes of the patient and their family, as provided in the patient’s advance directive if there is one available. It is i...
A proclamation by a CEO that “we are going to become a learning organization” will likely be met with collective eye rolling and wonderings of, “What workshop did he attend last week?” Indeed, many employees are so accustomed to these management “initiatives-of-the-month” that seeing any results from such a managerial decree is extremely unlikely.
What started out with futures planning at RDS has now become something much more. A major force behind the creation of a school of thought coined the learning organization; Royal Dutch Shell and U.S. Shell were successful in transforming themselves into competitive and effective enterprises. Their work is not done however, because the work of a learning organization is never done. It must continually improve and develop, and every employee in the company must commit to this, from the janitor to the CEO.
These disiplies are important in establishing a learning organization because in a growing environment, it is important to provide “creative thought process” feel. Concepts, ideas, and solutions should be discussed and available to everyone. Learning organizations set us free. Employees are allowed to express their ideas and challenges which contribute to a more efficient work environment. A learning work environment that incorporates these 5 disciplines can create the desired results where people and the organization will be equally
Hypertension is often called "the silent killer" because it rarely causes symptoms, even as it inflicts serious damage to the body. Left untreated, high blood pressure can lead to vision problems, as well as to heart attack, stroke, and other potentially fatal conditions, including kidney failure. One in four American adults has high blood pressure. Hypertension is defined as a blood pressure at or above 140 / 90 mm Hg (CDC, n.d.).
Senge, P. M. (2006). The fifth discipline: The art and Practice of the learning organization (1st ed., Rev.). New York, NY: Doubleday.
.... “The set of deep beliefs and assumptions-the story-that develops over time in a learning organization is so different from the traditional hierarchical, authoritarian organization worldview that it seems to describe a completely different world” (Senge, 1994, p. 21).
Senge, P.N. (1990) The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organisation London: Century Business
Smith, M. K. (2001, 2013). Chris Argyris: theories of action, double-loop learning and organizational learning. In The encyclopedia of informal education. Retrieved from [http://infed.org/mobi/chris-argyris-theories-of-action-double-loop-learning-and-organizational-learning/