Work+Chip

Charles Darwin wrote “It is not the strongest of the species who survive, not the most intelligent; rather it is those most responsive to change.” That 19th century quote can also be applied to 21st century organizations. Companies can be very large and successful, but if they do not change and adapt to the times, they will disappear like the dinosaurs. Look around at the successful businesses that have been in business for a while. What do they do? They stay on top of current trends and fads. In a phrase, they learn. They see how the world and their customers are changing and so they change. “Learning is the key to success—some would even say survival—in today’s organizations. Knowledge should be continuously enriched through both internal and external learning. For this to happen, it is necessary to support and energize organization, people, knowledge, and technology for learning.”(Serrat, 2009) Any business or organization that wishes to survive and remain relevant must be a learning organization. Our definition of a learning organization is one that is willing to find a long-term goal and stick with it to the end. Once a goal has been set, the organization must determine the strategy and see it all the way through. Not just jumping from goal to goal year after year. “Many organizations apply quick and easy fixes often driven by technology. Most are futile attempts to create organizational change.” (Serrat, 2009) We believe a learning Organization is an organization that continues to transform itself through the facilitation of learning for all members. The organization encourages change through well thought out visions and maintaining levels of innovation throughout the learning process.Learning organizations allow employees to no longer be in a passive mode where they are simply told what to do.Each member in a learning organization is able to unleash their full potential by being an active participant in the workplace philosophy. According to Peter Senge founding chairperson of Society for Organizational learning and a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, learning organizations are: "organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together" (Smith, 2009). Helen Rheem from Harvard Business Review, further explains a learning organization as " an environment wherein people can "create the results they truly desire," and where they can learn to learn together for the betterment of the whole" (Rheem 1995,10).

The characteristics of a learning organization include learning organizations also provide a wide range of opportunities for individual and collective learning and development. Learning and development programs are available to ensure that individuals and teams develop the competencies of reflective practice and collaborative learning. Peter Senge explains that there are five characteristics associated with a Learning Organization: 1. Systems Thinking - This is the ability to see the big picture of things and see how the daily operations can be improved through a unity of all members in the organization 2. Personal Mastery- This addresses the ideas that all members of the organization need to become lifelong learners and have a focus on striving to achieve personal goals in the organization as well as goals that show a commitment to the organization as a whole 3. Mental Models:This discipline addresses reflection of individual practices as well as belief structures of individuals and how it effects the learning organization as a whole 4. Building Shared Visions: the organizations visions begins with the personal visins of individual employees and must have an alignment in order to maintain a cohesive commitment to the organization 5. Team Learning: This discipline is important because it stresses the importance of learning as a team. If team members can not come together and learn then the desired results may not be achieved ( Smith, 2009) In summary, " a learning organization does away with the mentality that it is only senior management who can and do all the thinking for the entire corporation. It challenges all employees to tap into their inner resources and potential, in hopes they can build their own community based on principles of liberty, humanity, and a collective will to learn" (Mason 2010).