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Learning Organisation

In: Business and Management

Submitted By miltoncanga
Words 631
Pages 3
Table of Contents: Content Page Numbers
Task 1....................................................................................3-5
 Research question......................................................3
 Introduction..................................................................3
 5 People Behaviours...................................................3
 Conclusion...................................................................4
Bibliography...........................................................................5

Explain the concept of learning organisation.
With reference to an organisation of your choice critically evaluate how the five people behaviours to be encouraged in learning organisations, according to Peter Senge, can lead to the attainment of competitive advantage.
Introduction: Learning organisation is an organisation that is continually expanding its capacity to create its own future and focuses on continually expanding and nurturing the new ways of thinking for its members (Garcarz, Chambers & Ellis 2003, pg.1). It develops, adapts and transforms itself in response to the needs and aspirations of people (Garcarz, Chambers & Ellis 2003, pg.3). And finally a learning organisation, allows people at all levels, individually and collectively, to continually increase their capacity to produce results they really care about (Garcarz, Chambers & Ellis 2003, pg.3).
5 People Behaviours: BP is a learning organisation, because they know that using knowledge better than their competitors is what can and will allow them to continue to lead the global market. The five disciplines that Peter Senge identified in innovative learning organisations are system thinking, personal mastery, mental models, a shared vision and team learning. Each discipline provides a vital dimension and each is necessary if the organisation is to learn (Beckford 2002, p.206). o First comes, personal mastery which has to do with personal growth and learning (Duggan 2003, pg. 111). Organisations learn only through individuals who learn, and BP realises this, that is why they continually invest in their staff learning and development and encourage them to move in directions that best suits them and their personal vision, as well as the organisational vision. o Mental model, entails surfacing, testing and improving the mental picture of how the world works (Duggan 2003, pg. 111). In BP, wherever you work, all their members are encouraged to understand the industry, to know what’s expected of them and to pursue their own professional goals. o Team learning means aligning and developing the capacity of the team to create the results its members truly desire (Duggan 2003, pg. 111). The team can accomplish a little unless there is a commitment to the same outcomes, which is why in order for a team learning to take place a shared vision must be embraced (Beckford 2002, p.206). o Shared vision is a call for all stakeholders and staff in the organisation to have a common view of the organisation and what is to be achieved (Beckford 2002, p.206). In BP when a new staff member joins the organisation, he or she is assigned to a buddy and urged to find a mentor, someone with experience to share ideas with, also to advise the new member in career matters and give a valuable perspective as well as create a shared vision. o And finally, system thinking is a conceptual framework to make patterns clearer and to help us see how to change them effectively (Duggan 2003, pg. 111). In other words system thinking is highly conceptual, and it provides ways of understanding practical business issues.

Conclusion: Because learning organizations are vision-led and creative, one benefit of becoming a learning organization is that an enormous potential is being released to the members of the organisation. They embrace change rather than just react to it. Learning organizations truly engage everyone. Their priority is seen as developing the intellectual capacity of people at all levels, both as individuals and as groups.

Bibliography:
Garcarz, W Chambers, R Ellis, S 2003, Make your healthcare organisation a learning organisation, Radcliffe Publishing, Oxon
Duggan, W 2003, The art of what works: how success really happens, McGraw Hill, Ney York
Beckford, J 2002, Quality, Routledge, New York

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