Organizational Learning

As defined by Senge (1994), learning communities are "places where people continually expand their capacities to create the results they truly desire"[1]. Then, a relationship here between organizational learning and individual satisfaction is given. But how so? As I'm not giving a theoretical explanation, let's think about it!

As we already know, organizations are systems where parts interact between each other to accomplish a desired outcome or a proposed goal for the benefit of that system. So, if the system is composed by parts, then the most logical process would include those parts to behave "properly". But what happens when an organization establishes limits on how those parts should strictly behave, what they should do or what shouldn't? Well, probably those parts are only going to act inside those boundaries and will not be creative or proactive, because that's not what they're telling them to do. So, if those parts include people, include YOU, would you, for example, feel like you're exploting your whole potential, when you only do what you're told? I don't know, but, at least to me, that sounds FRUSTATING!

When people expand their capacities, when people fulfill their dreams, when people try to make things better, because that's what their conscience or their hearts tell them to do, there you have something. And even more, if your organization encourages that and takes advantage of it, that organization is certainly going to learn from the huge capacities people can have (if able to see them) and, of course, it will make a profit from it!

 

Let's take an example: Google. The other day, I was watching a documentary on how Google works as a corporation. Did you know Google determined that all its employees have 20% of their paid time free to think on what they could develop or create, as a business idea of their own? And even more shocking! Google gives its employes a percentage of participation in the net profit that unit makes (the unit which you spent 20% of your paid time thinking of creating)! And that's just one the company's policies. Well, it's not too strange that Google has been several times listed as one of the Fortune's Magazine 100 Best Companies to Work For. This year: Google is 4th in the list! [2] And yes, this is indeed a "never stop" Learning Organization.

References:

[1]Senge, P. M. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: the Art And Practice of the Learning Organization. Currency Publisher, 1990.

[2] Fortune Magazine (2011). Retrieved on 14th May, 2011, from: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2011/snapshots/4.html

Multimedia's Sources:

Youtube. Retrieved on 14th May, 2011, from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOZhbOhEunY

Image's Source:

Boss Yelling at Employee. Retrieved on 24th May, 2011, from: http://www.educationtimes.com/educationTimes/CMSD/Walk-A-Job/27/200907232009072317435178167fe96fe/You-are-punished.html