The Learning Organisation

The Learning Organisation

Training and Development

Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3

INTRODUCTION 4

DISCUSSION 5

The Learning Organisation, and developing a culture of learning 5

Knowledge Management 6

Recommendations for your workplace 6

CONCLUSION 9

REFERENCES 10

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The purpose of this short report is to briefly examine the concept of a ‘learning organisation’, and the adoption of knowledge management as a strategy to establish a learning culture within the organisation. A learning organisation is one that shares a set of values, attitudes and beliefs that encourages the process of continuous learning through the sharing of knowledge. By supporting this learning culture, employees are able to reinterpret their workplace environment, challenge their own methods and enable the organisation to not only adapt to change, but to anticipate it. A wide range of literary sources such as peer-reviewed journal articles, blogs, books and websites have been used to source the information for this report. Recommendations are provided based on best practices from two successful learning organisations, and include initiatives such as specialised managers, increased training opportunities and staff benefits, and further managerial development.

INTRODUCTION

In its very broadest sense, ‘culture’ in the wider social context is very difficult to define. This predicament is also very apparent when trying to define organisational culture. According to Ravasi and Schultz (2006), organisational culture is a set of shared mental assumptions such as behaviour, attitude, values and beliefs that guide the actions of individuals in an organisation. This notion of organisation culture, or corporate culture as it is also known, is invariably linked to the concept of a learning organisation (O’Keeffe, 2002). Lazar (2008) asserts that one of the greatest strengths of successful and enduring organisations is their ability to adapt...