Overview of a Learning Organization
By Rahn Huber and Rachel Vacek
In a learning organization, the people feel free to express their ideas, make mistakes, feel that they contribute and are valued, take risks, and are able to make decisions. The mindset of a learning organization is flexible, creative, innovative, customer-focused, takes advantage of new technologies and ways of doing things. The end result is that the people in the organization are able to respond quickly to change while maintaining efficiency and productivity.
The Learning Organization’s characteristics are:
- being able to rapidly adapt to change
- have a way to quickly introduce a new product or service
- having a way of openly communicating and sharing information
- being able to take risks; not being paralyzed by the thought of failure
- the people have the information, facts, time and resources to do their jobs in a professional manner
An organization has four personality types:
Type One: “Sensation Thinkers,” people who are occupied with authority and well-defined rules of behavior
Type Two: “Intuitive Thinkers,” those who emphasize new products/services, markets and businesses; are flexible and adaptive to environmental changes; interested in new ideas
Type Three: “Intuitive Feelers,” these people are considered the opposite of Type Ones; their concerns are about flexibility and decentralization; want to make a contribution to humanity
Type Four: “Sensation Feelers,” considered the opposite of Type Twos; these people are concerned with the individuals in an organization, they struggle to make the organization a family and home for the individuals
Further reading is listed below. This page is partly extracted from these readings. Except for the first paragraph on this page which Rachel Vacek and I co-wrote.
“Transforming a university from a teaching organization to a learning organization” Review of Business Fall 2005 pp 31-35
“Strategies of Renewal: The transition from “Total Quality Management” to the “Learning Organization” Management Learning V 36(2) 149-180
“Examining the relationship between Learning Organization characteristics and change, adaptation, innovation, and organizational performance” Human Resources Development Quarterly V 16(2) pp 185-211
“Are the right persons involved in the creation of a learning organization?” Human Resources Development Quarterly V 16(2) pp 281-283