Replying to LO30442 --
Hello:
Thanks, Malcolm, for forwarding this exchange.
It's important to distinguish learning as process versus content.
Learning, as process, is on-going. It is as constant as change itself.
What needs to be distinguished is the content. For example, another way
to frame Shawna's scenario is either we (substitute if you will managers,
groups, etc.) are learning to change or we are learning how to prevent
change.
My children are learning all the time; I just hope that what they learn
will be consistent with my values. Adults are learning too, but are they
learning stuff (competencies, behaviors, routines, values, etc.) that are
consistent with the mission of their organizations? Another important
distinction is whether that stuff is consistent with espoused values or
values-in use.
regards,
Tony DiBella
Author, "How Organizations Learn" and "Learning Practices"
www.orgtransitions.com
>From: Malcolm Burson
>>how does one continue to encourage and develop a group of individuals
>>within an organization that lacks a "learning organization" environment?,
>Allow me to offer an alternative view, as Alan and I have disagreed about
>this subject several times before. I know his experience is gloomy; mine is
>less so.
>Let me suggest, following particularly Tony DiBella's recent work (see "The
>Systems Thinker" 14/6, August, 2003), that all organizations learn, and, as
>he says, "the notion of the learning organization is as redundant as that of
>hot steam or a breathing mammal. Organizations don't have to be developed
>so they can learn; they already do." He goes on to suggest (which squares
>with my experience) that "learning occurs through the natural social
>interaction of people being and working together."
[Host's Note: Tony, thanks so much for the followup to Malcolm's msg!
..Rick]
--"Tony DiBella" <ajdibella@orgtransitions.com>
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