LO and Quality initiatives LO18809

Douglas Merchant (dougm@eclipse.net)
Sat, 8 Aug 1998 12:55:37 -0400

Replying to LO18797 --

>"Perhaps the key difference is not at the organisational level but at the
>individual level ..."

Let me preface these comments by noting that I've be away serious reading
of both the Total Quality Management (TQM) and Learning Organization (LO)
literature for several years. It seems to me that TQM models are most
like LO models at the individual level of the system. They both implement
organizational change, in part, by trying to change the behavior of the
individuals in the organization. At the organizational level, TQM models
have a systematic but limited approach to organizational learning. TQM
methods focus on the symbols and rules that govern the organization's
behavior (e.g., process definitions, performance measures, job
descriptions, compensation plans). I am not familiar with any TQM models
that systematically address the other two types of mechanisms that can
govern organizational level learning behavior: internal market mechanisms
(population and selection mechanisms) or clan mechanisms (networks of
relationships and the processes by which they are strengthened or
diminished). In the extreme, TQM methods could increase an organization's
short-run efficiency while impeding the organization's capacity to adapt
to fundamental change, reducing the organization's long-term effectiveness
(e.g., how is one creative in a system that strives for "zero defects"?).

While TQM models focus on one organizational level learning mechanism
(symbols and rules), my impression is that the LO community has not
seriously addressed organizational level learning because of the focus on
creating environments that nurture individual learning. The extreme
formulation of the organizational level learn question is: "How can
organizations increase their capacity to effectively adapt to
environmental changes with out requiring specific individuals to learn
anything?".

Doug Merchant
Formally AT&T, now on a Career Sabbatical

-- 

"Douglas Merchant" <dougm@eclipse.net>

Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>