Dear All
Although it is my opinion that developing a LO is a good idea, in many
cases it is not. The question is not should we develop a LO but what is
the purpose of the organisation, organisations are only there (in my
opinion) to meet the needs of society in specific ways. For example an
organisation like Microsoft is there to meet the informational problems
that exist in that field. As the demand in that field is so huge at
present and Microsoft knows specifically how to solve the problems and
meet the needs of its demanding group it then develops a structure to meet
those needs. So as an LO it needs to know what specially is its driver for
that group and develop its internal structure or meet that need. What it
needs to know as an LO is what doesit have to know and do to meet those
needs of its demanders. The question is not should we be looking at a LO
or not, but does the company meet its customer requirements optimally,
that is within certain standards, and the ability to take its product to
its demanders when they want it. Developing an LO is just another tool to
help an organisation to meet the demands of its demanding group (target
market). The internal shape of the organisation and its internal desires
must replicate that of its demanding group (their profile) otherwise the
organisation will not survive. What is the internal shape of an
organisation? Its skilled knowledge, its role relationships, i.e.
accountabilities and authorities up and across the structure, its
motivations, its processes, informational, technical, material, financial,
supply etc, its structure. If these are not well polished no LO will make
things better, an LO cannot sort out the role relationships (one area that
90% of company's do not do and do not know how to do) an LO cannot sort of
personal motivations, an LO cannot sort out organisation structure ( which
has the shape of the mental logical reasoning processes in the human
brain), an LO cannot sort out the processes that are needed to supply the
needs of its demanders. An LO can only sort out the skilled knowledge area
of the sensory apparatus of a company. This is obviously a very important
area to sort out but its must be aligned with the desires of the demanding
group ( its customers). Hence the idea of the balanced score card.
There are no behavioural competencies for an LO, each organisation has
different shape, profile and needs. There is no one catch all for a LO.
Peter Senge has not identified any ,to my knowledge, all he has done is to
look at areas of importance.
Kindest
Gavin
--Gavin Ritz <garritz@xtra.co.nz>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>