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BUSINESS BRIEF – BECOMING A LEARNING ORGANIZATION

Here at McDonald’s Farms, we have grown exponentially over the years from a single farm to
well over 150 farms and a staff strength northwards of 2,500. It is our strategic intent to continue
treading the path of success, both individually and as an organization. One way to ensure this is
through change, which happens to be the most constant phenomenon in life.

Thus far, we have made do with "learning on the job," and as luck would have it, it has served us
well. However, for us to persist on our growth path, we are required to make a change to our
capacity development methodology. It is time for us to become a learning organization and take
a leap into a more favorable and sustainable future. This change is crucial and of great benefit to
the organization’s overall strategy. As a learning organization, we anticipate that every member
of our team will actively engage in identifying and solving problems. By cultivating this culture,
we will be well-equipped to tackle the problems of uncertainty and be ahead of the changing
global tides.

In implementing this change, we shall foster a business environment that promotes learning and
innovation and tolerates errors and mistakes while ensuring to provide a supportive learning
environment that appreciates creative differences and applauds every input. Furthermore, we aim
to ensure proper education and training, the right process, and an effective and efficient data
collection and analysis process to review the performance of the set processes. This is not only
necessary but also best practice to ensure our iterative growth.

To fully acclimatize ourselves to this new policy, we need to structure and outline systematic
steps and procedures. The top executives shall take the lead in the implementation and adoption
of these guidelines, thus acting as role models for all other employees. The importance of a
leader who enforces a learning culture in a learning organization cannot be overemphasised. Our
leaders shall be responsible for creating a supportive learning environment that is performance-
and employee-oriented and flexible, preparing everyone for changes in the future, and embracing
innovation. The company shall invest heavily and continuously in capacity development and
organizational learning, educating the team on best practices and the latest technological
advancements in the business as they unfold, with set benchmarks to assess our rate of learning.

Studies show that a leadership structure committed to improvement and attaining positive results,
thus stimulating and granting motivation to its people, is the key to creating a sustainable
learning organization (Ummar, 2012). This points to the transformational leadership style,
wherein the leader possesses the ability to build a shared vision of success for the organization,
evolve business needs, and meet the performance requirements of the market.

Further research shows that a learning organization is established by leadership and influenced
by the behavior of the leaders as they enact capacity development practices. Despite their
prospects, these strategic initiatives may be met with resistance, which is the greatest barrier to
change. Handling resistance can be complex, and as such, the leader must be prepared to take
proactive steps to manage these barriers successfully.
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Understandably, this change management process will not be easy as it will require the
unfreezing, stage-setting, discontinuation of previous practices, implementing change via
motivation and effective communication, and refreezing while ensuring that the implemented
change is fully adopted and the organization does not fall back to its old practices (Cummings et
al., 2017).

As President of McDonald’s Farms, I implore everyone to keep an open mind regarding the
upcoming change. Employees are advised to not relent in taking risks, exploring, and coming
forth with opposing ideas. The organization will use the shared knowledge in its day-to-day
operations, helping us to constantly identify our areas of weakness and strength while ensuring
we do not fall behind and are surpassed by the competition.
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References
Cummings, S., Bridgman, T., & Hassard, J. (2017). A new history of management. Cambridge

University Press.

Ummar, R. (2012). Leadership That Reinforces Learning: A Comparative Study between

Manufacturing and Service Sector Organizations of Pakistan. IOSR Journal of Business

and Management, 5(4), 28–30. https://doi.org/10.9790/487x-0542830