LEARNING ORGANIZATON, KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND MANAGING CHANGE

LEARNING ORGANIZATION / ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING

WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING?

 “Organizational learning (OL) is an expansive and diverse field with influences that
involves sociology, psychology, philosophy, business management, and many others
disciplines. While there is no one definition to this concept, the concept of
organizational learning is commonly described a process of developing, retaining,
and transferring knowledge within an organization"
 Organizational learning is the organization’s process of gaining knowledge related to its
function and using that knowledge to adapt to a changing environment and increase
efficiency.
IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING

FIVE MAIN ACTIVITIES OF ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING

1. Systematic problem solving.

This first activity rests heavily on the philosophy and methods of the quality movement. Its
underlying ideas, now widely accepted, include:

Relying on the scientific method, rather than guesswork, for diagnosing problems (what Deming
calls the “Plan, Do, Check, Act” cycle, and others refer to as “hypothesis-generating, hypothesis-
testing” techniques).

Insisting on data, rather than assumptions, as background for decision making (what quality
practitioners call “fact-based management”).

Using simple statistical tools (histograms, Pareto charts, correlations, cause-and-effect

diagrams) to organize data and draw inferences.

2. Experimentation.

 
This activity involves the systematic searching for and testing of new knowledge. Using the
scientific method is essential, and there are obvious parallels to systematic problem solving. But
unlike problem solving, experimentation is usually motivated by opportunity and expanding
horizons, not by current difficulties. It takes two main forms: ongoing programs and one-of-a-
kind demonstration projects.

3. Learning from past experience.

Companies must review their successes and failures, assess them systematically, and record the
lessons in a form that employees find open and accessible. One expert has called this process
the “Santayana Review,” citing the famous philosopher George Santayana, who coined the
phrase “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Unfortunately, too
many managers today are indifferent, even hostile, to the past, and by failing to reflect on it,
they let valuable knowledge escape.

4. Learning from others.

Of course, not all learning comes from reflection and self-analysis. Sometimes the most
powerful insights come from looking outside one’s immediate environment to gain a new
perspective. Enlightened managers know that even companies in completely different
businesses can be fertile sources of ideas and catalysts for creative thinking. 

5. Transferring knowledge.

For learning to be more than a local affair, knowledge must spread quickly and efficiently
throughout the organization. Ideas carry maximum impact when they are shared broadly rather
than held in a few hands. A variety of mechanisms spur this process, including written, oral, and
visual reports, site visits and tours, personnel rotation programs, education and training
programs, and standardization programs. Each has distinctive strengths and weaknesses.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Knowledge management is the planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling of people,

processes and systems in the organization to ensure that its knowledge-related assets are
improved and effectively employed.
Knowledge-related assets include knowledge in the form of printed documents such as patents
and manuals, knowledge stored in electronic repositories such as a “best-practices” database,
employees’ knowledge about the best way to do their jobs, knowledge that is held by teams
who have been working on focused problems and knowledge that is embedded in the
organization’s products, processes and relationships.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROCESSES

The processes of KM involve

 knowledge acquisition
 creation
 refinement
 storage
 transfer
 sharing and;
 utilization.

The KM function in the organization operates these processes, develops methodologies and
systems to support them, and motivates people to participate in them.

GOALS OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

The goals of KM are the leveraging and improvement of the organization’s knowledge
assets to effectuate better knowledge practices, improved organizational behaviors, better
decisions and improved organizational performance.

Although individuals certainly can personally perform each of the KM processes, KM is

largely an organizational activity that focuses on what managers can do to enable KM’s
goals to be achieved, how they can motivate individuals to participate in achieving them
and how they can create social processes that will facilitate KM success.

Social processes include communities of practice – self-organizing groups of people who

share a common interest – and expert networks – networks that are established to allow
those with less expertise to contact those with greater expertise. Such social processes are
necessary because while knowledge initially exists in the mind of an individual, for KM to be
successful, knowledge must usually be transmitted through social groups, teams and
networks.

Therefore, KM processes are quite people-intensive, and less technology-intensive than

most people might believe, although a modern knowledge-enabled enterprise must support
KM with appropriate information and communications technology (King, 2008).
 Knowledge Management Systems Knowledge management systems (KMS) are applications
of the organization’s computer-based communications and information systems (CIS) to
support the various KM processes. They are typically not technologically distinct from the
CIS, but involve databases, such as “lessons learned” repositories, and directories and
networks, such as those designed to put organizational participants in contact with
recognized experts in a variety of topic areas. A significant difference between many
knowledge management systems and the organization’s CIS is that the KMS may be less
automated in that they may require human activity in their operation. While information
systems typically require that humans make choices in the design phase and then operate
automatically, KMS sometimes involve human participation in the operation phase. For
instance, when a sales database is designed, people must decide on its content and
structure; in its operational phase, it works automatically. When a “lessons learned”
knowledge repository is created, people must make all of the same design choices, but they
must also participate in its operational phase since each knowledge unit that is submitted
for inclusion is unique and must be assessed for its relevance and important.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Most organizations focus primarily on one or the other of two broadly defined KM strategies –
“codification” or “personalization” (Hansen et al., 1999).

 Codification, is primarily implemented in the form of electronic document systems that

codify and store knowledge and permit its easy dissemination and re-use. This strategy
is based on “re-use economics” – invest once in creating or acquiring a knowledge asset
and re-use it many times.
 Personalization, on the other hand, focuses on developing networks to facilitate people-
to people knowledge transfer and sharing. It is based on “expert economics” –
channeling individual expertise to others with less expertise who may employ it to
further the organization’s goals.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEARNING ORGANIZATION AND KNOWLEDGE

MANEGEMENT

No matter what it's called, organisations need knowledge to function

Others argue that knowledge management enables organizational learning. OL becomes
possible because KM has embedded knowledge into all of the organization’s processes. This
perspective positions OL as the goal, and KM as a method of achieving that goal. In other
words, organizations must be able to learn in order to achieve their business goals, and in order
to learn, they must have solid KM.
In general, the experts talk about four different types of knowledge that exist and grow within an
organization. They divide them up into “communities” of learning.
 Individual
  Group
 Organizational
 Inter-organizational

MANAGING CHANGE IN ORGANIZATIONS

Change management is a comprehensive, cyclic, and structured approach for transitioning

individuals, groups, and organizations from a current state to a future state with intended
business benefits. Several key words should be noted in this definition. (PMI, 2013)

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
Change is about moving from a current state to an envisioned or desired future state as shown
in Figure 1. Projects and programs by their very nature cause change. When the change impact
of a project is overlooked or minimized, the business often fails to realize the full benefit that
was originally intended. Therefore, it is important for project, program and portfolio managers
to include adoption or implementation outcomes in planning and management as an integral
component of their plans.
The principles and practice of project management are equally useful and valid no matter what
the type of project. Therefore, all strategic change happens through programs and projects.

Figure 1: The Change Process

MANAGING CHANGE IN INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

PRINCIPLE 1: KNOW YOUR BUSINESS GOAL

Engagement is a two-way street: implementation project teams need specific skills and
capabilities to drive engagement from already-busy business managers and teams. If your
project team cannot talk the language of business, if their process mapping skills are immature,
if their knowledge of key processes of the business is poor, if their questioning and listening
ability is questionable, if their facilitation skills are rudimentary, and if their knowledge of the
functionality of the EDRMS and how it may be applied to improve business processes is patchy,
then you will not be able to adequately engage the business to set agreed business goals for the
implementation.

PRINCIPLE 2: MAP YOUR STAKEHOLDERS

Not all stakeholders are created equal. Some have more power over your project than others.

The power an individual holds comes from many different sources, not just their position in the
organization hierarchy. It may come from their personality and charismatic approach to
communication or from their control over information. They may have significant influence on
decision makers or, in some important cases, it may come from their role as gatekeepers to
business heads and decision makers. Coercive power is also important to recognize. It comes in
the form of single dominant people and from cohorts of people who come to collective
opinions to which they don’t deviate, based on some principle important to them.

PRINCIPLE 3: UNDERSTAND AND DEAL WITH YOUR RISKS

Risks are often not fleshed out or dealt with in information management implementations.
Project teams either are often unconsciously ignorant of risks or satisfy themselves in
identifying the risk events without assessing the likelihood and consequence and therefore do
not conduct an evaluation of the acceptability of risks.

PRINCIPLE 4: COMMUNICATE STRATEGICALLY

Your project team needs the skills and experience to be able to strategically think through, for
the five or six key topics for each significant stakeholder group, what you want those groups to
feel, think, and then do as a result of your communications. Then they need the communication
skills and understanding of the stakeholder groups and the organization culture to work out
what message or messages delivered by whom, through what channel, and at what frequency
will achieve your objectives of feel, think, and do.

PRINCIPLE 5: PROVIDE PRE- AND POST-IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT

The objective of the pre- and post-implementation support should be to ensure that individuals
can easily form the intent to use the EDRMS software and adopt the new business practices,
and that they will be supported by line management to execute that intent. The support may
take many forms. It could involve helping managers to plan and prioritise. Or it might involve
running training – in all its forms – to give individuals and teams confidence in their skills and
understanding. It might include setting up an environment that motivates individuals, teams,
and managers. Or it could involve direct assistance through Superusers, help desks, or
floorwalkers.

PRINCIPLE 6: MEASURE, REVIEW, REVISE, AND TEST YOUR PROCESSES

Research has clearly shown us that those project teams that measure do much better than
those who do not. We also know that those teams that are embarking on a two- or three-year
large project need to take heed of their measures, and act to change their implementation
processes to improve them, and begin the measuring cycle again on the revised processes.

This means measuring the effectiveness of your communication, training, stakeholder

management, and risk management. Often this will be by way of survey. Your project team
needs to be adept at survey design to ensure that they do not introduce biases that skew the
analysis and render the ‘improvements’ to processes impotent.