Organizational strategies are essential since they act as the determinants of a well-established organizational structure. When implementing, for instance, a marketing strategy, the nature of the organization’s structure will be evident in accordance with its ability to use the resources available to bring value to the market in an attempt to outplay the competitors. On the other hand, for an organization to thrive, it should be a learning organization in that it can fabricate processes, systems, and human resources with the capacity to share knowledge, innovate continuously, and use its failures and success to its advantage. Such an organization strives for perfection and is the ideal organization in the marketplace. Therefore, a high-performing learning organization ensures that its strategies fit with the organization’s structure to allow an easy flow of information as they evolve. Moreover, a learning organization keeps the organization updated regarding changes in the products, market, demographics, and work processes, which helps reinvent itself for long-term stability. This research looks into three articles on learning organization and uses the information to answer a set of questions.
Brief Summary of Articles on Learning Organization
The most fundamental questions are what a learning organization is and what makes an organization labeled as a learning organization. According to the first article, Örtenblad (2018), a learning organization can be defined in three approaches. The first approach is the fragmentary approach, which suggests that we should start by defining the word “learning” and “organization separately and, after that, combine the two definitions. The second approach is the wholeness approach, which implies that concepts change when they have combined hence the idea of “learning organization” could mean something different than two definitions of individual words are combined. The third approach is the interpretive approach, which argues that concepts are defined depending on the usage and that meaning is drawn from the situation or context in which the concept is being used. Therefore, according to Örtenblad (2018), the definition of “learning organization” could mean some organizational aspects are linked to learning. The organization is an actual learning unit that depends on learning and requires continuous learning to thrive. Moreover, Örtenblad believes that the organization is the unit of learning rather than the individual; therefore, the organization can learn individually or collectively.
Additionally, regarding organization as a learning unit, the writer elaborates that there are versions of organizational learning such as; organization as a facilitator whereby the organization ensures that the employees learn at workplace in correspondence to work instead of them taking formal courses away from work. On the other hand, the organization could be a climate for learning in the sense that the organization avails tools and chances to learn for employees who can experiment and learn from their failures. Nevertheless, a different version could be organization as a learning unit, which implies that the organization embodies the learning process. As individuals learn, the organization stores the information as organizational memory and is updated to form the basis of executing strategies and further learning. On the other side, the fourth version is the learning structure, which narrates that an organization is a structure with team members whereby each member has a niche but has learned to perform tasks of their fellow members so that team performance is not solely dependent on a single member. Therefore, continuous learning of every member is required to attain that flexibility.
However, the article claims that a learning organization differs from one that uses an inclusive approach whereby elements of the above versions of organizational learning are incorporated into the organization. Furthermore, such an approach would be seen to be unfair to organizations that struggle to become learning organizations. Moreover, an exclusive approach whereby all four versions of the learning organization are present is not regarded as a learning organization since it is unreasonable. The demand to be labeled a learning organization is too high, with no room for variation. This article is vital because it discusses what a learning organization is and what it is not. The article offers crucial information and insights that can be applied when explaining the meaning of a learning organization or determining what a learning organization is in real life.
Innovation is one of the most valuable elements to the human resource departments of organizations in today’s economy. There is an interrelationship between learning organizational culture and employees’ innovative behavior. The second article studies the mediating effect of work engagement on the relationship between learning organization and innovative behavior. According to Park, et al. (2014), innovative behaviors are influenced by soft skills such as problem solving or motivation along with organizational factors such as leadership and organizational culture. Moreover, innovations are encouraged by psychological empowerment since individuals’ positive emotions, which encourage them to be deeply engaged, are crucial components of innovation. However, the studies show that organizations must establish effective frameworks to enhance their employees’ innovative behaviors systematically. Therefore, there is a relationship between learning organization, work engagement, and innovative behavior in that prior knowledge helps in innovation by developing problem-solving ideas. As a result, the absorptive capacity theory emphasizes that an organization’s learning capabilities and effective flow of information and knowledge drive the innovations of an organization.
Moreover, the broaden-and-build theory implies that enthusiasm and other positive emotions broaden employees’ perspectives and trigger explorative endeavors. Additionally, according to Park, et al,. (2014), positive emotions increase dopamine release, which encourages cognitive flexibility such as creativity and efficiency. Moreover, employees are more willing to go beyond expectations when they experience positive emotions. Furthermore, through the intrinsic motivation theory, studies show that individuals are internally motivated by competence and satisfaction rather than external factors such as rewards and incentives. Since self-fulfillment breeds psychological resilience and determination, the study also emphasizes that to achieve high performance, an organization must establish convenient routines by collecting data concerning product and service outlook along with customers’ experience as a form of organization learning and encourage positive work engagement.
The study used a survey to collect data from Korean business organizations in diverse industries. The study’s scope was to determine employees’ perception of learning organization and work engagement with regard to innovative behaviors. The results from the analysis proved that a direct link between learning organization and innovative behaviors does not exist and that work engagement plays a mediation role in influencing innovative behaviors in workplaces. Therefore, learning organization influences employee engagement, while employee engagement either directly or indirectly influences innovative behavior. In conclusion, since the current business environment demands constant innovations, organizations should understand the role of employee engagement being propagated by positive emotions in a learning organization and provide the necessary support to encourage the worker’s innovative behavior. Therefore, human resource management should ensure that the organization has a collaborative learning culture and work engagement to elicitate innovations. This article is crucial while determining other elements that reinforce a learning organization to stay productive.
In most business organizations globally, human resource is a critical aspect and demands heavy investments to ensure learning and development. The third article evaluates the relationship between cultural intelligence and learning organization. According to Mangla, & Singh, (2022), globalization and technological innovations encourage intercultural interactions, and since knowledge is not exclusive in one language, organizations prefer diversification at workplace. However, there are challenges in managing a diverse workforce; therefore, having cultural intelligence means the organization has the capability to rip the benefits of a culturally diverse workforce. The article therefore, projects the need to construct a learning organization that understands its alignment with the ability of cultural intelligence to develop the transformation needed. Moreover, cultural intelligence brings collaboration and coordination in an organization hence influencing innovations. According to Mangla, & Singh, (2022), culture is defined as a collective programming of mind that distinguishes one group member from other groups from elements such as family, society, race, friends, workplace and travel experience. The journal states that according to cultural attachment theory, individuals with stable base culture are tolerant to different cultures. However, individuals should not only be acceptable but also develop the skills and behavior adaptability to work in a multicultural environment; therefore individuals with high cultural intelligence is more adaptable to different cultural situations.
The journal considers three facets of cultural intelligence namely; cognitive, motivational and behavioural. Cognitive cultural intelligence entails an understanding of one’s culture, the environment, and awareness of the similarities and differences of different cultures. Such mental maps can be sourced from the internet, books, news or interaction with people from different cultures. The cognitive ability to stay open to different cultures forms a greater acceptance of multiculturalism. On the other hand, motivational cultural intelligence is the heart desire and capability to invest in learning and operating in a multicultural environment. Therefore, individuals with strong cultural beliefs find it hard to be comfortable to the experiences of new cultural settings and might require active engagement and reflection. On the contrary, behavioural cultural intelligence is one’s flexibility to adapt the verbal and non-verbal cognitive behaviors in different cultural settings. Mangla and Singh emphasizes that skills of cultural intelligence are potent in bringing the necessary adjustments to efficiently perform in a multicultural organization. Moreover, they stated that the traits that culturally intelligent individuals portray includes; open-mindedness, patients, extroversion, empathy and respect for others.
According to the journal, the scope of the study was to investigate the relationship between cultural intelligence and learning organization. Survey was used to collect data from hospitality and banking sectors in different parts of India. The analysis of the results showed that elements of learning organization such as communication, acceptance of error, problem solving systematically and new approach experiments are significantly correlated with cultural intelligence. Since, there are significant relationships between cultural intelligence and acceptance of error, systematic problem solving, experiment with new approach and information sharing according to the hypothesis tested. Therefore, cultural intelligence should be part of learning organization to prepare them for challenges while technology keep advancing and the organization expanding into new markets globally.
Answer to Questions
A learning organization is an organization that continuously acquires and implements the knowledge that brings value in relation to products, market, and technological innovations by creating frameworks that will encourage employees to turn new information into knowledge and essential insights. Therefore, some of the ways an organization can learn is through inquiries and dialogues, collaboration and team learning strategic leadership and environmental connection Park, et al,. (2014). The benefits of an organization being a learning organization are; the organization has organizational memory that can be updated to encourage more learning and help in conducting work tasks within the organization. Moreover, it helps the organization to prepare for contingencies and adapt to dynamics in the market easily (Örtenblad, 2018). Additionally, a learning organization encourages innovative behaviors since it is more flexible and encompasses workforce engagement (Park, et al,. 2014). Aside from that, a learning organization has elements such as communication, acceptance of error and systematic problem solving abilities (Mangla, & Singh, 2022).
Despite the benefits of an organization being a learning organization, there might be disadvantages such as the struggle to attain perfection which is often absurd. Therefore, that means that a learning organization will hardly settle but engage in constant improvements which are not healthy while establishing a stable organization. In conclusion a learning organization will adopt to changes easily and encourage innovations, these as aspects that the modern business organizations need to emulate in to stay ahead of the competition.
References
Örtenblad, A. (2018). What does “learning organization” mean? The Learning Organization. Link https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/TLO-02-2018-0016/full/html
Park, Y. K., Song, J. H., Yoon, S. W., & Kim, J. (2014). Learning organization and innovative behavior: The mediating effect of work engagement. European Journal of Training and Development. Link https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/EJTD-04-2013-0040/full/html?fullSc=1&utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Journal_of_European_Industrial_Training_TrendMD_0&WT.mc_id=Emerald_TrendMD_0
Mangla, N., & Singh, K. (2022). Relationship between cultural intelligence and learning organization. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management. Link https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/14705958221089275
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