Applying the Principles of Organisational Learning

• Abstract
• The World We Find Ourselves In
• So What is Organisational Learning?
• What, Then, is a Learning Organisation?
• Philosophical Foundations
• Building a Learning Organisation
• Implementation Steps
  • Personal - Collective
  • Structural - Cultural
• Hardwiring the Learning
• Concluding Thoughts
• References

Abstract

People in organisations live in interesting and sometimes difficult times. Organisational learning, and the creation of "Learning Organisations", has been offered as one way to deal with the apparently endless waves of organisational change and for the organisation to move forward.

In this paper a range of meanings and definitions of organisational learning are canvassed and four principles for establishing organisational learning in health care organisations are discussed. More concrete steps for creating a learning organisation are outlined, and organised according to the "Personal-Collective" and "Structural-Cultural" dimensions. The need to "hardwire" learning into organisations once it has been created or identified is also noted. Other initiatives found to be beneficial in the creation of organisational learning in the health sector include the use of "action learning" teams to work through and around blockages to organisational learning and the creation of a "Teachable Point of View" to cascade a new vision and objectives down through the many management levels within organisations. Performance management systems incorporating 360-degree feedback need to be aligned with the organisational vision along with the culture of the organisation.

The World We Find Ourselves In

We are all witnesses to continual change in our workplaces, our communities and our lives. Our traditional institutions (including hospitals) are stretched, some to breaking point, by the demand for ever-greater performance, profits and/or cost savings. The recent collapse of well-known organisations such as Ansett, HIH, and Enron in the US, hits home hard.

The explosion of knowledge, technology and telecommunications capability has led to seemingly ever higher demands to shorten turnaround times in all fields of endeavour. In health care, surgery and care methodologies continue to advance while inpatient hospital stays continue to be driven down by insurers and Government. There are changes in consumer and employee expectations and loyalties. The way people work and the relationships and values associated with working are all changing. More and more energy has to be incorporated into new strategies, new services and improving the way we do things. Even public health care institutions and not-for-profit organisations must now compete fiercely for their own survival. Competition, anxiety and internal "politics" seem to be everywhere. Many of us find ourselves immersed in a life pattern of feeling there is too much to do, being constantly under time pressure, watching our flanks and are, thus, constantly tired.

Many management efforts at initiating and sustaining change within organisations have proved to be ineffective over time, and there is a growing realisation that implementing significant change in today’s world is a daunting task - one that is increasingly requiring significant knowledge and skill about people, organisations and culture.

In response to this world we find ourselves in, management theorists around the globe have increasingly focused on learning as a way forward. This derives from the view that we who live and work in modern organisations are where we are because the mental and cultural "maps" we are using are no longer valid. As a global community we are not learning fast enough or effectively enough to manage appropriately in our rapidly changing world, ie, to develop new, meaningful, evolving maps for our personal lives and for managing our organisations and communities. "Organisational Learning" and "the creation of Learning Organisations" have therefore become catch-cries for management theorists and consultants over the past decade or more.

So, What is Organisational Learning?

• The process of improving actions through better knowledge and understanding. Fiol & Lyles (1985)
• The continuous testing of experience, and transformation of that experience into knowledge accessible to the whole organisation, and relevant to its core purpose. Ross & Hannay (1986)
• It occurs through shared insights, knowledge and mental models . . . (and) builds on past knowledge and experience - that is on memory. Stata (1989)
• The creation of knowledge that is accessible and used throughout the entire organisation to accomplish its mission. Meyer (1990)

What, Then, is a Learning Organisation?

• (One) where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together. Senge (1990)
• (One) that facilitates the learning of all of its members and continuously transforms itself. Pedler et al (1991)
• (One) skilled at creating, acquiring and transferring knowledge and at modifying its behaviour to reflect new knowledge and insights. Garvin (1993)

Enderby (1997) conducted an extensive literature review and a three-year, on-site case study of Australia’s largest private hospital. The hospital was seeking to introduce substantial changes, among which the creation of a learning organisation was a high priority. From the perspective of this work Enderby (p120) defined a learning organisation as "one which continuously monitors or captures data about its performance and health, reflects on that data and modifies its behaviour in the light of the knowledge gained, so as to ensure its long term survival and growth. A learning organization is one that is continuously improving".

Philosophical Foundations

The philosophical foundations of learning organisations can be located in the works of such thinkers as Bohm, Kofman, Senge, and Handy.

The main dysfunctions in our institutions - fragmentation, competition and reactiveness - are actually by-products of our success over hundreds of years in conquering the physical world and developing our scientific, industrial culture. They are very deep-rooted. Success has come from dissecting or breaking down problems, tasks and strategies into their micro parts, and having "expert specialists" tackle them. Fragmentation, competition and reactiveness are not problems to be solved - they are frozen patterns of thinking to be dissolved.

The solvent is a new way of thinking, feeling and being - a culture of systems:

• Fragmentary thinking becomes "systems thinking" when we recover "the memory of the whole", the awareness that wholes actually precede parts.
• Competition becomes co-operation when we discover the "community nature of self" and realise our role as challengers to help each other excel, rather than competitors to beat - win/win rather than win/lose.
• Reactiveness becomes creation when we see the "generative power of language or dialogue (from the Greek dia-logos which means shared meaning); how language brings forth distinctions, ideas, insights and possibilities from the undivided flow of life.

A learning organisation is built upon an assumption of competence that is supported by four other qualities: curiosity, forgiveness, trust and togetherness. The assumption of competence means assuming each individual can be expected to perform to the limit of his or her competence, with the minimum of supervision.

A learning organisation is also built upon a readiness to experiment with several strategies simultaneously. As there are no roadmaps for going forward in the changing world, we must entertain a number of possibilities and put in place reflective, evaluative practices and mechanisms that enable us to discern quickly what is working and what is not.

To enable this to happen, a learning organisation must be grounded in four principles:

1. A culture that is fundamentally based on transcendent human values of love, wonder and humility - which allows creativity, new ideas, experimentation, regeneration, reinvention.
2. A set of practices for generative conversation and reflection (dialogue) - that leads to shared vision, strategy, empowerment, real problem-solving and co-ordinated action.
3. A capacity to see and work with the flow of life as a system - which leads to a deeper understanding of the relationship between investments and return, of cause and effect when making change, and of what it means to be a "healthy" organisation.
4. A determination to survive, grow and flourish no matter what life throws up - which leads to disciplined practices throughout the organisation.

Building a Learning Organisation

In his study of the creation and maintenance of organisational learning in a private hospital setting, Enderby (p169) found one of the most powerful interventions was the systematic use of "action learning" teams to remove blockages to change. Action learning provided a safe and co-operative environment in which participants could clarify their tasks and roles and which encouraged and enabled their reflection on action and provided an opportunity to share the desired vision for the hospital (refer "Action Learning Groups and Cultural Change in Hospitals").

The following "Action Learning Wheel" outlines the cycle that underpins the implementation of organisational learning. The wheel explains how true learning occurs. Too often in organisations (and in our personal lives) we do not learn from our experience. A problem arises and we act according to our, often unconscious, theories about effective action. Our actions are based on past success, the way we were trained or brought up, or on cultural norms that dictate behaviour. We generally do not stop to think about alternative possibilities or to evaluate the real consequences of our actions. We are generally in a lifestyle pattern where we are busy moving on to the next issue before the lessons of prior actions have been adequately processed.

Figure 1 The Action Learning Process

Action Learning Wheel ©Phelan & Enderby 1995

Therefore, building a learning organisation fundamentally requires leaders, individuals and teams to:

1. understand the principles and applications of action learning
2. understand and commit to the implementation of the four foundations outlined above
3. be given space and encouragement to practise the above
4. capture their learnings in a way that can be disseminated and accessed by others throughout the organisation.

Our last 15 years’ experiences confirm that the following framework outlines how these elements can be progressively implemented. There is no one right way, but we can say, essentially, that an organisation’s capacity for learning is significantly increased when two core strategies are pursued in conjunction with each other - basically strategies for developing the people and strategies for building the systems.

Implementation Steps

1. Personal - Collective

(Essentially, directing peoples’ thinking and ability)

1.1 Begin with a "Teachable Point of View" Process

The Teachable Point of View (TPoV) process begins with a vision - a picture of a desired future that induces a passion to achieve that vision within the people of the organisation. The CEO or leader first defines in their own mind the possibilities and the future potential of the organisation. The "vision" is a defining position for the organisation that the leader feels personally inspired by and cannot help but describe passionately to those around them. It always contains clear, compelling goals and often paints a picture of the desired culture (how we will be doing things and what we will be like). Often, a "future search" or "strategic planning" process is used to help develop, gather and coalesce these views about the possible future.

The TPoV process is an intensive, cascading, education programme for teaching people, level by level, in an organisation who the organisation is, why it exists, where it is going and how it operates.

These ideas are supported by a value system that the leaders exemplify, articulate and enforce. The leader spells out his or her fundamental beliefs about how the vision can be achieved - what is required for their organisation to successfully implement the vision.

The CEO and those reporting directly to him or her then take time out to reflect upon, discuss and reach a true consensus on what the TPoV should be for their organisation, ie, perfecting their vision and defining the underlying beliefs and assumptions about the requirements for its successful implementation. Core ideas and values are brought out and discussed, including an examination of the four foundations outlined above and what they might mean to and look like in this particular organisation. Agreement is then reached on what will generate and sustain the emotional energy needed to achieve the vision, and the "edges" of the vision, ie, the leader’s need to face reality and to reach tough decisions about identity and products, investments and people - deciding what business and activities are outside the vision and values and therefore will not be pursued.

At this point, reflection on the "whole" takes place - time should be spent taking a systems view of the organisation, the business and social environment, and the fundamental requirements for moving the organisation from its current position to where leaders aspire it to be.

Then each senior manager repeats the process with those reporting directly to them to create agreement on their TPoV, and so forth to "cascade" the TpoV down through the organisation. This is generally done via workshops over one or two days.

This is a process that can ultimately change an organisation’s "DNA" and has been used very successfully by, for example, the Ford Motor Company, GE Medical Systems and Reynolds Healthcare Systems in the USA. (Tichy 1999). The TPoV process flows into the other suggested steps below:

1.2 Identify Core Competencies and Behaviours

Through the TPoV process and interviews with organisational leaders and line managers the core competencies and behaviours required of all leaders to achieve the desired vision and values are identified and described.

1.3 Shared Agreement and Ownership of a Leadership Checklist

Collective agreement is obtained from leaders on these descriptions and a Leadership Checklist for the organisation is produced.

1.4. 360^o Performance Feedback

Each leader is invited to rate themselves on the "Checklist" competencies and to ask six other relevant staff members (generally their boss, some colleagues and some subordinates) to anonymously rate them against the criteria. A "Feedback Profile" incorporating the combined feedback is produced. The "Feedback Report" profiles the subject against the agreed critical competencies, behaviours and values as seen by those they work with.

1.5 Performance Coaching and Individual learning Contracts

A one-on-one meeting is then held with each manager to review his or her "Feedback Profile" and to identify their opportunities for learning and improved effectiveness. Commitments and actions are recorded in an individual learning contract or Development Plan. Managers are encouraged to take a performance coaching orientation towards their staff by focussing on performance strengths and gaps, and engaging in dialogue on how to maximise the strengths and to address the gaps. Senge (1990) calls this Personal Mastery in his Five Disciplines.

1.6 Core Training Modules

A collective data profile is then built from all the "Feedback Profiles". Common needs across the organisation are identified from the collective profile data, and core-training modules are designed. The modules are constructed using the principles of the action learning framework outlined above. Specific training modules, such as those that teach people to think more systemically, the skill of dialogue and collective problem solving or coaching can be extremely valuable to managers and other staff.

One group of private hospitals operating nationwide in Australia wonderfully exemplifies the power of a clearly articulated "Point of View" coupled with an aligned performance management system. A clear and unambiguous message is articulated from the very top of the organisation, from the Board of Directors, the CEO and each Executive Member. Hospital General Managers are also encouraged to communicate with staff daily about these core performance drivers for the organisation. The performance drivers are then reinforced by the use of 360^o feedback, one-on-one coaching and imposition of clear consequences for good and less-than-good performance. While not all staff may entirely agree with the message that is cascaded from the very peak of the organisation there is little doubt about the "core curriculum" or the prevailing "Point of View" of this organisation. One indicator of the success of this strategy has been revealed in the strong performance of the organisation’s share price over the four-year period in which the current management has been in place. Another is the detailed attention paid by staff to the needs of patients, and their doctors, in each facility operated by the group.

2. Structural - Cultural

(Essentially getting the systems and business processes right - "the way we do things around here" - culture)

2.1 Action Learning Teams

During the TPoV workshops, opinions are obtained on the key systems or business issues in relation to the achievement of the vision. Employee surveys and focus groups can also be used to gather data on where the blockages are and also the opportunities to do things more effectively.

Consultants reach agreement with top management about the core issues and action learning teams of six to eight volunteers are formed to tackle each core issue or problem. Each member must be personally affected by the issue they are going to work on, and they should have some emotional investment in solving the problem. Ideally they should be of roughly equal status - "Communities of Practice".

Meetings must be spaced to allow action/reflection/problem solving/learning. As a guide, the teams might meet for approximately two or three hours per session over six to eight fortnights, or for a whole day once each month for four months. The timing is very much dictated by the issue to be solved and the individual/organisational requirements and logistics involved. At the end of the designated period, team members present their recommendations in relation to the business issue, and also what they have learned both individually and collectively on behalf of the organisation. The Team Charter must include the brief to "tell us what to do and tell us what you’ve learned".

Action learning teams are also an opportunity to bring to the surface some of the underlying assumptions and subconscious "learning" that pervades the organisation and reflects the underlying culture. The size and age of many large public teaching hospitals, for example, often mean that they have largely unexamined and indistinct norms and customary practices that together constitute the way things are done within the organisation. Often the culture is revealed in the language, the folklore, the values and the employment, promotion and recognition practices of the organisation - how the hospital makes decisions, deals with disputes and conflict, responds or doesn’t respond to various situations.

Action learning teams are also an opportunity to bring to the surface some of the underlying assumptions and subconscious "learning" that pervades the organisation and reflects the underlying culture. The size and age of many large public teaching hospitals, for example, often mean that they have largely unexamined and indistinct norms and customary practices that together constitute the way things are done within the organisation. Often the culture is revealed in the language, the folklore, the values and the employment, promotion and recognition practices of the organisation - how the hospital makes decisions, deals with disputes and conflict, responds or doesn’t respond to various situations.

Making overt the underlying assumptions and values that are driving an organisation’s culture, in order that alternative, more effective workplace solutions to problems can be considered, is a very powerful organisational learning practice.

2.2 Performance Management System

The Performance Management System of the organisation should incorporate the Personal-Collective elements outlined above, with the development of a "Balanced Score Card" set of measures and feedback processes that reflect the vision, values, goals and priorities of the organisation - "What gets measured gets attended to". The 360^o Performance Feedback process is incorporated into the overall performance management system.

2.3 Organisational Culture

All of the above steps and processes impact upon and help to shape the culture of an organisation. Building a Learning Organisation is fundamentally a matter of building a certain type of culture - one that enables the organisation to be resilient and healthy. Changing a culture takes years of intentional communication, modelling and reinforcement of the organisation’s particular ideas, values, priorities and ways of doing things. It requires an understanding of strategic human-resources management and a focused effort throughout all areas of the organisation and in the marketplace. In marketing terms, it is a matter of having a consistent "brand" internally and externally.

In addition to the specific steps spelled out above, some other ways in which organisational culture can be shaped and reinforced are (Collins & Porras 1996):

• An orientation and induction program for new staff that has ideological as well as practical content, teaching such things as values, norms, history and tradition.
• On the job socialisation by peers and immediate supervisors.
• Home-grown management - promotion from within, bringing to senior levels only those who have demonstrated commitment to the ideology of the organisation.
• Unique language and terminology that reinforce sense of belonging to a special group.
• Exposure to pervasive mythology of "heroic deeds" and corporate exemplars - photos on wall, framed heroic customer letters, Awards, etc - the founding story.
• Corporate songs, affirmations, pledges, that reinforce psychological commitment.
• Tight hiring processes that very intentionally screen and weed out people particularly during probation period.
• Incentive and advancement criteria that explicitly link and reinforce fit to corporate ideology and ways of doing things.
• Awards or other public recognition that reward those who demonstrate great effort consistent with the ideology.
• Tangible and visible penalties for those who break ideological boundaries.
• Celebrations that reinforce success, belonging and specialness.
• Building and advertising a "Brand" that reflects the vision and values.

Hardwiring the Learning

As outcomes result from the two implementation steps (Personal-Collective and Structural-Cultural), they must be captured and hardwired into the organisation, ie, re-engineered into new business processes, policies, procedures, forms, electronic libraries/data banks tool kits, etc. This is where information technology can be very helpful in enabling people to record, contribute to and access the Knowledge Bank (the reservoir of know-how) relevant to their job, work or interest group. The new way of doing things must be locked in so that people cannot revert back to the old ways.

This "hard-wiring" is essential to ensure that the ideas, insights and learning gained during the process are actually captured for others and to create new ways of more effective working. Creating a more open, learning-friendly climate is one step. Coming up with new ideas and identifying how things can be done more effectively is another. Actually implementing the re-engineered processes, forms and procedures that encompass the learning is critical.

Concluding Thoughts

Today’s world demands" new ways of thinking and acting. Towards the end of his life, Einstein observed that many of today’s problems have been caused by yesterday’s thinking. He went on to say that we could only solve some of our deepest problems by new ways of thinking and of doing things - in other words, action learning.

In his 1997 hospital study, Enderby found that detailed examination of the in-depth interview transcripts revealed a large " meaning space" among the perceptions of organisational learning held by executives and senior staff that formed the basis of his three-year case study. These included perceptions of organisational learning as:

• A mechanistic-instrumental view of organisational learning as a process that occurs when the right levers are pulled by management.
• A process of capturing, remembering and learning from what has happened in the past.
• A process of keeping focused on the new vision even when faced with apparent chaos and resistance. This is a kind of "no pain, no gain view of organisational learning".
• A process of creating a certain desired culture that emphasises learning and continuous improvement.
• A process of critically questioning prevailing assumptions, mission, values or norms. This is a critically reflective view of organisational learning.
• A process of creating, capturing and hardwiring new knowledge and skills into the processes and systems of the organisation. This perception is closest to the model for creation of organisational learning outlined above.

Interestingly, none of the meanings outlined above, and none of the interview transcripts analysed by Enderby and his associates, reflected in any close way the view of organisational learning implied in Peter Senge’s book "Fifth Discipline". Little or no understanding or commitment to systems thinking, as described by Senge, was apparent in the transcripts of interview conducted with hospital administrators who aspired to create a learning organisation.

On the other hand, perhaps it is unrealistic to expect that all hospital managers would quickly be able to see and to work with the multiple levels operating simultaneously within an organisational setting and the pattern of interrelationships among key components of the system. The Systems Thinkers’ goal is not impossible, but it is difficult.

What is needed however, is a firm commitment to change and a workable model to guide the action.

Applying the principles of organisational learning can be done in many ways. The heart of the quest is to build an organisation where "learning" is continually valued, encouraged, enabled, captured, accessed and built upon. The model and steps outlined above is one framework for moving forward toward this goal.

References

	Dean R Phelan BA; Grad.Dip.App.Psych.; MA(Hons), MAPsS, AFAHRI Managing Partner
Dean is an Organisational Psychologist by profession and the Managing Partner of TopWheel - People Intelligence, a firm dedicated to improving the current performance and ongoing effectiveness of leaders, teams and organisations. Dean works with the top management of some of Australia’s leading companies and organisations. He has extensive senior management experience in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. He has facilitated many Top Team meetings and workshops to help managers re-focus their purpose and vision, and to move from vision to implementation. Dean has coordinated mergers, major organisational change projects, building redevelopments, and organisation-wide leadership alignment efforts. He has lead teams that have gone into a number of large corporations to re-engineer their HR functions, processes and contribution to the bottom line. Dean’s interests are in strategic planning and HR, organisational change and learning, leadership development and executive coaching, performance management and research in areas related to people effectiveness. Dean holds Board appointments in several companies and is the current Board Chair of a large not-for-profit organisation. His experience also includes appointment as Chairperson of the Health and Medical Services Committee of the ILO (International Labour Organisation) in Geneva. Prior to founding TopWheel, Dean was: Executive Director of SIAG, an Australian firm providing outsourced IR / HR services. Director of Services and Redevelopment with Epworth, Australia’s largest Private Hospital. Group HR Manager (International) with Elders IXL. Personnel Manager for Victoria with Westpac Banking Corporation. Dean’s international experience includes consulting work in the UK, USA, Switzerland, New Zealand, Vanuatu, and Poland. Dean has been a keynote speaker at national and international forums in the areas of Action Learning, Change Management and Strategic HR Management. A number of his papers have been published internationally.
	Dr Gregory Birchall BA(Hons), BEd, MEd, (La Trobe), EdD (Colorado), MAHRI Senior Partner
Greg is an educationalist and management development expert by background. He has consulted with organisations around Australia and internationally, including projects for the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and AusAid. Greg’s experience includes the management and delivery of training programs at an academic level and for major organisations both in Australia and elsewhere. He has worked in both the private and public sectors. Major clients have included the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Telstra / Pacific Access, Epworth Hospital, the Healthscope Hospital Group and COC Community Care. Prior to his position with TopWheel, Greg was Director of MBA programmes and International Management for RMIT Business, with responsibility for programmes in Melbourne, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. He also lectured in the Doctor of Business programme and supervised doctoral and masters level research in the fields of organisational learning and change management. He has run his own management consultancy firm, Columbine Management Systems Pty Ltd, and has been the Principal Adviser and Head of the Research & Learning Division of SIAG Pty Ltd. Greg has been a Senior lecturer at the Graduate School of Management at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia, and is currently an adjunct member at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Greg has extensive International project experience, having worked in Indonesia, China, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Bahrain and the US. Recent consulting projects have been concerned with organisational alignment, vision, mission and values, performance feedback and executive coaching and performance management systems. Greg holds a continuing appointment as the Capacity Building/Action Plans Advisor for the Indonesia-Australia Specialised Training Project Phase II which provides management and skills training to government officials throughout Indonesia. The project is sponsored by AusAid.