Learning organization is a term commonly used among corporations that facilitate knowledge gaining to their members.
Such organizations endlessly transform themselves through acquisition, creation and transfer of knowledge by modifying the behavior of their members so as to reflect new knowledge and insights (Love, 2003). It develops as a result of the challenges facing contemporary organizations and helps them to stay aggressive in the business setting.
A learning organization has five characteristics which include; shared vision, team learning, system thinking, mental model and personal mastery. As organizations develop, they drop their capability to become skilled as company structures and personal thinking turn inflexible. As soon as troubles arise, the planned solution often revolves to be only small-term and recur in the future.
To stay competitive, many organizations have re-organized themselves with a smaller number of people in the corporation (Love 2000). This means that those who stay behind are required to work more effectively. To build a competitive benefit, companies are required to learn quicker than their competitors in order to widen a customer receptive culture.
Organizations have to maintain information about new products as well as processes; they should also understand what goes on in the external environment. A good organization creates creative solutions by means of the knowledge and skills acquired as a result of organizational learning. This calls for co-operation among individuals as well as groups, free and dependable communication, and a culture of trust.
Change management is defined as a planned move toward shifting of organizations, teams and individuals from an existing state to a preferred future state (Liebowitz 2001).
This organizational process is aimed at helping workers to recognize and accept changes in their present business environment. Change management is used when referring to project management courses in which changes to development are officially introduced and accepted.
Since change management is a multidisciplinary practice that has changed as a result of academic exploration, it begins with an organized analysis of the current situation in order to make a decision between the call for change and the ability to change.
Objectives, process and content of change should all be particular as element of a change management plan. It may include resourceful marketing to allow communication among change audiences. This should also enhance social understanding concerning leadership’s methods and group dynamics.
As a visible track on transformation projects, Organizational Change Management aligns groups’ expectations, communicates, integrates teams and manages people training (Liebowitz 2001).
It makes use of performance metrics, such as financial results, operational efficiency, leadership commitment, communication effectiveness, and the perceived need for change to design appropriate strategies so as to avoid change failures or solve troubled change projects.
For successful change management some things must be included. These include useful communication, which tells business personalities the importance of the change. An educational training that is meant to upgrade the schemes for the organization, oppose resistance from the staff of companies and make straight to them the general planned direction of the association (Love 89). Provision of personal counseling to ease any change associated doubts may also be necessary.
Organizations must create a climate that encourage learning, experimentation, and taking risks other than emphasizing on command and control processes, libraries should also adopt methods that will help the organization move ahead and develop practical responses to change.
They require employees, who are grateful for change, recognize challenges, can increase new skills, and are dedicated to the organization’s mission, ideas and objectives. The ideas of the learning organization should offer leaders, managers, as well as staff with the gear they want to widen organizations that can be successful in unstable times.
References
Love, H. Z. (2000), Total quality management and the learning organization: a dialogue for change. Construction Management & Economics, 87 (33),89-90.
Liebowitz, J.k.(2001), Knowledge management and its link to artificial intelligence. Expert Systems with Applications ,21 (10),78-84.