Future Corporate Success Model: Learning Organization Building Strategy

Author: Wang Runliang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: The most successful organizations of the future are those that continuously expand their knowledge and skills, thereby improving their mental models and behavioral patterns, and thus adapt well to environmental changes. Learning organizations and their interactive, shared learning systems are the only sustainable competitive advantages for businesses to cope with change and create the future. Peter Senge (author of "The Fifth Discipline" and professor at MIT Sloan School of Management) has stated that becoming a learning organization is not just a nice-to-have addition but a necessity for the survival and success of a business.
Clive Watskins (Chief Consultant at the London Management Center) believes that businesses in the 21st century will be learning organizations because the only sustainable competitive advantage is the ability to learn faster than your competitors.
Arie de Geus (former Planning Director at Shell) argues that organizations not only need to financially support employee learning but must also find ways to systematically integrate learning into all aspects of organizational life.
Edgar Schein (CEO of the American Society for Training and Development) describes organizational learning as a complex "chemical reaction" process involving individual learning interactions at all levels within and outside the organization, requiring the comprehensive application of various techniques and systematic management of organizational knowledge. Without this broad perspective and holistic view, organizations will struggle and stumble in their journey toward becoming learning organizations, which is why many businesses face difficulties in creating learning organizations.
Michael Marquardt (author of "The Five Disciplines for Creating a Learning Organization" and professor of human resources at George Washington University) provides an in-depth theoretical elaboration on the five subsystems of learning organizations—learning, people, organization, knowledge, and technology. This book combines learning organization theory with creation methods, offering both theoretical depth and practical guidance. Each subsystem includes numerous creation methods and practical case studies, making it a highly practical and valuable reference for businesses attempting to establish learning organizations.
The author believes that the learning subsystem of a learning organization consists of four information channels: vertical, horizontal, informal, and external. By enhancing and integrating these channels, an efficient learning system can be established. The people subsystem includes not only internal organizational members such as learning-oriented leaders, organizational learning facilitators, and learning-oriented employees but also external members such as suppliers, distributors, customers, and the community. The roles and functions of these individuals in the creation of learning organizations are discussed separately.
The organizational subsystem of a learning organization primarily focuses on establishing a shared vision. The knowledge subsystem includes explicit and tacit knowledge, and the book proposes knowledge management strategies for creating learning organizations. Technology serves as the main support for organizations to implement learning, and the book also introduces relevant learning technologies.
This book is suitable for personnel in business management, human resources, and training departments. It can also serve as a training textbook for corporate employees, as well as a reference for management students and faculty at universities, and researchers in learning organization studies.