California Management Reviews

Running head: LEARNING ORGANIZATIONS
LEARNING ORGANIZATIONS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The learning organizations may be referred as those organizations which help in ensuring
that a firm is being able to prosper well in the long run. A learning organization tends to
transform itself continuously and ensures that the overall goals will be attained successfully. In
line with this, it becomes effectively critical to note that for a firm to be successful in the long
run the learning organization as a concept will be fruitful. The main aim of the report is to
outline the meaning of a learning organization and to understand the manner in which a firm
tends to perform accordingly. According to Bhaskar and Mishra (2017) , the learning
organization forms the need of the hour and all organizations as functioning in the business
environment would be required to see to it ta they are being able to develop and evolve
continuously with the help of which they will be able to achieve and attain all the objectives
successfully. The report will assess the analysis of three different articles; understand the
definitions of the learning organizations, its benefits, disadvantages and how a firm can apply the
same.
Summary of the articles
Ege, T., Esen, A., & Aşık Dizdar, Ö. (2017). Organizational learning and learning organizations:
An integrative framework. Uluslararası Yönetim İktisat ve İşletme Dergisi, 13(2), 439-460.
The first chapter outlines the different ways in which the learning organizations generally
tend to function. The paper has adopted a secondary format whereby vast domains of literature
will be assessed consistently and this will contribute towards understanding how the learning
organizations generally tend to perform in the long run. Hence, the paper has presented a set of

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frameworks which can be adequately applied in order to see to it that, the enterprise is being able
to understand how the learning organizations as a concept will be effective.
Serrat, O. (2017). Building a learning organization. In Knowledge solutions (pp. 57-67).
Springer, Singapore.
Learning is considered to be the key to success and hence, in such a scenario, ensuring
competitive success is essential. Therefore, the aim of the study is to outline how the
organizations tend to become the learning organizations and also aims to understand the manner
in which a firm can become knowledge enriched and be able to transform it continuously.
Bhaskar, A. U., & Mishra, B. (2017). Exploring relationship between learning organizations
dimensions and organizational performance. International Journal of Emerging Markets.
The aim of the paper is to understand and validate the concept of the learning
organization with the help of which, it aims to understand the manner in which the organizational
process towards becoming a good dimensional firm is understood. The study through its
procedure revealed that, the enterprises which tend to rely heavily on associated learning
dimensions, would be required to perform adequately well and it ca become a learning
organization gradually.
Definition of learning organizations
According to Daft and Steers (1986), a learning organization can be described as the
enterprise which tends to facilitate the learning of its members on a continuous basis and has the
ability to transform regularly. The concept of a learning organization was penned by Peter Senge.

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The primary reason why a learning organization ca be considered to be an effective
concept is because, it is a result of the pressures which the organizations face in order to remain
competitive. It demands them to evolve to a greater extent and to see to it that, the enterprise is
being able to perform well (de Geus, 1997). The given characteristics can be followed by the
enterprise:
 Systems thinking this are the idea which donates that a learning organization needs to
undertake the concepts of a system thinking whereby the conceptual framework needs to
be applied accordingly.
 Personal mastery. Another critical aspect is personal mastery whereby the commitment of
an individual is essential to the overall success of the firm. In consideration of this, it can
be mentioned effective to note that for an enterprise to engage in long term success, it is
essential that the personal mastery is also attained (Davenport & Prusak, 1998).
 Mental models another key aspect of the learning organization is the mental models. In
this case, what people or employees can detect or ignored is discussed. .
 Shared vision. The shared value forms another key feature of the learning organizations
whereby it tends to mention that, all the members as involved in an enterprise need to
have a shared vision to attain all the goals.
 Team learning. Lastly, the team learning forms a critical part of the learning organization
and it requires that all the team members are undertaking the learning procedure in an
effective manner so as to engage in a successful cycle of learning (Ege, Esen & Aşık
Dizdar, 2017).

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How might a firm learn?
The learning can be mentioned to be a comprehensive procedure which may facilitate
adequate learning and associated building in an adequate manner. The ways in which an
enterprise might learn can be mentioned to be as follows:
Working with the business to ensure that learning supports strategy
The first strategy which is adequately followed by the enterprise to engage in the learning
can be mentioned to be the fact that the business is required to facilitate learning and knowledge
sharing in real time to ensure long term success (Greiner & Metes, 1995).
Innovation is the key to learning
Another critical aspect which may help in learning can be described to be the learning in
innovative ways. It has to be critically understood that procedures such as one minute daily
learning bite and associate aspects such as emails and the overall regular forums might be made
use of in order to facilitate the learning in a affirm (Galbraith, 2002).
Customize learning for the company’s culture.
According to Ikuhiro and Hirotaka (1995), another way to facilitate the learning
procedure is to imbibe it in the culture of the company. It can be greed to it that, when the
learning as a process is imbibed in the overall culture of the enterprise then in such a scenario,
the learning procedure may become faster and better.
Rewards
The rewards and recognition method of learning is another useful method of learning
with the help of which a business will be able to ensure that it is being able to engage in the

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learning procedure in an adequate manner. In association with this, the key is to see to it that new
capabilities can be built accordingly.
Benefits of learning organization
The various benefits of a learning organization for the business may be as follows:
 A learning organization facilitates innovation and ensures competitive success
 The learning organization enables improved efficiency
 It assists in ensuring that the knowledge and associated resources can be built
successfully.
 It is critical to see to it that the corporate image of the firm can be gained.
 Additionally, a strengthen sense of communication is critical to build (Konno & Nonaka,
1998).
 Moreover, it improves knowledge sharing in a firm.
Disadvantages of learning organizations
 Although it has various benefits, the learning organization has associated demerits as
well. These can be mentioned to be as follows:
 The power difference in the case of a learning organization is ignored. This means that
the there are certain self-imposed controls and associated peer controls within a firm
facilitate personal growth.

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 The procedure of implementing the learning organization can be agreed to be very
difficult. In line with this, it can be effectively stated that, learning is a complicated
procedure and may take considerate time to be implemented.
 Employee participation in the organizational decision making is relevant (Serrat, 2017).
 Another key step which may be a disadvantage of the learning organization can be stated
to be the fact that, the organizational decision making has to be allowed to the employees.
Here the control on the employees has to be removed which might not be beneficial for
the firm.

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 Reference
Bhaskar, A. U., & Mishra, B. (2017). Exploring relationship between learning organizations
dimensions and organizational performance. International Journal of Emerging Markets.
Daft, R. L., & Steers, R. M. (1986). Organizations: A micro/macro approach. Glenview, IL:
Scott, Foresman and Company.
Davenport, T. H., & Prusak, L. (1998). Working knowledge: How organizations manage what
they know. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School.
de Geus, A. (1997). The living company. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School.
Ege, T., Esen, A., & Aşık Dizdar, Ö. (2017). Organizational learning and learning organizations:
An integrative framework. Uluslararası Yönetim İktisat ve İşletme Dergisi, 13(2), 439-
460.
Galbraith, J. R. (2002). Designing organizations: An executive guide to strategy, structure, and
process. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Greiner, R., & Metes, G. (1995). Going virtual. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Ikuhiro, N., & Hirotaka, T. (1995). The knowledge-creating company. London: Oxford
University Press, Inc.
Konno, N., & Nonaka, I. (1998). The concept of BA: Building a foundation for knowledge
creation. California Management Review, 40(3). Kotter, J. P., & H
Serrat, O. (2017). Building a learning organization. In Knowledge solutions (pp. 57-67).
Springer, Singapore.

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