Barriers to Organizational Learning in Australian Companies

This essay analyzes the barriers to organizational learning in different companies in Australia and suggests strategies to improve it. The barriers include resistance to change, lack of direct leadership, short-term focus, lack of motivation for growth, and complexity. The strategies involve effective communication, leadership development, motivation, and time dedication for long-term goals. The case study of Commonwealth Bank is used to illustrate the barriers and strategies.

Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Organizational Behavior
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction
The essay throws light on analyzing the different barriers to the organizational learning in
the different companies in Australia. As commented by Baldwin (2016), the organizational
learning is the process of creating, transferring along with retaining knowledge within the
organization. The different companies improves over time as it gains experience and from the
respective experiences, it is able to create knowledge and the knowledge is broad which will be
implementing the changes which proves to be better for the organization. On the other hand,
there will be implementation of various strategies which can be adopted by the organizations to
improve the organizational learning.
Five Barriers to Organizational Learning in Organizations in Australia
There are different kinds of barriers to organizational learning in the Australian
organizations are as follows:
Resistance to Change among Employees- It is one of the major and common barriers to
the organizational learning. It has been noticed that the people who are the tenured employees
often do not want to learn new processes and it leads to the resistance to change among
employees (Fernández-Mesa and Alegre 2015). However, resistance to change among employees
does not occur only on tenured employees, as the respective type of mentality can arise among
the other employees who do not want to step out of their comfort zone and familiar systems and
processes.
Lack of Direct Leadership- It is the second barrier wherein it can be analyzed that the
leadership development is one of the critical aspects to the organizational learning, however it is
not present in various organizations (Chadwick and Raver 2015). There is presence of inadequate

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leadership training which leads to poorly run teams and chaos during the periods of change. Due
to the improper leadership style acquired by the leaders, it affects the morale of employees and it
impacts the overall productivity of the organizations as well (Galvin et al. 2019).
For instance- In Commonwealth Bank, it has been noticed that there are existing barriers
to organizational learning wherein in the present era, the bank is losing their loyal customers due
to the misconduct of the employees as they are not working as per compliance. There was
involvement of employees in the forgery of documents along with facts that led to substantial
financial loss (Tay 2013).
Short-Term Focus- It is the third barrier wherein it is often noticed in various
organizations that the employees are mainly focused on stopping gaps to solve the short term
problems without even looking at the bigger picture (Hotho, Lyles and Easterby‐Smith 2015). It
is one of the huge mistakes in the organizational learning process and it affects the long term
growth of the business as well.
No Motivation for Growth- It is the fourth barrier wherein it has been noticed that the
excuse among the employees “That’s not in my job description” is one of the most challenging
barriers to the organizational learning process (Imran, Ilyas and Aslam 2016). Furthermore,
similar to the different effects of the resistance to change, these employees are not motivated for
growth and they will not try to seek out the different opportunities which are being provided by
the companies.
Complexity- It is the last barrier to the organizational learning process wherein in the
hyper-connected world wherein the individuals stay, the complexity overwhelms the modern
employees (Jeske and Axtell 2016). It has been noticed that the employees in the present

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scenario learn new software system which helps them in performing tasks in very less time,
however, when they need to implement new skills, the employees require to bounce between two
or more tabs as to successfully reach their objectives which is complex.
For instance- In Commonwealth Bank, the employees are not able to cope up with
technological changes and the customers are complaining about the inappropriate online services
of the bank (Tay 2013). There are different complaints filed by customers that are destroying
goodwill of bank and they are switching their accounts to other banks.
Implementation of Four Strategies to Improve Organizational Learning
With the implementation of the strategies as per the application of the leadership,
organizational learning and change management models, the barriers can be removed, and it will
be beneficial in improving the overall scenario in different companies in Australia along within
Commonwealth Bank.
To prevent resistance to change, the proper explanation is mandatory to be provided to
employees on the importance of change in the long-term and the benefits which will be drawn
from the same. The management must be able to communicate effectively with the teams as to
increase the understanding need for change and to increase motivation among employees, and
the feedback is valued and plays a vital role in the process of decision-making.
With the implementation of the Espoused theory of Organizational learning, each firm will
tend to have different instructions regarding the different manner in which the employees need to
carry out the various activities and learn the process of problem solving (Örtenblad 2013). For
instance- In case of Commonwealth Bank, the respective theory can be implemented through the

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training session for employees that will improve their skills in dealing with customer complaints
and save their goodwill.
Secondly, proper and continuous training and development is the other key to ensure that the
managers can guide the change along with efforts of learning efficiently. Adequate embedding
for the ongoing employee training as a core value is essential which will be beneficial in
improving the morale of the employees and gain competitive advantage. With the
implementation of Kurt Lewin’s Change model, the entire process of change can be
implemented wherein the unfreezing the current processes through training and development.
Moreover, making changes such as increasing the morale of employees and switching to a new
system which can be learnt by the employees and bring the shift effectively (Ocasio, Rhee and
Milner 2017). Lastly, refreezing the new replacement will help appropriately shape the overall
aspect.
For instance- In case of Commonwealth Bank, the goodwill can be regained by them
through unfreezing the different issues related to technological aspects, making the appropriate
changes such as guiding employees to deal with customers properly and refreezing the changes
which will help improve the overall scenario.
Thirdly, motivating the employees is the other aspect which is required to be adopted by
the organizations by explaining them the benefits of the future benefits of the learning initiative.
There can be the implementation of a reward system which will be helpful for the employees as
they make progress (North and Kumta 2018). With the application of Maslow’s hierarchy
theory, the needs of the employees are required to be fulfilled, and it will be beneficial for the
leaders to implement change and learning process.

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For instance- In the Commonwealth Bank, the leaders can train the employees regarding
the different technological advancements and dealing with various financial aspects. With the
implementation of the same, the customers will be happy, and the workers will be able to work
as per the compliance of the company.
Lastly, it is necessary and essential to encourage the different employees along with
managers to dedicate the time for the long-term goals and offer the various learning opportunities
to fill this time. With the proper leadership aspects, the short term and long term goals can be
achieved in the organization which will be helpful for the overall success of the organizational
learning (Namada 2018). As per the Hersey and Blanchard’s approach of leadership, it will
play a vital role in improving the overall scenario wherein the willingness of the followers or
employees is to perform the tasks as per the guidance of leaders.
For instance- In case of Commonwealth Bank, the leaders need to improve the overall
hierarchical structure of the organization, wherein they will be providing employees with proper
guidance to solve the issues related to the ineffective control system. It will be beneficial for
improving the goodwill of the company, and it will be a competitive advantage for the company
as well.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above, it can be concluded that the organizational learning is one of
the most appropriate approaches which is required to be implemented by the different
organizations as to implement the changes and reduce the resistance to change among the
employees working in the organization. In the respective essay, the example of Commonwealth
Bank, Australia has been taken wherein there were various issues related to ineffective control

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and the resistance to change among employees as they feared to move out of their comfort zone.
However, with the various theories of leadership, motivation and organizational learning
approaches, the overall aspect has been achieved and it created a significant impact on the
overall goodwill of the firm as well. With the help of the organizational learning, it allows the
different teams to learn precisely which is relevant to their specific specialties and tasks and with
the organizational learning, the teams work together as to help each other in team and improve
the overall aspect of the different progress and achievement of the target goals as well.

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