Analysis of CBA Ethical Scandals and Learning Organization Theories

This report examines the ethical scandals faced by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), highlighting the impact on its reputation. It delves into the analysis of ethical issues, including accountability problems and financial penalties. The report explores various learning organization theories such as experiential, adaptive, and generative learning, and their application to the CBA case. It identifies existing barriers to organizational learning, such as a lack of focus, limited resources, and a non-learning culture. The report provides recommendations for CBA, including empowering employees, improving communication, and enhancing employee training. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of addressing ethical issues and fostering a learning environment to rebuild trust and improve organizational performance. References to relevant academic sources are also provided.

LEARNING
ORGANIZATIONS

INTRODUCTION
• highlights the ethical issues in the
Commonwealth Bank of Australia
• company had to face several ethical scandals in a
row
• It has substantially damaged the reputation of the
company

ANALYSIS OF THE ETHICAL
SCANDALS
• several accountability problems in the CBA
• numerous small scale scandals occurring in the
bank
• more than 53,000 breaches in the anti-money
laundering and counter-terrorism financing law

ORGANIZATION LEARNING THEORIES
• experiential learning theory,
• adaptive learning theory
• generative learning theory and
• assimilation theory

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
• experiential learning is the process of learning
through different experiences
• More specifically through reflections of the past
experiences

ADAPTIVE ORGANIZATION LEARNING
• coping with the change
• single-loop learning
• emphasize on regular experimentation
• feedback in the organization

GENERATIVE ORGANIZATION LEARNING
• double-loop learning
• process of continuous experimentation
• Feed
• system thinking, shared vision and team learning
back to improve the current process

ASSIMILATION LEARNING THEORY
• cognitive theory
• According to the theory, people learn in the best
manner if they can link it or assimilate it with the
past knowledge

EXISTING BARRIERS TO ORGANIZATION LEARNING
• Lack of focus on the program,
• limited resources,
• passive leadership and
• non-learning culture

BARRIERS TO ORGANIZATION LEARNING
IN CBA
• Lack of proper leadership
• employee training

LACK OF PROPER LEADERSHIP
• The management was not able to invoke sense of
ethics to the employees
• The leader should enforce these values to create
an ethical organization culture

LACK OF EMPLOYEE TRAINING
The employees were not aware of the ethical
policies of the organization
They were under pressure to achieve the
organization's target

RECOMMENDATIONS TO CBA
• empowering its employees
• improve its communication policies and
procedures
• train its employees

EMPOWERING EMPLOYEES
• be given more power to complete their work
• ethical code to manage the outcomes of the work
• responsible and answerable to the management

IIMPROVE COMMUNICATION POLICIES
AND PROCEDURES
• smooth information flow between the employees
and employers
• Employees to report unethical behavior to the
senior managers

TRAIN EMPLOYEES
• To train the employees to tackle these ethical
scenarios
• recognize ethical scenarios
• tackle scomplex situation with discretion

CONCLUSION
• CBA has faced several ethical issues
• bank lost its reputation
• significant amount of financial penalty
• employee empowerment and employee training

REFERENCES
• Chiva, R., Grandío, A., & Alegre, J. (2010). Adaptive and
generative learning: Implications from complexity
theories. International Journal of Management Reviews, 12(2),
114-129.
• Rademakers, M. (2014). Corporate Universities: Drivers of the
Learning Organization. Routledge.
• Sarder, R. (2016). Building an Innovative Learning Organization:
A Framework to Build a Smarter Workforce, Adapt to Change,
and Drive Growth. John Wiley & Sons.
• Argote, L. (2012). Organizational Learning: Creating, Retaining
and Transferring Knowledge. Springer Science & Business Media.
• Lozano, J.M. (2012). Ethics and Organizations: Understanding
Business Ethics as a Learning Process. Springer Science &
Business Media.