Organizational Learning and Change: A Sanitarium Case Study

This report offers a detailed analysis of organizational learning and change at Sanitarium, a health food company. It begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by an introduction outlining the report's focus on assessing Sanitarium's organizational culture and change efforts. The discussion section analyzes the company's shared culture, identifying both advantages and disadvantages. It then examines Sanitarium's change efforts, including the implementation of tools like OCI and OEI, the establishment of a Cultural Coach, and the introduction of the IGro system for employee performance management. The report identifies factors influencing outcomes based on organizational change and learning principles, such as technology and changes in consumer behavior. It also explores learning mechanisms within the organization, emphasizing the importance of meetings, training sessions, and feedback. The report concludes with recommendations for future learning and change initiatives, such as providing on-job training and incorporating KPIs to measure employee performance. The report references various academic sources to support its analysis.

Running head: ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING AND CHANGE
Organizational learning and change
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note:

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Executive summary
This report focusses on change and organisational learning of Sanitarium. An assessment on
organizational culture has been conducted in this study. An analysis of various culture efforts has
been conducted in this particular study. Different factors impacting on the company’s results
based on change and organizational learning has been conducted in this particular study. In this
particular study, an effect of learning mechanisms on organizational performance, effectiveness
and reputation has been descried in this study in a precise way. In addition to this, possible
recommendations are given in this particular study.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Analysis of organizational culture...............................................................................................3
Analysis of change effort.............................................................................................................4
Factors influencing outcomes based on organizational change and learning principles............5
Learning mechanisms and its impact on organizational performance, fruitfulness and
reputation.....................................................................................................................................6
Recommendations........................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
This report focuses on change and learning of Sanitarium. In this particular study, a
critical assessment of culture of Sanitarium has been conducted. Various cultural initiatives are
discussed in this particular study in the context of Sanitarium. In addition to this, an assessment
of various initiatives has been conducted in this particular study with respect to Sanitarium. This
study examines the different factors that have influenced the results on the basis of
organizational change as well as learning principles. In addition to this, impact of learning
mechanisms on company’s performance, fruitfulness and reputation are covered in this particular
study. Apart from this, possible recommendations are provided in this particular study
Discussion
Analysis of organizational culture
From the case scenario, it has been observed that Sanitarium, a health food organization
of Australia possesses a shared culture within its working environment. In accordance with the
opinion of Kempster, Higgs and Wuerz (2014), shared culture is the language, ideas along with
the common objective. It is seen that there are positive and negative sides of shared culture. The
main goal of Sanitarium is to inspire the community members to lead a healthy life. It has been
noticed that shared culture of this company is aligned with its mission and vision. Shared values
is an integral part of its shared culture. It has been observed that mutual knowledge sharing can
be done within the workflow or the company if it adopts shared culture. In this regard, Bolden
(2016) commented that mutual knowledge sharing is done by staffs working at Sanitarium. This
acts as an advantage for the company It is seen that this health food company has become

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successful in implementing shared culture thereby retaining its core values namely integrity,
care, passion, humility as well courage.
It has been observed that there is the tangible commitment as well as the shared purpose
of improving the living standards of the community members. Broadening a range of staff’s
cultural experiences acts as an advantage for the respective health food business firm of
Australia. According to Eason (2014), shared culture motivates the employees of the company to
work together as a team. This is applicable for Sanitarium and this can be counted as an
advantage. Besides, there are some disadvantages too. From the perspective of Haake, Rantatalo
and Lindberg (2017), shared culture can destroy the unique practices of cultures within the
respective organization thereby decreasing the extent of the cultural diversity. This is applicable
for Sanitarium and it is counted as a disadvantage for Sanitarium.
Analysis of change effort
It has been noticed that this company has used two tools in 2011 for introducing biannual
Culture survey. These tools are Organisational Culture Inventory (OCI) as well as Organizational
Effectiveness Inventory(OEI). From the case scenario, it has been observed that the Cultural
Coach was founded across its business, and employees were given training so that they can
support the changes that are going to take place within the organisational working procedures
(Grant, 2014). The leaders as well as managers put emphasis on creating connection with their
skilled professionals. Several initiatives were undertaken for establishing a connection between
organizational managers, leaders and employees (Georgalis et al., 2015).
Initiatives like annual team talk and culture debriefs were the initiatives that are taken by
organizational managers and leaders. In addition to this, leadership as well as learning groups is
one of the initiative which is being undertaken by the management of Sanitarium (Lozano,

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Ceulemans and Seatter, 2015). This company has introduced an online performance and
development system known as IGro. The main objective is to establish a two-way interaction
between people and managers. Igro focusses on employee performance objectives, required
behaviors as well as development planning.
Some of the characteristic features of this approach are formal six-monthly reviews,
annual reviews, regular catch-ups along with joint goal setting (Connolly and James, 2014).
From the case scenario, it has been observed that this company put emphasis on employee’s
performance, their behaviors as well as development of their employees. These are some of the
change efforts that has been made by Sanitarium. These efforts have resulted to low turnover
rates. It is seen that approximately 1% employees leave the organization per year (Godemann et
al., 2014). This statistics showcases the fact that employees job satisfaction level is quite high
(Pollack and Pollack, 2015 ). It has been observed that change efforts made by the company are
successful to a great extent.
Factors influencing outcomes based on organizational change and learning
principles
It has been observed that there are certain factors which creates a direct impact on the
outcomes based on organizational learning and change. In accordance with the opinion of
Pollack and Pollack (2015), technology is one of the important factors that impacts on
company’s change efforts. It has been observed that companies opt for new technologies for
increasing the workflow of the respective organization. In case of Sanitarium, the managers aim
to retain its skilled professionals in the long run. As a result, IGro has been developed and
implemented in the work culture. It is a unique and sophisticated system that aids the companies
to measure the performance of the employees, their behaviors and it also focusses on

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development planning. In order to enhance its productivity, IGro has been introduced by
Sanitarium in its working procedures. In order to keep the skilled professionals for a prolonged
period, the managers need to strengthen their relationship with its employees. In this regard,
Mills (2017), commented that IGro facilitates both-way interaction between the skilled
workforce and the managerial section working at Sanitarium. In the opinion of Pollack and
Pollack (2015), changes in the people’s attitudes as well as tastes affects the outcomes based on
the organizational learning as well as change efforts.
In this context, Connolly and James (2014) commented that lifestyles of customers, their
tastes as well their needs create an impact on the outcomes based on organizational learning as
well as change. Nowadays, consumers are searching for something, which can quickly grab
when they would step out of their home. This change in the tastes and lifestyle of the customers
has made this company to become a beverage-based business firm, rather than staying as a
cereal-based business firm. In this regard, Godemann et al., (2014) asserted that a drift in the
market conditions creates a direct impact on the organisational change that takes place within its
environment.
Learning mechanisms and its impact on organizational performance, fruitfulness
and reputation
It has been noticed that there are certain ways by which it is possible to implement
learning mechanisms within the organizational workflow (Pollack and Pollack, 2015). The first
and foremost thing that the managers have to do is to organize meetings where it is mandatory
for all the employees to attend the meetings. Grant (2014)) commented that meetings should be
organized for establishing a two-way communication between senior managers and every
employee of the respective organization. It has been observed that date of training would be

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mentioned by the managers to its employees in this formal meeting (Grant, 2014)). After this,
training sessions should be organized by the managers in order to educate the employees about
organisational policies and rules and regulations. After this, management of Sanitarium will take
feedbacks from its employees in order to understand the loopholes present in its working process
(Pollack and Pollack, 2015). In this context, it can be stated that these mechanisms improve the
individual performance as well organizational performance.
Recommendations
It is recommended for the managers of Sanitarium to provide on-job training to its
employees so that they can learn and adapt quickly with change efforts made by the management
within its working environment. It is recommended for the managers working at Sanitarium to
incorporate feedbacks in order to get an idea about its loopholes existing in its system based on
which possible measures would be undertaken by the managers of the respective company
accordingly. In order to measure the performance delivered by the employees after learning
about how the company works, its policies and rules and regulations, it is required for the
management to take help of key performance indicator (KPI). In other words, KPI is mainly used
for reviewing the performance delivered by the employees with the organization. These are some
of the recommendations for the next phase of learning and change.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be stated that organizational change efforts are done by
Sanitarium for enhancing the productivity of the respective organization. In addition to this,
these change initiatives are implemented by the respective company for retaining the
comparative edge of the respective business firm. It has been noticed that technological factors

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and social factors as well as market conditions has directly influenced the results based on
organizational learning and change. It has been observed that managers will organize meetings,
arrange training session and they will gather from the employees of the respective. These are the
different learning mechanisms of the respective health food company. It is a suggestion for the
managers to incorporate KPI for assessing performance of the employees. They should arrange
training sessions for their employees and they should gather feedbacks from its workforce. These
are the possible suggestions for the next phase of learning and change.

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References
Bolden, R. (2016). Leadership, management and organisational development. In Gower
handbook of leadership and management development (pp. 143-158). Routledge.
Connolly, U., & James, C. (2014). Effective change in schools.Abingdon: Abingdon: Routledge.
Eason, K. D. (2014). Information technology and organisational change.Florida: CRC Press.
Georgalis, J., Samaratunge, R., Kimberley, N., & Lu, Y. (2015). Change process characteristics
and resistance to organisational change: The role of employee perceptions of justice. Australian
Journal of Management, 40(1), 89-113.
Godemann, J., Bebbington, J., Herzig, C., & Moon, J. (2014). Higher education and sustainable
development: Exploring possibilities for organisational change. Accounting, Auditing &
Accountability Journal, 27(2), 218-233.
Grant, A. M. (2014). The efficacy of executive coaching in times of organisational change.
Journal of Change Management, 14(2), 258-280.
Haake, U., Rantatalo, O., & Lindberg, O. (2017). Police leaders make poor change agents:
leadership practice in the face of a major organisational reform. Policing and society, 27(7), 764-
778.
Kempster, S., Higgs, M., & Wuerz, T. (2014). Pilots for change: exploring organisational change
through distributed leadership. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 35(2), 152-
167.
Lozano, R., Ceulemans, K., & Seatter, C. S. (2015). Teaching organisational change
management for sustainability: designing and delivering a course at the University of Leeds to
better prepare future sustainability change agents. Journal of Cleaner Production, 106, 205-215.

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Pollack, J., & Pollack, R. (2015). Using Kotter’s eight stage process to manage an organisational
change program: Presentation and practice. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 28(1), 51-
66.