ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING, MANAGING CHANGE & MANAGING CONFLICT

“Knowledge is power”- Francis Bacon

To meet the challenges posed by this rapidly changing environment, the organization must become more flexible, more responsive and more willing to change and adapt.

Organizations must be committed to learn so it can transform itself. This knowledge can be created in any level of the organization, that’s why managers encourage employees to express themselves.

Learning organization: living organism in a continuous process of transformation.

This organizational learning occurs by individual learning, organizations would value people who are willing to explore and experiment with new ideas, encourage risk taking and support the pursuit of knowledge.

Knowledge creation: “Takes place when tacit knowledge is converted into explicit knowledge, disseminated throughout the organization and results in innovation in the form of a new product, services or systems” (Nonaka, 1991)

Goals setting is crucial in the process of learning:

-       Process of establishing desired results that guide and direct behavior.

-       Increases work motivation and task performance.

-       Improve the accuracy and validity of performance evaluation.

Change: the coping process of moving from the present state to a desired state that individuals, groups, organizations undertake in response to dynamic internal and external factors that alter current realities (Kavita Singh, 2009).

• Planned: result from deliberated decision
• Unplanned: came from nowhere

Types of Change:

• Incremental change: small scope as making small improvements.
• Strategic change: larger scale, as organizational restructuring.
• Transformational change: the move to a radically different, and unknown, future state.

Changes threatens the status quo by creating new problems, situations ambiguity and uncertainty and this might lead to conflict.

MODEL OF KURT LEWIN (1947)

Retrieved from: Managing Change. Sin Kit I. Class 2011-1

UBUNTU: Pay attention to local cultures, understand them and engage with them.

This is an advertisement campaign really successful in Colombia and it implements what Ubuntu is about.

Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZq8Pg40dKo

CONFLICT

Emotional conflict is inevitable in multinational corporations so it may be useful to train members to expect this. There might be no effective solution but in conflict management, is important to have “context sensitive” and analyze it from its nature and so cease tensions in cross-cultural interactions.

According to Kavita Singh, what is the relationship between the learning organization and organizational culture?

Kavita’s research paper results in several conclusions about the link between organizational learning and organizational culture. It is resume as the need of organizations of a culture that supports and facilitates learning. This culture requires:

• Openness: because it can help organizations to evolve into learning ones.
• Proactivity: taking initiative. A culture that emphasizes on proaction encourages continuous learning.
• Experimentation: the willingness to innovate and to take the lead from competitiors if required. 

When culture develops this 3 dimensions, individual learning will be more suitable for organizational learning.

Think of a change you would like to make in your life. Using Lewin’s force field analysis for that change. How will you overcome the forces for the status quo? How will you make sure to “refreeze” following the change?

I used to read. I loved to read. I want to read again. This is the change I need.

Force to change: many books waiting to be read.

Forces for status quo: lack of time, too much time online in social networks.

UNFREZZING: To overcome these forces I would need to be aware of the damage they are doing to accomplish my desire of changing.

 MOVING: I will find the appropriate time for reading and I will learn to manage it properly. I will set an agenda and follow it.

REFREEZING: I will implement this agenda as a routine, and involve the reading into my life like it was before. This will make me happier and I will try not to lost the habitude again.

REFERENCES

1. Organizational Learning. Sin Kit I. Class 2011-1
2. Singh. Kavita. 2010. “An Analysis of Relationship Between the Learning Organization and Orgaizational culture in Indian Business Organizations”. Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies. Vol 1. 142-165
3. Mangaliso. Mzamo. 2003. Building competitive advantage from Ubuntu. In Thomas, David Clinton, editor, Readings and cases in International Management: A cross-cultural perspective.
4. Von Glinow, Mary Ann, Debra L. Shapiro, and Jeanne M Brett. 2004. CAN WE TALK, AND SHOULD WE? MANAGING EMOTIONAL CONFLICT IN MULTICULTURAL TEAMS. Academy of Management Review 29 n.4: 578-592
5. Video retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZq8Pg40dKo