Transcript
LEARNING ORGANIZATION
Learning Organization?
“A learning organization is one in which people at all levels, individually and collectively, are continually increasing their capacity to produce results they really care about”. Learning organization is Creating, acquiring, interpreting, transferring, and retaining knowledge. Purposefully modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights.
“Learning Organization” is a Hot Topic:
Do one thing. Search for Learning Organization and fill the following.
o
Google search yields -------
hits
o
Amazon search yields -----
books
o
Harvard Business Review has published-----
articles
Important of Leaning Organization:
“The organizations that will truly excel in the future will be the organizations that discover how to tap people’s commitment and capacity to learn at all levels in an organization.”
– Peter Senge
“The rate at which organizations learn may become the only sustainable source of competitive advantage.”
– Peter Drucker
“The need for learning organizations is due to the world becoming more complex, dynamic and globally competitive.”
– Gary Ahlquist
Peter Drucker – “The Information Age”
Competitive advantage is created through “information-based organizations”
o Four Critical Areas:
o Develop rewards, recognition and career opportunities that stimulate information sharing.
o Create a unified vision of how the organization will share information.
o Create the management structure that enables cross-boundary information sharing.
Ensure the continuous supply and training of staff and volunteers that can use the information.
Peter Senge – “The Fifth Discipline”
“Learning organizations are where people continually expand their capacity to learn”. o “Five disciplines are key to achieving an effective learning organization”.
o Personal Mastery – enhancing ability to be objective.
o Mental Models – continually scrutinizing our assumptions and picture of the world.
o Shared Vision – creating a new picture for the future.
o Team Learning – creating the capacity to “think together”.
o Systems Thinking – knowledge and tools that allow people to see inter-relationships.
Daniel Tobin’s Five Principles of the Learning Organization o Everyone is a learner.
o People learn from each other.
o Learning enables change.
o Learning is continuous.
left3238400
o Learning is an investment, not an expense
Critical Tasks: A learning organization tries to do six things … o Collect intelligence about the environment.
o Learn from the best practices of other organizations.
o Learn from its own experiences and past history.
o Experiment with new approaches.
o Encourage systematic problem solving.
o Transfer knowledge throughout the organization.
Levels of Learning
Managers/leaders need to encourage learning at four levels:
o Individual
o Group
o Organizational
o Inter-organizational
The Basis of the Learning Organization Strategy need to be
o
Transfer Knowledge, not just information.
o
Knowledge leads to better, safer decisions.
o
Better-informed.
o
Knowledgeable.
o
Wiser decisions.
Organizations Must Learn Faster & Adapt to the Rapid Changes in the Environment otherwise they will be history.
The Bottom Line: Any organization that has a culture and structure that promotes learning at all levels to enhance its capabilities to produce, adapt and shape its future.
A Litmus Test
Does our organization:
o Pursue a defined learning agenda?
o Avoid repeated mistakes?
o Capture critical knowledge before key people leave?
o Act on what it knows?
o Encourage Learning
o Encourage Risk taking
o Empower employees
The Learning Organization: Handling Knowledge & Modifying Behavior:
“A Learning Organization is an organization that actively creates, acquires, and transfers knowledge within itself and is able to modify its behavior to reflect new knowledge.”
Note the three parts
o Creating and Acquiring Knowledge
o Transferring Knowledge
o Modifying Behavior
Learning Strategies
There are two principal types of organizational learning strategies:
Exploration: members search for and experiment with new kinds or forms of organizational activities and procedures.
2. Exploitation: members learn ways to refine and improve existing organizational activities.
The ‘Ideal’ Learning Organization
o
Communications
o
Work relations
o
Willingness to change
o
Leadership
o
Opportunities to learn
Communications:
o Encourage free expression of opinions.
o Establish good and open communication among all parts of the organization.
o Develop better communications with the external environment.
Work Relations
o Friendly work relations
o Include staff in decision making
o Cooperate with others
o Clear statements of responsibilities
o Let talent be recognized and fostered
o Mutual respect for others
Willingness to Change
o Staff encouraged to innovate
o Staff encouraged to be proactive in regard to change
o Establish dynamic mechanisms for change
o Make sufficient resources available to support change
Leadership
o Share a common vision and clear policies
o Provide encouragement and support for staff
o Empower staff to take responsibility in relation to their work
Opportunities to Learn
o Encourage personal growth and personal mastery
o Encourage team work
o Provide opportunities for staff to develop effective problem solving strategies
o Become involved in the broader society
o Be willing to learn outside your area of specialization
o Encourage honest evaluation
The Knowledge Management Cycle o Create knowledge
o Capture knowledge
o Refine knowledge
o Store knowledge
o Manage knowledgee
o Disseminate knowledge
What Will a Learning Organization Achieve for You? o Develop effective leadership skills
o Gain skills in working as a team
o Improve professional development
o Understand change management skills
o Overcome staff inertia
o Link theory and practice to solve organizational problems
o Create a non-threatening environment
Through learning, we:
o Re-create ourselves
o Become able to do things we never were able to do before
o Re-perceive the world and our relationship to it
o Extend our capacity to create, to be part of the generative process of life
Why is there a Need for a New Managerial Mindset?
o
Change
o
Globalization
o
New technology
o Need for strategic flexibility
o Need for non-linear thinking
o Need to see the whole
o Need for changed mental models
Where Within the Organization Do We Begin the Effort?
Begin at any entry point that has the potential to affect others! o Top management
o Human Resources Department
o Joint management-union initiative
o Task Forces
o Focus on one of the key organization’s issues
o Start with one department
How Do We Successfully Continue the Transformation? o Establish a strong sense of urgency
o Create the vision
o Communicate & practice the vision
o Remove obstacles that prevent others from acting on the new vision
o Create short-term wins
o Consolidate progress achieved & push for continued movement
o Anchor changes in the organization’s culture
What are the Facilitating Factors that Encourage the Building of a Learning Organization? o Performance gap
o Concern for movement
o Experimental mindset
o Climate of openness
o Continuous education
o Multiple advocates or champions
o Involved leadership
o Systems perspective
How do we maintain the new learning organization?
An example can explain this step.
Caterpillars, Pupas & Butterflies – Transition to a Learning Organization
Learning organizations are where success is more possible, where quality is more assured, & where energetic & talented people want to be. Best of success in building your learning organization!
This is The Knowledge Era and entry is granted only to those who learn, innovate and implement
REWARDING & RECOGNIZING TEAMWORK
Turning Individuals into Team Players
We have already discussed the importance of right type of team members and their training and learning organization concepts. To day we will focus on third important components of turning individuals into team players the “Reward”. Rewarding or compensation of employees/team members plays important roles in managing a team and performance.
Compensating Teams:
An employee's total compensation has three components. The first and the largest element is base compensation (i.e., salary). The second component of total compensation is pay incentives (i.e., bonuses and profit-sharing). The third component is benefits or indirect compensation (i.e., insurance, vacation, unemployment, and perks.
Reward and Recognition Systems
o Team- based reward and recognition systems can promote teamwork o Focus should be rewarding teams for achieving specific goals
Why People Leave Their Jobs?
o They feel they do not make a difference.
o They do not get proper recognition.
o They are not learning anything new or growing as a person.
o They do not like their coworkers.
o They want to earn more money.
People leave organization due to many reasons but one of them might be the improper compensation system.
Compensating Teams:
Reasons for tailoring compensation to individuals:
o Motivation comes from within the individual as opposed to the group.
o The development of skills and behaviors is an individual undertaking.
o Fairness in dealing with teams does not mean equal pay for all.
o Team compensation is not a payoff but a means of nurturing behavior that benefits the team.
Rewards and other Employee Behaviors
Starting from attracting the good team members/employees to retain every thing is revolving on the reward system of organization. Three important HR related behaviors like turnover, absenteeism and attendance is directly linked with the reward system of organizations.
With better reward system we can minimize the turnover, absenteeism and attendance and vice versa. Reward is also used to reinforce positive behavior and reduces the undesirable behaviors.
Total compensation comprises of direct like wages, salary, commission, gain sharing etc while indirect benefits, vacation, insurance, etc. Even positive behavior of manager/leader also play important role in modifying the behaviors of the team member/employees. We can see a wide range of benefits organization use to attract, and retain the employees.
Objectives of Reward Systems
o Attraction and retention (employees compare to other firms in the market)
o Motivating performance (contingent on expectancy & equity)
o Getting employees to gain skills and knowledge
o Reinforce the organization’s culture
o Not cost the firm too much!!
Designing Rewards
o Always remember your basic motivational theories
o Options for reward systems
o Objectives of reward systems
o How rewards impact organizational effectiveness
o Implementing a reward system
o Appropriate rewards practices sometimes vary between countries
Individual or Team Rewards?
Individual rewards
o fosters independent behavior
o may lead to creative thinking and novel solutions
o encourages competitive striving within a work team
Team rewards
o emphasize cooperation & joint efforts
o emphasize information sharing
Both have same purpose.
Types of Team Pay
o Incentive pay
o Recognition
o Profit sharing
o Gain sharing
Variable Pay (Incentive Pay):
There are several plans that can be used: Merit pay, bonus programs, and awards. Advantages of individual-based pay-for-performance plans include rewarded performance is likely to be repeated, financial incentives can shape an individual's goals, they help the firm achieve individual equity, and they fit in with an individualistic culture. Disadvantages include they may promote single mindedness; employees do not believe pay and performance are linked, they may work against achieving quality goals, and they may promote inflexibility.
Variable pay fluctuates according to some pre-established criterion. For select employee groups, such as sales, variable pay can be as high as 100 percent. The higher the form of variable pay, the more risk sharing there is between the employee and the firm. Executives and sales personnel are usually treated very differently than other types of workers in pay-for-performance plans. A number of plans are used to link executives' pay to a firm's performance, but there is little agreement on which is best. Sales professionals may be paid in the form of straight salary, straight commission, or a combination plan. The relative proportion of salary versus incentives varies widely across firms.
Guidelines for Variable Team-Based Pay:
o Tie rewards to performance
Make sure employee has control
o Balance team & individual pay.
o Make sure team compensation system consistent with rest of organization
o Make it clear who is eligible
o How to divide it up?
o Decide on compensation criteria (pay for bottom line results? Contribution? Behavior? Attitude?)
o Are you rewarding for past or projected performance?
o Develop a budget
o Decide on measurement periods & timing of payout
Shorter periods & faster payout motivate more but also increase administrative costs!
o Share financial information with team members.
Recognition
Recognition of employee’s efforts is also very important motivational factor and part of reward system.
General Rules:
o Not everyone should get it
o Give in timely manner
o Publicize it
o Tie it to team performance
o Personalize awards
o Nomination should be simple
o Recognize performance linked to org. goals
Gain sharing Plan: A percentage of the value of increased productivity is given to employees (prearranged formula).
These plans reward all workers in a plant or business unit based on the performance of the entire plant or unit. Plant wide plans are generally referred to as gain sharing programs because they return a portion of the company's cost savings to the workers, usually in the form of a lump-sum bonus. Advantages include eliciting active employee input, increasing the level of cooperation, fewer measurement difficulties, and improving quality. Disadvantages include protection of low performers, problems with the criteria used to trigger rewards, and management-labor conflict.
Profit sharing: Corporate profits are distributed to all employees.
This is the most macro type of incentive program and is based on the entire corporation's performance. The most widely used program of this kind is profit sharing which differs from gain sharing in several important ways: no attempt is made to reward workers for productivity improvements, they are very mechanistic, and typically they are used to fund retirement programs. Advantages of this plan are financial flexibility for the firm, increased employee commitment, and tax advantages. Disadvantages include risk for employees, limited effect on productivity, and long-run financial difficulties.
Team- based plans attempt to support other efforts to increase the flexibility of the workforce within a firm. These plans normally reward all team members equally based on group outcomes. The advantages of team-based pay-for-performance plans include they foster group cohesiveness and they facilitate performance measurement. Disadvantages include possible lack of fit with individualistic cultural values, the free -riding effect, social pressures to limit performance, difficulties in identifying meaningful groups, and inter-group competition leading to a decline in overall performance.
Team Performance Appraisal
Performance appraisal involves the identification, measurement, and management of human performance in organizations. Organizations usually conduct appraisals for administrative (a decision about an employee's working conditions, including promotions and rewards) and/or developmental (a decision concerning strengthening the employee's job skills, including counseling and training) purposes. Dissatisfaction with appraisals is rampant. HR professionals, line managers, and employees voice dissatisfaction. Many workers have difficulty with appraisal, which may account for the short life span of the average appraisal system.
360-Degree Feedback
360 degree feedback is a tool that gives individuals a clear view of their performance at work. Opinions are gathered from the person being assessed; people that work for them, their peers and their manager. All views are grouped together to form the full picture. In most cases opinions are expressed by the completion of a questionnaire covering different aspects of expected performance factors.
Effective Benefit Administration
There are two critical issues in the administration of employee benefits: the use of flexible benefits and the importance of communicating benefits to employees. A flexible benefits program allows employees to choose from a selection of such employer-provided benefits as vision care, dental care, health insurance coverage for dependents, additional life insurance coverage, long- term disability insurance, child care, elder care, more paid vacation days, legal services, and retirement plan. Benefits communication is essential. Many employees with excellent benefits packages have never been informed of the value of these benefits and are likely to underestimate their worth.
