Is Yours a Learning Organization?

Is Yours a Learning Organization?

by David A. Garvin, Amy C. Edmondson, Francesca Gino (2008)

Employees at learning organisation are

• skilled: at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge.

• in order to: cultivate tolerance, foster open discussion, and think holistically and systemically

Multiple Choice

Should a strong learning organisation fear unpredictability?

• Yes

• No

• Depends

The three building blocks of the learning organization.

• A supportive learning environment.

• Concrete learning processes and practices.

• Leadership that reinforces learning.

Multiple Select

B1: What are the four characteristics of an environment that supports learning?

• Psychological safety

• Appreciation of differences

• Openess to new ideas

• Time for reflection

• Collaboration with academia

Supportive learning environments allow time for a pause in the action and encourage thoughtful review of the organization’s processes.

B1

B2: Learning processes involve the generation, collection, interpretation, and dissemination of information

• experimentation to develop and test new products and services

• intelligence gathering to keep track of competitive, customer, and technological trends

• disciplined analysis and interpretation to identify and solve problems

• education and training to develop both new and established employees

Multiple Select

B2:How can knowledge reach its maximum impact?

• Focus on internal knowledge

• Focus on external knowledge

• Knowledge sharing in a systematic and well defined manner

• Knowledge moves vertically in an organisation

• All of the above

Multiple Choice

B2: AAR After Action Review is framed by these questions:

What did we set out to do? What actually happened? Why did it happen? What do we do next time?

What organisations use this process?

• Military Organisations

• Corporate Organisations

• Both

• None of the above

When leaders demonstrate a willingness to entertain alternative points of view, employees feel emboldened to offer new ideas.

B3: Leadership that reinforces learning

Multiple Select

According to this article, managers who seek to cultivate learning in organisations should:

• Treat the organisation as a unified unit

• Treat each unit and department independently.

• Compare their scores with competitors

• Treat learning as a multidimensional process

• Focus on intergrating best practices form competitors