Learning Organization And Critical Discussion

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

There is no one agreed definition for learning organization it differs from author to author and has similar thing. like team learning leads to transformation (Pedler el al (1991), expansion of ones ability to be innovative (Senge 1990), Ongoing learning for future success (Wick and Leon), Adapt to change Burgoyne (1994), Skills such as creativity, transfer of knowledge for reflection of new knowledge and insights Garvin (1993). So there is no one perfect definition. But for this assignment Peter Senge (1990: 3) definition of learning organizations is where organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together".

http://www.infed.org/thinkers/senge.htm Accessed on 1 June 2010

The case study of Firestone suggests that it was at the top of their Industry in 1950’s, yet by the 1970’s they were fighting for survival. The cause of this dramatic shift appears to be twofold; withdrawal of effort and thinking they were the best.

The case study shows that there was lack of single loop learning as they didn’t cope with the situation, may be they had absence of self reflection; they did not adapt to change of technology, as they still didn’t recognize their competitors existing in market. The case study evidence suggests that they grew arrogant, where didn’t study market, still continued thru old methods. It indicates that in 1970-1988, the decision taken was not informed and so no learning occurred. Probably this might be due to lack of change. The other reason could have been due to economic recession in 1980’s. Critically they learn but can’t keep the old practice and they kept cool. This might be due to lack of embedded in policies, operations and culture.

Potentially, a solution to those problems could have been lack of adapting and culture of learning organization.

They could have given training to employees that could include some of coaching, group discussion and solving of the problems faced as the workforce would be a good example to do so. They could have redesign the job structure and appraisal would have been based on the performance of employees and the contribution towards the success of the organization. As "strategic management aim to make sure organizational efficiency for predictable future" firestone would have identified the profits that they expecting to achieve and what needs to be done to achieve it.

Case study evidence shows that they "did not adapt to change the technology". One of the reason might be as Senge (1990) claims that in order to expand the business their needs to be innovative patterns that could lead to learning organization. But case study evidence suggests that they still continued to use the belted tires whereas, competitors had started the radial business. The question arises why did not the firestone adapt? This could be due to lack of leadership style as they were unable to promote an atmosphere where they fail to understand the competitors or being unrealistic and trying to use the same approach to make the tires assuming that the customer would still prefer the same where as in the market there were quality tires at good price.

The case study indicates that firestone had single loop learning. But according to Pickard (1997) instead of just looking for the surface problems just like single loop learning they would have done double loop learning to identify as to why the firestone is facing such a problem in front of competitors where they were the one to be the among best 5 in manufacturing the tires.

The third indication that firestone failed to understand is comprising quality with price as the had put cost. If they could have done an proper investment on the quality with price they would have survived.

The fourth failure of firestone in this case study is could be absence of self reflection. When the firestone was established by Leonard Firestone it was a boom period until 1978 this could be because of creative culture of leaders, economy boom and Leonard Firestone as a visionary. As Argyris critically said in On Organizational Learning (1999, p. 127), that "success in the market place increasingly depends on learning, yet most people do not know how to learn".

As there had been competition that led the drivers to change but still were under assumption of they were the "best" so had withdrawn the effort. The case study suggests the fact that they did not respond to changing market conditions and still continued to be unrealistic and had been arrogant Other possibility could be the workforce might have retired and there was a change in different leaders which could have been not open and willing to learn and would have allowed staff to make errors and no creative thinking. Considering the thoughts of Agyris we can suggest that if they would have studied the market place they would have not failed in self reflection.

I believe that firestone might be having a "social loafing" after 1980’s where the present work force act in a different way to the situation they faced in the absence of the motivational leadership and management as it was before 1980’s in presence of Leonard Firestone.

Firestone would have even identified the need for contingency plans considering the present situation and changing the mission and vision and analyzing the competitors market.

If there was a good management they would even have outsourced so as to be cost effective in that duration of time and considering customers complaint but should have not compromised quality with price.

They could have even considered lying off the employees. They could have forecasted to get external labor market ( semiskilled and classical profession) with KSA’S that meet the requirement of organization, as well as considered internal labor market like the culture within organization, managerial attitudes, shortage of skill within the staff). Would have considered alternate ways of organizing the job like peak time they would have outsourced the job and non peak time would have kept temporary workers. As firestone workers continue the same working style, with no innovative methods

Needs support

They would have determined the demand with supply. By considering the staff, whether the existing staff has the required skills or just the title of job, as well as the staff are oversupplied in aspect of demand.

Personal Traits

Interpersonal Management Decision Making

Conduct job analysis

Knowledge and Skills

Communication

Impact Career Development

Forecast demand for labor

Forecast the external and internal supply of labor

Develop plan to match demand and supply

2) Comment on (contribution learning has on org’l success and staff retention)

If Firestone would have been a learning organization it would have considered some factors like

Firstly they would have considered the environment that they are working at, as what are the problems they might face in future. (competitors, recession, change in technology, alternate plans.)

They should have understood the purpose of Why Firestone is established? What are the reasons behind it?

There vision of the company in terms of the long term focus and the goal they need to set up and look constantly as whether they are achieving towards those goals.

The most important is the culture within the firestone i.e. Is the culture appropriate for achieving the vision, purpose, behavior, decisions and strategies of the organization.

Considering effective team work is important and how the leaders develop the team and do individual development for success of organization.

What tasks do they need to do and by whom so that the expected goals are achieved and what results they require?

Should have set up the strategies as to how will they achieve their vision, within a time frame work of 2 years and comparing external opportunities with that of internal capability.

The most important in any organization is do we have right people possessing right skills and commitment and the job priorities that individual possess and look for ultimate performance.

HR needs to decide the strategy to ensure that there is staff retention because it is a great loss for the organization as they lose the employee whose turnover makes a huge profit for organization and work with their competitors this could be a probability with firestone. Staff retention is where their learning organization acts as a strategy and motivation where staffs are ready to adapt change and update their skills and knowledge. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs the best motivational factor is self actualization where employees are motivated. With the help of learning organization they can posses a better self esteem where employees could be proud of knowledge, skills and abilities they have that leads to motivation. People love creativity and their motivation is. To adapt with the change could be also a motivational factor . Staff retention is measured by

Number of leavers with more than one year's service x 100

Total number of staff in post one year ago

Potentially this is how learning organization, could have contributed to Firestone success where they were .could have allowed to make mistakes and learn from those.

3) Provide an examination 700 words

As the case study suggests that they were best of five in manufacturing American tires, but they grew arrogant, that means they did not consider the external environment and change in leadership style. That indicates that they did not plan strategically as to how they could have achieved their mission and vision that could lead to overall development of the firestone. They should have specifically concentrated on the workforce and management as to how can they build the relationship between them by training and development and whether they are motivated and committed constantly to retrieve the aspects of achieving the objective of the mission and vision of the firestone as the evidence in case study shows that as the .

As they moved from manufacturing to knowledge industries where they require KSA’s and requires continous learning .Firestone could have looked for workforce that has flexibility, problem solving , communication skills and so on.

Organisational success is how to retain, attract and develop talented employee.( Reich, 1998, p.124)

Firestone could have identified what is the unique identify that makes them different from their competitors. As the case study evidence suggests that they were the best in amongst the five American tire manufacturing, they could have started identifying their strength and weakness like their brand image since the establishment, their profits had increased in the early century, quality, good leadership, organizational culture but should have even considered weakness as to lack of considering the environment, continue the same old methods of making tires, quality with price like the new competitors who try to imitate them by developing the new product like the radial tires, lack of learning as compared top the competitors, lack of considering market needs.

The human resource planning and development could have fit in learning concept of firestone if they could have considered the factors like the value of the tires they produce in terms of demand of market and the contribution they did to fulfill the needs of customers. They could have considered the capabilities and resources with the competitors and compared so that they could survive with the change and adopted new technology.

Firestone had a workforce that were committed and capabilities like making the tires considering the customers till 1960, maintain the brand image. Just because they did not adapt the learning as to what is happening outside the market their competitors started to make the radial tires whereas firestone still continued to make the same belted tires. Firestone failed to sustain the same competitive advantage with that of competitors.

Just because the competitors started to make imitate their capabilities they were not able to maintain competitive advantage. They had their brand loyalty but just because they had compromised quality with price they lost their reputation and customers.

Their were threats to firestone like imitation, new competitors entered the market, failure to predict the external environment. If firestone could have tried to build an difficult way to imitate the tires they could have survived by know. They could have involved in making a long term strategy for competence development. If firestone could have adopted learning, leadership style and considered the external environment as well as the competitors they could have survived today.

Firestone could have adapted the six sigma approach, considering the commitment from employees, top management and leadership style. Firestone could have identified the problem like less sales, lack of customer retention, new competitors and accordingly identified the measures like adapting the learning organization, adapting the change i.e. considering external market, and finding what is the root problem to face this situation and making new strategies to overcome the barriers.

Ideal learning characteristic of learning organization