Re: Intro: Gezinus J. Hidding + question

GAWNE, SEAN (gawnesm@songs.sce.com)
Thu, 10 Nov 94 11:54:37 pst

Gezinus - I work at Southern California Edison. We have embarked on
the journey you describe, although here it is mainly a top-down
effort. Since it is mainly top-down, there has been organization
structure created to support the effort. The current structure is very
difficult to describe as we are trying to superimpose a futuristic
learning organization model on a highly regulated and bureaucratic
company whose core business is in a state of confusion due to outside
forces. The simplest explanation is that there are a number of teams,
some functional and others cross-functional. There is a central
management team that acts as a steering council and to which some of
the other teams report. There are some hierarchys within and amongst
the teams. As I said it's a bit difficult to explain in text. The org
chart does a better job explaining this, I'd be happy to send you a
copy if you sent me your fax number or snail mail address.

BTW, I'm not trying to suggest this is THE model for a learning
organization. It's just one that's being tried in _the real world_.
I'd be happy to share with anyone who's interested and would like to
see any other models you come up with. This commitment to learning is
very new here at SCE so I can't give you any assessment of the impact
on performance yet. I hope to be able to discuss such things on the
list at some future date. I'm sure I don't need to tell this group
that many of the benefits are long-term and difficult to quantify.

Also worth noting that we expect more changes to the organization
structure in the coming year, some specifically designed to promote
the learning organization. But I don't know the timeframe for those
changes. I have no idea what they will be. Be happy to share news of
developments when they occur, though.

Sean Gawne
Southern California Edison
PO Box 128, San Clemente, CA 92674
(714) 368-8338, fax (714) 368-8106, email gawnesm@songs.sce.com

Gezinus J. Hidding wrote
"What does an organization look like that has adopted (or is adopting,
if you will) a "learning organization" model? "