Shankar,
Welcome to this group! I'm glad to get another opportunity to share
ideas; I always find yours to be thought-provoking.
I've seen some of the definitions of a LO that you gave, but many of them
were new to me. However, IMHO, they all share a common trait (or is it
just Monday morning?): they swallow me up in words that sound good and
impressive at the time but leave me at a loss to explain or apply the
concept later.
What about something as simple (?) as,
-*-
"A learning organization is one that deliberately increases its 'knowlege
capital' as a key factor in its intentional evolution towards achieving
its long-term goals."
-*-
Deliberately implies there is an organizational focus on learning and
there are practices which are used to manage this increase of knowlege
capital, as opposed merely to wishing that it happen.
Knowlege capital is intended to include all sorts of knowledge: that
about the business, that about the technical processes that are
required, and that about the people and organizational processes and
approaches which lead to success. It also reinforces the notion that
this knowledge has a lifespan; it does not immediately become outdated,
but it may not have eternal validity, either. It _is_ a source of
productivity, though.
Key factor implies "not the only factor"; that is, the organization
does not consist simply of a CEO and a large training department.
Intentional evolution (maybe transformation is a better word, but I was
trying to move away from what some may see as popular management
jargon) is meant to exclude schools and universities, except insofar as
they use their knowledge capital to transform themselves for future
success as opposed to "merely" transferring knowledge to students.
Achieving its long-term goals references the idea that much of what a
LO is about is {opinion on} long-term results, not how to solve the
problem that's bugging me today and that must be solved today.
Certainly some of that capital can, will, and must be applied to
today's problems, but much of the work in creating and maintaining a LO
operates on a time scale incompatible with today's (literally, not
figuratively) issues.
Regards,
Bill
-- Bill Harris Hewlett-Packard Co. R&D Productivity Department Lake Stevens Division domain: billh@lsid.hp.com M/S 330 phone: (206) 335-2200 8600 Soper Hill Road fax: (206) 335-2828 Everett, WA 98205-1298Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>