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In many organizations, people learn at an individual level: the employee learns from own experiences and from colleagues and acquires ever more expertise. But if the employee leaves the organization, it turns out that the organization itself has not learnt - it has only given opportunity to learn. And, on top of that, that opportunity is usually quite limited.
If the structure of an organization is represented in simplified form, then three levels can be usually distinguished: the top management, the staff and the executors. Often a non-learning organization is characterized by a fixed division of tasks between these three levels: the top managers take the decisions, the staff members do the thinking and the executors do the actual work. In extreme situations, executors are even discouraged from thinking, for that is the job of the staff. And taking decisions is the exclusive right of the top managers, even if they have insufficient knowledge of the execution. In classic non-learning organizations, undermining habits will come into being as a result of this rigid division of tasks. Executors forward an idea for a simplified procedure. The staff rejects this and the top management gets involved. Top management orders the staff to come up with an own simplified procedure. When introduced it proves not effective. The executors play the game. They adhere to the new procedure and let things mess up.
An organization that does not learn will go to pieces in the end. For it is necessary to anticipate new developments, to grow in terms of quality and to be innovative. The talent available within the organization should be developed for such a learning process.
Attention is focussed on collective learning. A learning organization is characterized by an innovative climate. It deliberately pursues the policy of increasing its learning capacity continuously and at all levels, in order to optimize its effectivity. Three impeding factors can be present within organizations: the division between the top and the basis, the division between thinkers and doers, and the division between the organization itself and the outside world. These three impediments hinder open communication, which is a prerequisite for learning.
To create learning moments, the dividing lines between top and basis, between horizontal departments and between inside and outside worlds should be broken through. Synergetic meetings, or meetings exceeding existing borders, create learning experiences.
Three learning levels are distinguished:
Single-loop learning is aimed at changing the rules which apply within the organization. A characteristic feature of single-loop learning is that the underlying theories, reasoning or assumptions themselves are not under discussion. Solutions are at the level of better of the same. So, particularly "how"-questions rather than "why"-questions are actually raised. The learning takes place at the level of "being allowed/being obliged" (rules).
Double-loop learning is not only directed to the rules, but the underlying insights are also dealt with.
This form of learning is not only about changing rules, but also about changing insights. So, it concerns learning at insight level, involving "why"-questions. Conflicts and controversies between departments and individuals are signs that double-loop learning would be necessary.
The major reason for problems not being solved by double-loop thinking is the avoidance of discussion about the roots of problems. It is a kind of flight, sometimes into doing nothing at all, sometimes into a bogus solution of which everyone knows that it won't work.
Signals of the necessity of double-loop learning are:
If principles on which the organization is based come under discussion triple-loop learning may be indicated. The issue then is what kind of organization (or department within an organization) one wishes to be. Triple loop learning is about "to what purpose"-questions, about developing new principles with which the organization can go over to a following phase in its development. A changing organization can not do without learning at all three levels.
In a learning organization, a combination of unlearning and learning is involved, with the following characteristics:
The key word of the learning organization is "development".
Literature mentions a number of characteristics of the learning organization: