Management practices in learning organizations

Abstract Organizational learning will become even more critical as organizations face permanent “white water.” Peter Vaill, who coined this term, indicates that, in the old days, managers could simply paddle their canoes around on calm, still lakes and go anywhere they wanted to go. Today, those same managers have hit white water, and there is no end in sight. Building learning organizations requires that leaders develop employees who see their organization as a system, who can develop their own personal mastery, and who learn how to experiment and collaboratively reframe problems. Regrettably, too many leaders focus their attention on “adaptation”—a patterned response to events based on “old programming” (to return to Zuboffs machine metaphor). Not only do they practice adaptive learning, they also reward it. In generative learning organizations, leaders and employees give up these reference points and learn to accept, embrace, and seek-not simply change-but transformation. Despite the inroads made by Japanese and other competitors into new technologies, many U.S. firms still remain on the forefront of product and process innovation in a great many industries. New industries are forming every day, while many others are converging and consolidating. These changes represent opportunities for U.S. managers bent on becoming fast and aggressive learners. Organizations that foster generative learning as part of their underlying reward system and culture are able to improve their sources of competitive advantage because mistakes are translated into valuable learning experiences. Given the fervent pace of technology diffusion and change, firms need to be able to experiment with a host of different approaches to product and process development, some of which may not be initially successful. But, given a learning orientation, all of these approaches will provide new insights that could be applied to future endeavors. Yet, generative learning in many ways works against the experience and training of managers accustomed to reward systems and cultures that foster adaptive learning. The process of “un-learning” previous mindsets is a difficult task in itself. Inculcation of such organizational features as empathy, humility, and personal efficacy are vital first steps to help the firm move away from static, risk-averse patterns of behavior to proactive, risk-taking learning.