Transform an Organisation into a learning organisation Essay

Transform an Organisation into a learning organisation - Essay Example What is really meant by this definition has usually been clarified by offering a list of the various elements of a learning organisation. In other words, a learning organisation is defined via the existence of organisational conditions that favour learning per se. NORDEF is a Defence communication provider; it began making equipment for strategic defence communications systems in Australia in 1988. The company has come a long way since initial conception, remaking itself as a major defence communication provider, a change that hasn't gone unnoticed. NORDEF was recently called the poster boy for companies making the transition into the new economy. Major changes began at NORDEF when James Plant, the company's current president and chief executive, took office in 1997. He saw that the marketplace of defence communications was shifting from a traditional line based technology to sensor to shooter, or satellite based systems. The trick was figuring out how to speed up the process of getting new products and services into the defence market so NORDEF could keep ahead of the fast-paced defence orientated procurement world. In the past, it often took as long as 10-15 years to complete a research and procured developed project to actual in-service us age. Pedler, Burgoyne and Boydell's (1991) model of a lea... Processes for Transformation The literature regarding learning organisations is largely prescriptive in nature and proposes how organisations should be designed and managed in order to promote effective learning. Pedler, Burgoyne and Boydell's (1991) model of a learning organisation is seemingly the most penetrative of the competing models and probably has therefore become the most popular and widely referred-to model in recent literature. This is the area where theory building has clearly reached the point of synergetic models. There are 11 characteristics of a learning organisation identified in this model and even though these traits are organized differently, they also appear as similar ideas to the five main disciplines': mental models, shared vision, personal mastery, team learning and systems thinking -- which form the foundation of the learning organisation' according to Senge (1990). According to Pedler, Burgoyne and Boydell (1991), learning approaches to strategy and participative policy-making are closely connected to policy- and strategy-forming processes referring to the sharing of involvement in these processes. Information systems, formative accounting and control systems, internal exchange of information and reward flexibility are elements within the organisation that may either be a help or hindrance to learning. Equally important factors are enabling structures with loosely structured roles and temporary departmental and other boundaries which create opportunities for individual and business development. The ability to learn by benchmarking in external relationships by using boundary workers and to promote inter-company learning by engaging in a number of