Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Fattah Nazem
Organizational level
Creating systems to capture and share learning
Empowering people toward a collective vision
Connecting <strong>the</strong> organization to its environment
Providing strategic leadership for learning
In a climate <strong>of</strong> accelerating change, organizations can not flourish without nurturing <strong>the</strong> seeds <strong>of</strong>
learning. Established as a wellspring <strong>of</strong> value-producing knowledge, organizational learning is bulding
block to innovative, quality, and pr<strong>of</strong>itable products and services (Argyris & Schon, 1999; and
Schwandt & Marquardt, 2000).
The results <strong>of</strong> Howard (2003) also indicated a statistically significant relationship between <strong>the</strong>
presence <strong>of</strong> an organizational learning culture, positive value expression, and organizational
commitment. The <strong>the</strong>ory <strong>of</strong> organizational learning and practices <strong>of</strong> a learning organization appears to
be expressing values and promoting behaviors that create a positive working environment.
Studies show that organizational learning has meaningful positive relationship with <strong>the</strong> factors such as
<strong>the</strong> job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Howard, 2003; Wang, 2005; Krishna, 2008; and
Hsu, 2009), organizational change and innovation (Lin, 2006; DellaNeve, 2007; and Wang, 2008),
organizational culture (Garmon, 2004),organizational success (Truran, 2001), and performance (Galy,
2003; Hudspeth, 2004; Moore, 2004; Xie, 2005; Nordtvedt, 2005; Forrest, 2006;Photis, 2007; and
Chen, 2007).
One <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> obstacles in institutionalizing organizational learning is believed to be <strong>the</strong> lack <strong>of</strong> effective
leadership (Joeong, 2004; Beard, 2006). Organizations ought to take into account <strong>the</strong> way leaders
educate <strong>the</strong> staffs regarding <strong>the</strong> role <strong>of</strong> organizational learning. Leaders should create an atmosphere
in which organizational learning is institutionalized in <strong>the</strong> organization. This can, finally, lead
knowledge and information systems, which are <strong>of</strong> determining factors in any organization, into
organizational learning under <strong>the</strong> leaders’ support. The result <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> study carried out by King (2002)
indicated that <strong>the</strong>re was a relationship between leaders’ behaviors and organizational learning.
Devereaux (2005) also found out that <strong>the</strong> increase <strong>of</strong> open relationship, cooperation, individual
support, focus on pr<strong>of</strong>essional learning and growth and development are among <strong>the</strong> leaders’
behaviors that can streng<strong>the</strong>n organizational learning through dialogue and negotiation. Leuci (2005)
also underlined that organizational learning was a necessity for organizations’ success. What
organizational learning really is and how it can be used are among <strong>the</strong> major activities <strong>of</strong> managers in
<strong>the</strong> future.
The most important issue in each system, especially in higher education system, is <strong>the</strong> selection and
appointment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> managers and leaders in a way that <strong>the</strong>y can effectively administer <strong>the</strong> higher
education institutes. The managers are <strong>the</strong> most valuable resources <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> organizations. The
qualified and knowledgeable managers are able to achieve <strong>the</strong> organization's goal using <strong>the</strong>ir own
abilities, specialized knowledge and vocational experiences while <strong>the</strong>y apply less resource and
increase <strong>the</strong> efficiency <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> organization. One <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> qualifications that <strong>the</strong> university managers
should possess is high emotional intelligence.
Mayer and Salovey (1997) consider emotional intelligence as a kind <strong>of</strong> social intelligence which
consists <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ability to control one’s and o<strong>the</strong>rs’ emotions as well as <strong>the</strong> difference between <strong>the</strong>se
two. Bar-On (1997) defined emotional intelligence as “an array <strong>of</strong> noncognitive capabilities,
competencies, and skills that influence one’s ability to succeed in coping with environmental demands
and pressures” (p.14). In Working with Emotional Intelligence, Goleman (1998) described <strong>the</strong>
construct as “<strong>the</strong> capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those <strong>of</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rs, for motivating
ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships” (p.317). He
described <strong>the</strong> construct as each person’s potential for learning practical skills centered around <strong>the</strong>
following five elements:
Self-awareness: knowing what we are feeling in <strong>the</strong> moment, and using those preferences to
guide our decision making; having a realistic assessment <strong>of</strong> our own abilities and a well-grounded
sense <strong>of</strong> self confidence.
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