NHRD Journal - National HRD Network

concepts in an organizational context and facilitated the understanding of the reader. The book
stresses upon the role of people in organizational change yet has not touched the topic of learning
in detail. One expects that a book on change management would deal with individual and organizational
learning as it is the key lever to manage change especially in the present business
environment of hyper competition. Further, the dealing with the concepts and terminology associated
with organizational change could have been better had they been linked to the concepts of
rate, quantum and volition. The book therefore, gives only the definitions of the terms associated
with organizational change but does not put them in a perspective to the other terms commonly
used with it. Management of change requires a thorough understanding of the concepts and
terms used.
Change in mental models of the practitioner is essential if he is to implement organizational
change, which requires that conceptual linkages among terms commonly used to communicate
knowledge about organizational change are clearly understood. To that extent, the book fails to
provide the reader a base to do so. In an attempt to be useful to the practitioner manager and
also the trainers and students, the author seems to have lost out on an opportunity to fortify the
book with essential case studies and theoretical basis which would have given a much better
base for understanding organizational change. Such an effort, if had been done, would have
added considerable value to the book.
Reviewed by
B.V.L. Narayana, FPM fourth year, Business Policy, Indian Institute of Management,
Ahmedabad.
2. COMPETING THROUGH KNOWLEDGE: BUILDING A LEARNING ORGANIZATION MADHUKAR SHUKLA, 2002
RESPONSE BOOKS (SAGE PUBLICATIONS), NEW DELHI.PP 334.PRICE IN INDIA -RS 395.
Change as they say is universal in creed. In 1997 when Bob Dylan sung the 1960's popular
anthem, "Blowing in the Wind" beside Pope John Paul, Pope Benedict opposed it, for he
considered Dylan to be "the wrong kind of Prophet". The world since Dylan's era got
divided into those on the side and those opposed to such Prophets of Change. For the
changing face of corporate America and also for corporates across the globe the answer
was indeed blowing in the wind…but it was to be listened to carefully. Those who did,
survived and those who didn't, are no more there to tell their tale. Change comes from
continuous learning not just by individuals alone, but also by teams and organizations as
a whole. As Dr Madhukar Shukla's book on building a learning organization enters its tenth
year of its first publication, it time for organizations to take stock of whether they have
enough leaders within their organization who are prophets of change and can build a
continuously learning organization to make it shine and outperform itself and others in the
marketplace.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with why organizations need to learn in order to survive and
grow. It is supported by innumerable examples from the recent Indian economic history of what brought about the
winds of change and how successful organizations listened to the answers (liberalization and globalization) that
were blowing in the wind. This part also deals with several theoretical frameworks for learning within organizations.
In interesting law that Dr Shukla mentions (in fact first conceptualized by Garratt in 1987) is that for organizations
to survive, their rate of learning(L) must be equal to or greater than the rate of change(C) in its environment,i.e. L?C.
November 2007 NHRD Journal 129