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The realisation is that learning is a multidimensional, multi team and dynamic process that requires thecommitment of all individuals to share the same vision work towards achieving the same goals toenable the organisation to remain a formidable player in the relevant markets. The Boston ConsultingGroup (2008:1) states that companies that fine-tune their systems by creating what is called peopleadvantage i.e. the ability to gain competitive advantage through people strategies will rise ahead oftheir competitors. Armstrong & Foley (2003:74) refer to organisational learning mechanisms as culturalfacets of an organisation that facilitates the development of and improvement to the renewal of alearning organisation. Armstrong ibid, suggests that without these mechanisms a learning organisationmight not emerge.The alignment of organisational activities to these mechanisms is a simplistic way of guiding theorganisation towards the successful implementation of a learning organisation. Figure 1 illustrates theinteraction of organisational mechanisms that enables organisational renewal within a learningorganisation. The importance of systems thinking as a discipline cannot be overemphasised as itpoints to the organisational mechanisms that should operate as a system to give the desired positiveoutcomes. All of the above mechanisms need to be integrated into one whole in order to enableorganisational learning to move swiftly in facilitating a learning organisation.LeadershipOrg.LearningmechanismsSystemsStructuresProcessesPracticesLearningorganisationCompetitive&SustainableWorkforceFigure 1: An illustration of learning organisation mechanismsAs a mechanism organisational learning is very key to the achievement of a learning organisation. Abrief description of organisational learning follows.4. ORGANISATIONAL LEARNINGOrganisational learning a is a system of actions and actors, symbols and processes that enables anorganisation to transform information into valued knowledge which in turn increases its long run6 © SABPP – HRRI (2011) | www.sabpp.co.za
adaptive capacity (Schwandt,1993 in Gorelick, 2005:384). It is related to individual behaviour in anorganisation and the organisations ability to respond to change in its environment (Mets & Torokoff(2007:140). It implies that individuals learn as agents of the organisation according to Argyris andothers in Örtenblad (2001:125). Organisational learning is about increasing an organisations problemsolving capacity and also changing behaviours in such a way that leads to improved performance atindividual, team and organisational level as suggested by Steward (2001:142). Finally, it is about anorganisations deeper understanding of how it learns and also how it structures its learning aroundwhat it has understood, rather than just engaging in learning programmes that are not necessarilydriven by a specific outcome and value.This implies that knowledge acquired by the individuals is transferred to the organisational memory,through processes, systems and practices created deliberately to facilitate learning. It can be statedthat organisational learning is about activities and processes that enable an organisation to achievebigger more tangible outcomes that enables the achievement of learning organisation status. Forinstance, in a given organisation, organisational learning can refer to processes of learning includingsupport structures like policies, the culture, practices and the effective distribution of resources thatenable learning to take place.According to Curado (2006:26), most researchers consider organisational learning as the product oforganisational members involvement in the interaction and sharing of experiences and knowledge.They are also concerned with how does an organisation learn and aim to describe the process ofongoing learning. This implies that individual learning is a necessary, but not sufficient condition forlearning to take place. The observation and analysis of the processes involved in individual andcollective learning inside the organisation is the focus of organisational learning. Armstrong and Foley(2003:74) suggest that the underlying organisational structures referred to as Organisational LearningMechanisms (OLMs) facilitate the development of, improvement to and renewal of a learningorganisation. They conclude that without these mechanisms, a learning organisation is unlikely toemerge. Table 2 illustrates the differences between organisational learning and the learningorganisation.7 © SABPP – HRRI (2011) | www.sabpp.co.za
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