Sub-topic 1: Organisational learning
1. What is a learning organisation and its key characteristics? Compare it to the traditional organisation.
2. Using the poster by Jay Cross about informal learning, please discuss the relevance and benefits of fostering this type of learning within organisations. available at: http://elearningargentina.wordpress.com/page/2
It’s a Learning Organization which encourages their employees to learn, the result of the encouragement is that their work force learns a lot of knowledge and experience and which in return, turns the company into a more flexible company, a learning organization has five characteristics:
1. System Thinking: In this methods they asses their company and they measure their performance as a whole and its various components, they study business as bounded objects, the company has to have all the characteristics of a system thinking state for the company to be considered as a learning organization, these characteristics have to be acquired rather than developed at the same time..
2. Mental models: It means that the employee knows what the values that the company considers important are and unimportant in the way the act, they have to keep in mind the good values and forget the unwanted values.
3. Personal Mastery: The Company pushes the employees to learn more and have a personal mastery over certain topics that can help the company of that the employee considers important, to become an expert in a topic, learning cannot be forced but learning can be turned into a company’s culture, that it’s normal to learn something new every day, its also know as the triple loop learning.
4. Team Learning: when there is more access to knowledge and the knowledge is shared between members of the same team, then there is a high possibility that the staff will grow more quickly, they all know the information and know how to act with the information, this will lead to a lot of interactions between team members.
5. Shared Vision: it’s a great way to motivate the workers to learn, it provides a common identity and the energy and focus for learning, the shared vision it’s the objective of all the staff in the company, it can be tu surpass another company in sales or turn the company into a more productive company, an objective in which the company it’s the important part.
A traditional organizational is a company or organization where there is a boundary between workers and managers, unlike the learning organization, the traditional organization does not change and can affect the company in the future, tradition is good, but you have to learn to adapt to changes that are going to happen in the future, they will lose their position to other companies, they will become inefficient in the markets, and they will reject to embrace new ideas and this will stop the company from increasing their productivity.
In order for a company to be successful in the world, the learning organization it’s the best choice for a company to increase and keep improving and preparing for the future.
You can see in the video how a learning company is appearing in new markets and finding new customers to their products, this is the future for a learning company.
As you can see in the image (find the image in http://elearningargentina.wordpress.com/page/2/ ) you can see that in a learning company, when a company embraces the changes in order to adapt, improve and change, the old customs that aren’t needed and slow down the company are left behind, new customs are embraced in order to improve the company, in order to reach the best point for a company to turn into a learning company is to accept the changes and turn into a company that can work in the new markets.
http://www.infed.org/biblio/learning-organization.htm
http://www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/MENG/MEAB/lo_index.html
http://www.sunrisepage.com/manage/orgstruc.htm
martes, 12 de octubre de 2010
Topic 7 - Organisational learning + managing change and conflict
Sub-topic 1: Organisational learning
1. What is a learning organisation and its key characteristics? Compare it to the traditional organisation.
2. Using the poster by Jay Cross about informal learning, please discuss the relevance and benefits of fostering this type of learning within organisations. available at: http://elearningargentina.wordpress.com/page/2
It’s a Learning Organization which encourages their employees to learn, the result of the encouragement is that their work force learns a lot of knowledge and experience and which in return, turns the company into a more flexible company, a learning organization has five characteristics:
1. System Thinking: In this methods they asses their company and they measure their performance as a whole and its various components, they study business as bounded objects, the company has to have all the characteristics of a system thinking state for the company to be considered as a learning organization, these characteristics have to be acquired rather than developed at the same time..
2. Mental models: It means that the employee knows what the values that the company considers important are and unimportant in the way the act, they have to keep in mind the good values and forget the unwanted values.
3. Personal Mastery: The Company pushes the employees to learn more and have a personal mastery over certain topics that can help the company of that the employee considers important, to become an expert in a topic, learning cannot be forced but learning can be turned into a company’s culture, that it’s normal to learn something new every day, its also know as the triple loop learning.
4. Team Learning: when there is more access to knowledge and the knowledge is shared between members of the same team, then there is a high possibility that the staff will grow more quickly, they all know the information and know how to act with the information, this will lead to a lot of interactions between team members.
5. Shared Vision: it’s a great way to motivate the workers to learn, it provides a common identity and the energy and focus for learning, the shared vision it’s the objective of all the staff in the company, it can be tu surpass another company in sales or turn the company into a more productive company, an objective in which the company it’s the important part.
A traditional organizational is a company or organization where there is a boundary between workers and managers, unlike the learning organization, the traditional organization does not change and can affect the company in the future, tradition is good, but you have to learn to adapt to changes that are going to happen in the future, they will lose their position to other companies, they will become inefficient in the markets, and they will reject to embrace new ideas and this will stop the company from increasing their productivity.
In order for a company to be successful in the world, the learning organization it’s the best choice for a company to increase and keep improving and preparing for the future.
You can see in the video how a learning company is appearing in new markets and finding new customers to their products, this is the future for a learning company.
As you can see in the image (find the image in http://elearningargentina.wordpress.com/page/2/ ) you can see that in a learning company, when a company embraces the changes in order to adapt, improve and change, the old customs that aren’t needed and slow down the company are left behind, new customs are embraced in order to improve the company, in order to reach the best point for a company to turn into a learning company is to accept the changes and turn into a company that can work in the new markets.
http://www.infed.org/biblio/learning-organization.htm
http://www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/MENG/MEAB/lo_index.html
http://www.sunrisepage.com/manage/orgstruc.htm
1. What is a learning organisation and its key characteristics? Compare it to the traditional organisation.
2. Using the poster by Jay Cross about informal learning, please discuss the relevance and benefits of fostering this type of learning within organisations. available at: http://elearningargentina.wordpress.com/page/2
It’s a Learning Organization which encourages their employees to learn, the result of the encouragement is that their work force learns a lot of knowledge and experience and which in return, turns the company into a more flexible company, a learning organization has five characteristics:
1. System Thinking: In this methods they asses their company and they measure their performance as a whole and its various components, they study business as bounded objects, the company has to have all the characteristics of a system thinking state for the company to be considered as a learning organization, these characteristics have to be acquired rather than developed at the same time..
2. Mental models: It means that the employee knows what the values that the company considers important are and unimportant in the way the act, they have to keep in mind the good values and forget the unwanted values.
3. Personal Mastery: The Company pushes the employees to learn more and have a personal mastery over certain topics that can help the company of that the employee considers important, to become an expert in a topic, learning cannot be forced but learning can be turned into a company’s culture, that it’s normal to learn something new every day, its also know as the triple loop learning.
4. Team Learning: when there is more access to knowledge and the knowledge is shared between members of the same team, then there is a high possibility that the staff will grow more quickly, they all know the information and know how to act with the information, this will lead to a lot of interactions between team members.
5. Shared Vision: it’s a great way to motivate the workers to learn, it provides a common identity and the energy and focus for learning, the shared vision it’s the objective of all the staff in the company, it can be tu surpass another company in sales or turn the company into a more productive company, an objective in which the company it’s the important part.
A traditional organizational is a company or organization where there is a boundary between workers and managers, unlike the learning organization, the traditional organization does not change and can affect the company in the future, tradition is good, but you have to learn to adapt to changes that are going to happen in the future, they will lose their position to other companies, they will become inefficient in the markets, and they will reject to embrace new ideas and this will stop the company from increasing their productivity.
In order for a company to be successful in the world, the learning organization it’s the best choice for a company to increase and keep improving and preparing for the future.
You can see in the video how a learning company is appearing in new markets and finding new customers to their products, this is the future for a learning company.
As you can see in the image (find the image in http://elearningargentina.wordpress.com/page/2/ ) you can see that in a learning company, when a company embraces the changes in order to adapt, improve and change, the old customs that aren’t needed and slow down the company are left behind, new customs are embraced in order to improve the company, in order to reach the best point for a company to turn into a learning company is to accept the changes and turn into a company that can work in the new markets.
http://www.infed.org/biblio/learning-organization.htm
http://www.ee.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/MENG/MEAB/lo_index.html
http://www.sunrisepage.com/manage/orgstruc.htm
domingo, 10 de octubre de 2010
Managing diversity
Different like gender, age, religion, cultural background, religion, race and ethnicity, terms of lifestyle choice, perspectives, attitudes, value system, beliefs, behaviors, expectations, skills and experiences can be found in any workspace in a company. So its hard to manage a group of employees that work in the same company but have all these differences in perception regarding a order or treatment to a fellow worker
if a company manages to work with all these different aspect in their company, this produces a lot of benefits for the company:
1. There will de a lot of solution to different kind of problems because of the diversity.
2. There is a lot of skill in a diverse office such as language and knowledge
3. Different point of view and will create a bigger set of ideas
4. If the company encourages diversity, the employees will work at their best capacity and ability.
But this kind of environment also has a lot of challenges because of the diversity that you can find in the office:
1. Communications: perceptual, language, culture and gestures
2. Resistance to change: difficulty in the changes in the work environment
3. Diversity in the workplace policies: use the strong point of each one of the employees in order to create a strategy works to reach the desired goal of the company
4. Successful Management of Diversity: to create a working environment where the diversity is accepted in all the organization, in which the different aspects of a worker are accepted and considered as an opportunity.
In order for a company who was branches in different country’s around the world, the best way to know how to enter a foreign market is to know the local culture, so its best if they have local employees to work in their companies mixed with foreign create future solution that are going to be accepted, and it’s a good idea to keep a very diversified office staff so that the workers can open their horizon and start to learn about other cultures, that the curiosity becomes a constant companion in the workers mind about other cultures and their way of life.
http://www.multiculturaladvantage.com/recruit/diversity/Diversity-in-the-Workplace-Benefits-Challenges-Solutions.asp
http://www.iegd.org/englishok/managing.htm
if a company manages to work with all these different aspect in their company, this produces a lot of benefits for the company:
1. There will de a lot of solution to different kind of problems because of the diversity.
2. There is a lot of skill in a diverse office such as language and knowledge
3. Different point of view and will create a bigger set of ideas
4. If the company encourages diversity, the employees will work at their best capacity and ability.
But this kind of environment also has a lot of challenges because of the diversity that you can find in the office:
1. Communications: perceptual, language, culture and gestures
2. Resistance to change: difficulty in the changes in the work environment
3. Diversity in the workplace policies: use the strong point of each one of the employees in order to create a strategy works to reach the desired goal of the company
4. Successful Management of Diversity: to create a working environment where the diversity is accepted in all the organization, in which the different aspects of a worker are accepted and considered as an opportunity.
In order for a company who was branches in different country’s around the world, the best way to know how to enter a foreign market is to know the local culture, so its best if they have local employees to work in their companies mixed with foreign create future solution that are going to be accepted, and it’s a good idea to keep a very diversified office staff so that the workers can open their horizon and start to learn about other cultures, that the curiosity becomes a constant companion in the workers mind about other cultures and their way of life.
http://www.multiculturaladvantage.com/recruit/diversity/Diversity-in-the-Workplace-Benefits-Challenges-Solutions.asp
http://www.iegd.org/englishok/managing.htm
The rise of MNCs
MNCs stands for multinational corporation, the definition for a MNCs is a corporation or a business entity that has operations in more than one country, the usual model for this type of corporations is that they have an headquarter in one country and several branch offices in other countries, it can also be called as a Multinational Enterprise (MBE) or transnational corporation (TNC). The main reason for this model, its having the main office in the mother country and having the production company in other country where there are lower cost production to increase the companies profits and reduce the production costs.
One of the benefits of being a multinational corporation is that it has more access to other marker around the world, but there are also some problems for a multinational corporation, if the company want to enter another market, they have to take into account the cultural aspects of the country and how they are organizing the offices in that country, if they want to have a local or a foreigner managing that branch of the corporation, they also have to take into account the laws and regulation in the host country.
The company has no loyalty to the host country, they are more centered around profits and marketing of the company.
Franklin Root says that an MNC is a parent company that
1. Engages in foreign production through its affiliates located in several countries,
2. Exercises direct control over the policies of its affiliates,
3. Implements business strategies in production, marketing, finance and staffing that transcend national boundaries.
In some poor developed country there is a lot of opportunities for a multinational to open a branch company for the productions of their products, some governments are happy because they can create a lot of jobs in their factories for they can invest in the country, but there is no way to know what amount of labor they are going to produce and how much is the investment going to be and how much it can create changes in the host country, and it can also course corruption depending on the size and the power of the multinational corporation
http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ355/choi/mul.htm
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-multinational-corporation.htm
http://www.bized.co.uk/learn/economics/notes/multi.htm
One of the benefits of being a multinational corporation is that it has more access to other marker around the world, but there are also some problems for a multinational corporation, if the company want to enter another market, they have to take into account the cultural aspects of the country and how they are organizing the offices in that country, if they want to have a local or a foreigner managing that branch of the corporation, they also have to take into account the laws and regulation in the host country.
The company has no loyalty to the host country, they are more centered around profits and marketing of the company.
Franklin Root says that an MNC is a parent company that
1. Engages in foreign production through its affiliates located in several countries,
2. Exercises direct control over the policies of its affiliates,
3. Implements business strategies in production, marketing, finance and staffing that transcend national boundaries.
In some poor developed country there is a lot of opportunities for a multinational to open a branch company for the productions of their products, some governments are happy because they can create a lot of jobs in their factories for they can invest in the country, but there is no way to know what amount of labor they are going to produce and how much is the investment going to be and how much it can create changes in the host country, and it can also course corruption depending on the size and the power of the multinational corporation
http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ355/choi/mul.htm
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-multinational-corporation.htm
http://www.bized.co.uk/learn/economics/notes/multi.htm
sábado, 25 de septiembre de 2010
Merging org. cultures
When there is a merger between two companies, it can have its good and bad point. The reasons for a company to join in a merger may be to increase their capacity and financial resources and to reduce administrative costs, but in order for the merger to be successful there has to be a lot of commitment for both parties, the organizational leaders have to accept the people and the goals of a merger, there has to be a very open communication between both parties and open dialogue and feed-back between both parties, and the goals are settle based of free choice, it these points are ignored, the merger process will be difficult and long to complete and may eliminate all opportunities for the merger to be completed.
According to Deal and Kennedy, there are three impacts in a company from a merger
1. The over-your-shoulder effect
In this situation when there is a future merger, the employees don’t know what the changes that are going to happen in the future, there is a high uncertainty about the future regarding subjects such as budget, job and cost reductions, changes in organizational culture and department changes. One of the outcomes of a merger is that the company becomes more productive but it may reduce their currently working force, so it’s a very tiring situation for the employees and can reduce their task efficiency.
2. Winners-and-losers effect
In this situation the manager or leader tries to make the merge in a “winner” and “loser” situation, he put the company as the “winner” in this situation, there will be changes, but in favor of the company, in order to reduce the uncertainty in the employees he explain the merger as if they were the winners in the merger.
3. Cultural isolation effect
When there is going to be a merger, there is always going to be cultural changes that can affect a merger, even it the cultures are very similar in most aspect, there can still be small thing that are different between both parties, if there is going to be a merger, they have to take into account the national culture to make the merger be more easily affected and that the leaders understand and know how to in order to avoid collisions in the work place.
http://www.orgdct.com/mergers_and_organizational_cultu.htm
According to Deal and Kennedy, there are three impacts in a company from a merger
1. The over-your-shoulder effect
In this situation when there is a future merger, the employees don’t know what the changes that are going to happen in the future, there is a high uncertainty about the future regarding subjects such as budget, job and cost reductions, changes in organizational culture and department changes. One of the outcomes of a merger is that the company becomes more productive but it may reduce their currently working force, so it’s a very tiring situation for the employees and can reduce their task efficiency.
2. Winners-and-losers effect
In this situation the manager or leader tries to make the merge in a “winner” and “loser” situation, he put the company as the “winner” in this situation, there will be changes, but in favor of the company, in order to reduce the uncertainty in the employees he explain the merger as if they were the winners in the merger.
3. Cultural isolation effect
When there is going to be a merger, there is always going to be cultural changes that can affect a merger, even it the cultures are very similar in most aspect, there can still be small thing that are different between both parties, if there is going to be a merger, they have to take into account the national culture to make the merger be more easily affected and that the leaders understand and know how to in order to avoid collisions in the work place.
http://www.orgdct.com/mergers_and_organizational_cultu.htm
viernes, 17 de septiembre de 2010
Org. learning + managing change and conflict
Organizational learning in very simple words can be explained as the way that a company learns to process, adapt and react when there are changes in the environment, and with the information gathered from the inside and the outside the company they react to improve and provide a better service. The information derives from tact sources (like intuition or a felling) or from an explicit source (like financial information, political information, etc), if the organizational learning is done right this will reduce future conflicts created because of an adaptation problem.
There are four orientations to theorizing learning:
1. The behaviorist orientation refers to the use of an experiment procedure to study what is the relation between a behavior and how is affected by the environment.
2. The cognitive orientation they are concerned that in every environment an individual knows how to adapt and change.
3. The human orientation is centered around human growth (read Maslow and Rogers)
4. the social/situational orientation refers to how a community or organization act, a person adapt according to how a group acts
There are two process of managing change that is associated with organizational learning
1. Adaptive learning refers when organizational changes happen because of the environments
2. proactive learning is an organizational change that happen because of willful thinking
there are two theories that are very used when explaining org. learning, The single loop and double loop learning, in the single loop learning you reach a decision with the same reasoning all the time, but in the double loop learning, you change your reasoning in order to reach a solution to the problem, the reasoning can be considered as standard process that a company or person does to reaches a decision regarding a topic.
"Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous".
- Confucius.
"Never seem more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning like a pocket watch and keep it hidden. Do not pull it out to count the hours, but give the time when you are asked".
- Lord Chesterfield
http://www.sfb504.uni-mannheim.de/glossary/orglearn.htm
http://www.infed.org/biblio/organizational-learning.htm#_Learning_in_organizations
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/argyris.htm#_Single-loop_and_double-loop
There are four orientations to theorizing learning:
1. The behaviorist orientation refers to the use of an experiment procedure to study what is the relation between a behavior and how is affected by the environment.
2. The cognitive orientation they are concerned that in every environment an individual knows how to adapt and change.
3. The human orientation is centered around human growth (read Maslow and Rogers)
4. the social/situational orientation refers to how a community or organization act, a person adapt according to how a group acts
There are two process of managing change that is associated with organizational learning
1. Adaptive learning refers when organizational changes happen because of the environments
2. proactive learning is an organizational change that happen because of willful thinking
there are two theories that are very used when explaining org. learning, The single loop and double loop learning, in the single loop learning you reach a decision with the same reasoning all the time, but in the double loop learning, you change your reasoning in order to reach a solution to the problem, the reasoning can be considered as standard process that a company or person does to reaches a decision regarding a topic.
"Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous".
- Confucius.
"Never seem more learned than the people you are with. Wear your learning like a pocket watch and keep it hidden. Do not pull it out to count the hours, but give the time when you are asked".
- Lord Chesterfield
http://www.sfb504.uni-mannheim.de/glossary/orglearn.htm
http://www.infed.org/biblio/organizational-learning.htm#_Learning_in_organizations
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/argyris.htm#_Single-loop_and_double-loop
viernes, 3 de septiembre de 2010
Management styles + Leadership styles
Abraham Lincoln said “No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent”.
A leader is a person that pushes or inspires a person to do something that can relate to the people that work under him, its not easy to be a good leader, the people that work under you leadership will work better if they trust your judgment and respect your decisions, its important in a company to have a good leader and a good manager also, if you are not the right person to lead a group of people, you will affect the environment, the work quality and the respect of the employees to the manager, it also motivates the employees to do a better work.
There are three leadership styles
• Autocratic style is when the manager makes all the decision, the employees has little say in the decision making and has to do everything that the leader tells them. This type of leader can affect the performance of the employees in a negative way, but when there is a new employee in the company, this style is the best for the employee in order to learn how to do and what they have to do in the office.
• Permissive style is when the manager is the one to make the decision, but takes into account the opinions and ideas of the employees, this is the type of leader that the companies prefer to have because it pushes the workers to be more efficient and keep challenging them in order to participate and improve.
• Delegative style is when the manager gives the employees free reign in the decision making, they decide what and how it has to be made, but the manager is still the one responsible for the result of the decision.
A good leader knows how to tell a message, how to delegate to people, know to participate in the work place with the employees and knows how to sell a project and push the employee into a project.
These styles should be adapted to every situation, not one of the style is the best for all cases.
http://www.inspirational-quotes.info/leadership.html
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/advising/free_enterprise/business_structures/management_styles.htm
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadstl.html
A leader is a person that pushes or inspires a person to do something that can relate to the people that work under him, its not easy to be a good leader, the people that work under you leadership will work better if they trust your judgment and respect your decisions, its important in a company to have a good leader and a good manager also, if you are not the right person to lead a group of people, you will affect the environment, the work quality and the respect of the employees to the manager, it also motivates the employees to do a better work.
There are three leadership styles
• Autocratic style is when the manager makes all the decision, the employees has little say in the decision making and has to do everything that the leader tells them. This type of leader can affect the performance of the employees in a negative way, but when there is a new employee in the company, this style is the best for the employee in order to learn how to do and what they have to do in the office.
• Permissive style is when the manager is the one to make the decision, but takes into account the opinions and ideas of the employees, this is the type of leader that the companies prefer to have because it pushes the workers to be more efficient and keep challenging them in order to participate and improve.
• Delegative style is when the manager gives the employees free reign in the decision making, they decide what and how it has to be made, but the manager is still the one responsible for the result of the decision.
A good leader knows how to tell a message, how to delegate to people, know to participate in the work place with the employees and knows how to sell a project and push the employee into a project.
These styles should be adapted to every situation, not one of the style is the best for all cases.
http://www.inspirational-quotes.info/leadership.html
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/advising/free_enterprise/business_structures/management_styles.htm
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadstl.html
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