Learning Organization
Philosophers and life coaches often depict the nature of change as that which is inevitable. Thus, in the current ever-changing climate, technology, consumer trends, organizational change is inevitable. Organizational change is the transformation of an organization’s present state into a desired future state. Peter Senge, a system analyst, came up with a school of thought in which he informed that learning in an organization is vital for organizational change (Sange, 1990). Since then, many studies have critiqued the philosophy seeking to find how organizations may learn, how they can leverage learning, and other related issues. Serrat (2010) explains the development process of a learning organization, Milway & Saxton (2011) present the challenges faced by a learning organization regarding success, and Yadav & Agarwal (2016) detail benefits and barriers that arise in a learning organization.
A learning organization has a human resource structure that continuously pursues knowledge for better change. Serrat (2010) explains that by learning, organizations keep up with the highly dynamic organizational climate of the current civilization. Peter Senge developed the concept of a learning organization as a platform to keep up with changes (Sange, 1990). In Senge’s description, a learning organization is likely to motivate the human workforce to improve their skills and knowledge through educational platforms or facilitate career development (Serrat, 2010). Elements of a learning organization include “system thinking, personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, and team learning” (Torlak, n.d). Therefore, a learning organization emphasizes the continuous improvement of skills and knowledge within its human workforce