A Framework for Building Learning Organizations

Abstract

The concept of the learning organization that strives continually to develop its people and processes will be an accepted philosophy of all competitive organizations in the future. Organizations are increasingly being challenged to leverage learning, as it has been widely articulated that knowledge creation and continuous learning at the individual, team, and organizational levels may be the only source of sustainable competitive advantage. Continuous learning is essential for surviving, let alone prospering, in dynamic and competitive environments. Because of this increased emphasis on learning, there has been a tremendous interest in the concept of learning organizations and the capabilities required to build learning organizations. Organizations of the future will not be able to expand into new markets and win market share unless they have a framework (technologies, people, processes, and methodologies) to use their past knowledge to gain a competitive advantage. Organizations of the 21st century have to use the latest information technology and methodologies that can enable them to be cost effective, faster, flexible, and more competitive. Despite the growing interest in learning organizations, there are knowledge gaps in understanding about how to exploit technologies to create a suitable framework for learning organization. Our chapter attempts to suggest a framework for building learning organizations and shows the use of systemic approach to implement our proposed framework to create learning organizations.