Developing Individual Learning

SMB 3004
By Wan Hendra Wan Hamzah
 Building Dynamic Learning through
the Organisation
• The learning subsystem is composed of
three complementary dimensions:
1. Levels of learning (individual, group and
organisational)
2. Types of learning (adaptive learning,
anticipatory learning, deutero learning and
active learning)
3. Critical organisational learning skills (systems
thinking, mental models, personal mastery,
team learning, shared vision, and dialogue)
• Learning, ultimately, is a social
phenomenon – our ability to learn and
the quality and openness of our
relationships determine what we can
know.
• Our mental models of the world and
of ourselves grow out of our
relationships with others.
Building Dynamic Learning through
the Organisation
– Individual learning
• needed since individuals form the
units of groups and organisations, or
as Senge asserts “organisations learn
only through individuals who learn”.
• The factors that can contribute to
individual learning in the
organisation include:
• Individual and collective
accountability for learning
• Locus and focus of individual
learning (learning should have
immediate application to the
job.)
• Accelerated learning techniques.
• Personal development plan
– People recognise that employers cannot
guarantee them lifelong employment but
that they can assist them in achieving
lifelong employability.
– There should be a partnership between the
organisation and the employee to assist in
the long-term career development.
• Abundant opportunities available for
professional development
• Individual learning linked to organisational
learning in an explicit and structured way.
• Marquardt (1996) says that individual
learning is needed for organizational
learning since individuals form the
units of groups and organizations.
• Senge (1990) believes that
organizations learn through
individuals who learn.
• According to Argyris and Schon
(1978) individual learning is a
necessary but insufficient condition
for organizational learning.
• Important for organizations to
ensure that the individual who
will learn developed into
independent learners.
• Independent learners have the
motivation to learn, the ability to
manage their learning process
and ability to reflect on and
learn from their activities.
• There are three main definitions
of independent learners taken
from Allan, Cook and Lewis
(1996):
b) Motivation
Independent learners are motivated to
learn.They accept responsibility for their
own learning and have the confidence to
approach others for help if they need it.
b) Management of the learning process.
• Independent learners are capable of managing their
learning processes effectively.The learning processes
are:
– Identifying learning objectives;
– Selecting and using appropriate methods and techniques.
– Managing times, stress, other commitments and the process
of change.
– Using a wide range of learning opportunities and resources.
– Adapting the learning process to make use of new
opportunities.
c) Reflection
• Independent learners are able to monitor and reflect
critically on what they learn.
 Benefits of independence learning
• Successful completion of activities and projects.
• Very good time management
• Ability to cope when the going gets tough
• Find learning enjoyable.
• Learn what they need in less time.
• Know where to find help when they need it.
• Learn on their own.
• Gain a better understanding of their topic.
• More aware of gaps in their knowledge.
• Always be improving their ability to learn.
• Original and creative in thinking.
• Become a more effective lifelong learner.
• Recognise their own achievements.
• Value themselves as independent learner.
 Management Strategies for Encouraging
Learning
• Managers who encourage learning among members
of the organization are those who value learning.
• These managers will help their staff to plan their
learning by using a written plan. Learning plans can
be annual, six-monthly or even weekly.
• Other strategies that can be carried out will include:
-providing staff with time
-resource and support to attend development events.
• Manager can also provide members with the
workplace training by way of structured activities.
These include coaching, independent study and
computer-based training.
• Managers should also encourage exchange of ideas
and feedback through job rotation, work placements,
networking etc.
• Members should be encouraged to use mistakes as
learning opportunities and to set aside time and
psychological space for reflection
– Group / team learning
• work teams must be able to think and
create and learn as an entity. They must
learn how to better create and capture
learning (learning to learn).
• A successful team learning system
ensures that teams share their
experiences with other groups in the
organisation.
• Team learning will occur more fully if
teams are rewarded for the learning they
contribute to the organisation.
 Developing Team Learning
• Teams are important to learning organizations.
• Individual and independent learners form teams which will
help to move new knowledge throughout the organization.
• Teams form the link between individual learning and
organizational learning.
• Teams are vital in building learning organizations and they
are an important influence to organizational learning and
innovation.
• Characteristics of Good Team
• Honesty and trust
• Constructive relationships
• Ability to reflect and learn from previous actions
• Acceptance of each other's strengths and weaknesses
• Synergy and an alignment of goals
• Humor
• Superb results
Developing Positive Behaviors and Group
Learning

• In order to ensure the success of learning it is

therefore important to develop team learning.
Team learning can be developed through:
• Developing positive behaviors
• Developing group learning
• Honey (1991) identifies these positive (wanted)
behaviors and compare them with negative
(unwanted) behaviors as follow:
 Honey: group learning

Wanted Behavior Unwanted Behavior

• Asking questions • Acquiescing
• Suggesting ideas • Rubbishing ideas
• Exploring alternatives • Going for expedient,quick fixes
• Taking risks/experimenting • Being cautious
• Being open about they way it is • Telling people what they want to
• Converting mistakes into learning hear/filtering bad news
• Reflecting and reviewing • Repeating the same mistakes
• Talking about learning • Rushing around keeping active
• Taking responsibility for own • Talking anecdotes ( what
learning and development happened not what was learnt)
• Admitting inadequacies and • Waiting for other to do it
mistakes • Justifying actions/blaming other
people or events.
1. Identifying learning styles
• The Honey and Mumford model of
learning styles may be applied in a team
situation.
• Each member of the team identifies
their preferred learning style and an
audit is carried out to identify the
preferred learning styles of the team.
• This information may then be used by
the group to explore and develop its
working patterns.
2. Identifying group roles
• The group role is different from a functional
role, e.g. someone's functional role may be
as an accountant and their team role may
be to co-ordinate and encourage different
individuals' activities. There are a number
of different approaches to exploring group
or team roles.
• One of the best known approaches is that
developed by Meredith Belbin who
developed his model by identifying the
characteristics of successful teams. He
identifies nine different roles in a group
• 3 Action oriented team roles
– Shaper
– Implementer
– Completer Finisher
• 3 People oriented team roles
– Co-ordinator
– Teamworker
– Resource Investigator
• 3 Cerebral oriented team roles
– Plant
– Monitor Evaluator
– Specialist.
3. Developing communication skills
• Peter Senge has identified two key
approaches to developing team
communication and learning: these are
the practices of dialogue and discussion.
• Dialogue involves 'deep listening' where
the listener suspends their own ideas and
judgements, and focuses on exploring and
understanding the issue and its
complexities.
• Discussion involves presenting and
defending different views and searching
for the 'best' ideas which will then be used
to move the matter forward.
Developing goal setting and action plan
• The skills of goal setting and action planning are best
developed through practice. Goals are achievable
outcomes and a common method for developing
group goal setting is to use the SMART approach.
SMART goals are those which are:
– Specific
– Measurable
– Achievable
– Realistic
– Time-bound
• The development of group goals can be facilitated in
group training or work-based sessions, where a team
is asked to identify their goals for a particular time
period.
Organisation learning
• occur through the shared insights, knowledge,
and mental models of members of the
organisation
• builds on past knowledge and experience which
depends on institutional mechanisms (policies,
strategies, explicit models...) used to retain
knowledge.
• Though organisations learn through individuals
and groups, the process of learning is influenced
by a much broader set of variables (for example
symphony’s performance is more than the sum
of individuals’knowledge and skills but the
result of the know-how embedded in the whole
group working in unison.
Types of learning
• There are four types in which organisations
learn:
• Adaptive learning
– occurs when an individual or organisation
learns from experience and reflection: action ?
outcome ? results date ? reflection.
– Adaptive learning may be either single-loop
(focused on gaining information to stabilise and
maintain existing systems) or double loop
(questioning the system itself and why the
errors or successes occurred in the first place).
2. Anticipatory learning
– arises when an organisation learns from
expecting the future: vision ? reflection ?
action approach.
3. Deutero learning
– occurs when the organisation learns from
critically reflecting upon its taken-for-
granted assumptions.
4. Active learning
– involves (a group/team) working on real
problems, focusing on the learning acquired,
and actually implementing solutions.
Skills of learning
• Marquardt has added Dialogue to the
five critical organisational learning
skills identified by Peter Senge:
• Systems thinking
– “A framework for seeing interrelationships
rather than linear cause-effect chains, for
seeing underlying structures rather than
events, for seeing patterns of change rather
than snapshots.” Changes in one part of the
organisation can affect other parts with
surprising consequences.
2. Mental models
– An image or perspective of an event,
situation, activity or concept
3. Personal mastery
– A special level of proficiency that is
committed to continually improve
and perfect skills, a discipline of
continually clarifying and deepening
one’s personal vision,energies, and
patience.
4. Team learning
– The process of aligning and developing the capacity
of a team to create thelearning and results that its
members seek. The team involved must learn to tap
the potential of many minds to become more
intelligent than one mind.
5. Shared vision
– Provides a focus, direction and energy for the
members of an organisation. And learning is a way
of striving to accomplish that vision.
6. Dialogue
– promotes collecting thinking and communication.
Top ten strategies to build learning subsystems
1. Develop action learning programs throughout the
organisation (time and effort!)
2. Increase individuals’ ability to learn how to learn
3. Develop the discipline of dialogue in the organisation
4. Develop career development plans for employability
5. Establish self-development cash programs
6. Build team-learning skills
7. Encourage and practice systems thinking
8. Use scanning and scenario planning for anticipatory
learning
9. Encourage/Expand diversity, multicultural and global
mindsets and leanings
10. Change the mental model relative to learning (most
people retain a negative picture of learning one
acquired in their school days).
The End

Thank You