Organising for Change, Learning and Knowledge

Theories about learning organisations (LO) have been inspired by the sociotechnical school where dialogue, participation and empowerment are emphasised. Focus in theories about learning organisations is on enhancing learning both for individuals and the organisation. In the learning organisation division of labour and coordination are carried out in an organic way. Work roles are often changing due to changed circumstances and there are no formal assignments. People make contact and interact in an informal way. In the learning organisation people need to be social, skilled in argumentation, but at the same time they also need good listening skills. From around mid 1990s another management trend emerged—knowledge management (KM), which focus on control of knowledge. In KM theory workers’ knowledge is being put forward to be very valuable for the organisation. According to advocates of knowledge management, the organisation must take ownership of that knowledge and maximise its value for the organisation. In learning organisations open communication, empowerment and worker participation is emphasised. LO is therefore grounded in a theory Y view on the organisation which is built upon trust in the ability of workers. KM, however, is based on a protectionist theory X view of workers and the organisation based on distrust, where control of knowledge is emphasised. In LO, the high worker control/decision authority, opportunities for learning and potentially high social support may have positive effects on health. However, a creative, unstructured work environment with high demands for intellectual work can result in too high demands, leading to stress related health problems. A similar concern probably also is valid for project organising, see next section. Project work has become more common the last two to three decades in many organisations. Workers, however, have their ordinary everyday work activities to carry out as well as taking part in projects, which can be demanding. All in all, these new organisation models put higher demand on learning, people taking initiative and knowledge sharing compared to classical organisation models. At the same time, these models can support competence development for people working in the organisation.