The Role Of Learning Organizations In The Growing Discussion On Social Responsibility

What is the debate on Learning Organizations all about? In this paper we propose to demonstrate that the necessity to adapt to the socio-economic changes that have been transforming the way we think, live, learn and work over the last twenty years, makes of learning a condition of survival for any organization, whether individual, company, school or nation. More, knowledge is actually becoming the principal value of reference in the new business model, and beyond business, may well prove to be the so-far elusive key to human peace and harmony. The need to learn is therefore no more in question than human beings' ability to learn. But how can one overcome obsolete yet powerful habits and regulations, and become a strategic, real-time Learning Organization? How can people forget their stifling Industrial-Era education and recover their natural strive to reach fulfillment at work, and how can their learning be aligned with the needs of the communities in which they function? How can organizations' learning be synergized to lead all involved towards higher levels of awareness? We suggest that these "how" questions really are the fundamental issues, which political leaders, researchers, business people and educators must strive to address fast, lest many will fall behind and the "Knowledge Divide", so much more important than the widely talked-about "Digital Divide", will continue to widen.