How Managers Kindle Learning Processes

Organizational learning occurs when the insights and learnings of individual organization members are transferred to the larger organizational system. This paper examines how senior managers create processes which enable this transfer to take place effectively. It presents an empirical study, conducted in seven major sub units of a large, national organization engaged in R&D and project management. The various dimensions of organizational learning are: developing clear focus on objectives and plans for internal integration; being sensitive to people potential and needs; generating concern for long term planning and success; supporting experimentation/creativity; scanning the environment; and generating triggers for change and attending to development of capabilities. The results suggest that organizational processes do bear a significant association to these learning dimensions. Hence, for managers with the vision of building learning organizations, the effective management of organizational processes become crucial for fostering learning. Managers adopting developmental or nurturant-task styles of leadership, proactive methods of conflict management, and having an explicit agenda of change and innovation contribute to organizational learning. Further, the study shows that learning organizations are also high performance organizations. Some of the important themes that emerge from the study are: the necessity for empowerment of organizational members to take up learning challenges; supportive, nurturant, and facilitating approach of managers towards unlearning and relearning; and the significance of team learning.