Creating an organizational learning culture:

The perspective of workplace learning

Iris Ai-Tzu LiAssistant Professor

Graduate Institute of Adult & Continuing Education

National Chung Cheng University

Introduction 1/3

• Environmental change: technology, knowledge economy, globalization, demographic change

• Learning is inevitable and increasingly important to survive changes in today’s workplace

• Many researches have paid attention on formal educational training

• Informal learning as one of the most important training strategies to form the learning organization in enterprises

Introduction 2/3

• A broader perspective: integrate high-leverage training and continuous learning into the learning practice.

• It aims to create a learning culture which in turn links training and learning to performance improvement.

Introduction 3/3

• The purposes of the paper– describe what organizational learning culture is– discuss the meaning and approaches of workplace

learning– provide a case to explain how the company

established a learning culture through different venues of workplace learning and achieve the competitive advantage .

What is Organizational Learning Culture? 1/4

• A culture is the way we do things around here

• Organizational culture has a number of basic elements that provide a guide to what is important, what attitudes are appropriate, and how to behave within an organization.

• These elements are beliefs, values, assumptions, attitudes, and behavioral norms (shared expectations).

What is Organizational Learning Culture? 2/4

• An organizational learning culture was defined as the existence of a set of attitudes, values and practices with in an organization which support and encourage a continuing process of learning for the organization and/or its member

What is Organizational Learning Culture? 3/4

• Schein’s framework (2004)

tacit assumptions regarding learning of the group

espoused values

day-to-day behavior or artifacts

What is Organizational Learning Culture? 4/4

• a learning organization could also be seen as indicators of an organizational with a culture of learning or a commitment to learning– a learning strategy (learning becomes a deliberate and

conscious part of the strategy)

– a flexible structure with reduced bureaucracy and restrictive job descriptions and which encourages cross function co-operation

– a blame-free culture in which learning is valued and encouraged and the environment itself is blame-free

Implication

• Fostering learning in the organizational context extend beyond the concept of a well-established orthodox training system

• But link closely to the behaviors, attitudes, values, and structures operating in organizations.

The Meaning of Workplace Learning 1/3

1700

1800

1872

apprenticeship

workers’ education

a school for employees

• interactively used with training and human resources development.

The Meaning of Workplace Learning 2/3

1900 Westinghouse, General Electric, and Ford organizationally provided educational training for employees.

1900s HRD was replaced by Workplace Learning and Performance (WLP), and shifted the focus of workplace training from “Teaching” to ”Learning” and “the results of learning”.

1945 ASTD was established

The workplace learning community

Environmental factors such as competitiveness, globalization,

knowledge economy, technological change and government policy

Networks andpartnershipsSupply chainsGovernmentCommunityProfessional

societiesOther enterprises

Formal VET

The enterpriseCulture of learning Technology

Training

Plans

Access to networks

The workgroupand individual

Skills and capabilityInnovative capacity

Workplace learning for increasedcompetitiveness and innovative capacity

ANTA (Australian National Training Authority) (2003). What makes for good workplace learning?.

A systemic view of workplace learning

The Meaning of Workplace Learning 3/3

Workplace learning

formal learning

informal learning

incidental learning

A case report 1/4

• STAR company

• The rationale of choosing this case:– A multinational organization – identified itself as having a commitment to

learning/learning culture.

• The analysis focused on the elements of characteristics of a learning culture and the ways to build a learning culture.

A case report 2/4

• Characteristics of the company– Founded in 1940s– Multinational information technology corporation– $104 billion in 2007

• Organizational structure– 3 business units– Matrix structure

A case report 3/4

• Approaches to building an organizational learning culture– The headquarter develops a standardized training

system (competence-based)– The development of the training courses suits

local circumstance– Training and informal learning integrated

• Mobile learning system

• Mentoring

A case report 4/4

– Training and informal learning integrated• Seed “instructor”• Training and learning assessment systems• Self-responsibility for learning

– Knowledge sharing mechanism– Changing roles of learning consultant– Management system

• Flexible organizational structures• Team work job design• Performance review system

Organizational structure

Training

system

Work system

Management system

Motivated employee

Informal learning

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