Learning OrganizationJune 26, 2012

Group 3Garima Yadav (FT13220)Gaurav Parikh (FT13221)Gaurav Bhatia (FT13222)Hari Kiran P V (FT13223)

Ishani Sircar (FT13224)Jahnavi Reddy Sanamreddy (FT13225)

Jonaki Basu (FT13226)Jyoti Aggarwal (FT13227)

Jyoti Rastogi (FT13228)Karan Gandhi (FT13229)

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Table of ContentsIntroduction.................................................................................................................................................4

Level 1 Analysis........................................................................................................................................4

Level 2 Analysis........................................................................................................................................4

Technique................................................................................................................................................4

Methodology...............................................................................................................................................5

Questionnaire..........................................................................................................................................5

Building Block 1...................................................................................................................................5

Building Block 2...................................................................................................................................7

Building Block 3...................................................................................................................................8

Respondent Data.....................................................................................................................................9

Methodology Followed............................................................................................................................9

Level 1 analysis:...................................................................................................................................9

Level 2 analysis:.................................................................................................................................10

Results...................................................................................................................................................10

Level 1 analysis: Mean analysis..........................................................................................................10

Level 2 analysis: ANOVAs...................................................................................................................10

Summary...................................................................................................................................................15

Appendix...................................................................................................................................................16

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IntroductionA learning organization is a place where employees excel at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge. There are three building blocks of such institutions:

(1) A supportive learning environmentSupportive learning environments allow time for a pause in the action and encourage thoughtful review of the organization’s processes.

(2) Concrete learning processes and practices,(3) Leadership behavior that reinforces learning.

Exploring how well your company learns relative to others reveals both the multidimensionality of the organizational learning process and the specific areas where your company needs to improve.

The report presented here can help you assess the depth of learning in your organization and its individual units. This report is generated after two level analyses by choosing a few companies, taking feedback from their employees and concluding which organization exhibits a supportive learning environment.

Level 1 AnalysisWe intend to compare companies in different sectors such as IT and non-IT. This will help us analyze how different sectors support learning. We aim to conclude which sector is closest to a learning organization.

Level 2 AnalysisWe will further segregate the companies in the level 1 analysis into public and private sector. As these are the major sectors in India, based on the analyses we will be able to generalize which sector is inclined more towards learning.

TechniqueWe will take feedback from employees working in private sector – IT, banking as well as public sector – Manufacturing, Education and Telecom and Energy. These feedbacks will be then analyzed to study which organization/sector exhibits the characteristics of a learning organization.

The analysis will be done on the below points:

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1. Appreciation of differences in the organization – Every team functions only because of differences. With our analysis, we hope to be able to shed more light on the dynamics of these differences in an organization.

2. Openness to new ideas in the organization – Innovation and creativity lead the list of sought after qualities in an employee. Every idea needs acceptance in a team. We hope to understand how an idea flows from initiation to implementation in an organization.

3. Time for reflection – more than feedback, reviewing one’s work for improvement, the level of stress on employees, time for reflection are a few key factors of our analysis to identify how learning an organization is.

4. How different parts of the organization help in incorporating new learning (processes)? Is it part of only HR or internal communications team, knowledge management team, learning and development or other teams?

5. Education and Training – Do new recruits get adequate training? How are new recruits trained? Is it more knowledge transfer based or more of on job experiential training? Is Training valued by employees?

6. Leadership that reinforces learning – learning depends majorly on how a manager assists his or her employee enhance his learning curve and in turn effectively turn the organization into a learning organization. Does a manager ask probing questions, invites viewpoints of all, acknowledges performance, provides sufficient resources, and encourages discussion?

Methodology

Questionnaire

Building Block 1Supportive Learning Environment

Appreciation to Differences

Please respond to each item in terms of how descriptive it is of your work organization

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Highly

InaccurateSlightly

Inaccurate

Neither Accurate Nor

Inaccurate

Slightly Accurate

Highly Accurate

Differences in opinions are welcomed in this unit.

Unless an opinion is consistent with what most people in this unit believe, it won’t be valued.

This unit tends to handle differences of opinion privately or off-line, rather than addressing them directly as a group.

In this unit, people are open to alternative ways of getting work done.

Openness to New Ideas*

Please respond to each item in terms of how descriptive it is of your organization

Highly

InaccurateSlightly

Inaccurate

Neither Accurate Nor

Inaccurate

Slightly Accurate

Highly Accurate

In this unit, people value new ideas.

Unless an idea has been around for a long time, no one in this unit wants to hear it.

In this unit, people are interested in better ways of doing things.

In this unit, people often resist untried approaches

Time for Reflection*

Please respond to each item in terms of how descriptive it is of your organization

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Highly

InaccurateSlightly

Inaccurate

Neither Accurate Nor

Inaccurate

Slightly Accurate

Highly Accurate

People in this unit are overly stressed.

Despite the workload, people in this unit find time to review how the work is going.

In this unit, schedule pressure gets in the way of doing a good job.

In this unit, people are too busy to invest time in improvement.

There is simply no time for reflection in this unit.

Building Block 2

Concrete Learning Processes and PracticesExperimentation

*Please respond to each item in terms of how descriptive it is of your work unit

Highly

InaccurateSlightly

Inaccurate

Neither Accurate Nor

Inaccurate

Slightly Accurate

Highly Accurate

This unit experiments frequently with new ways of working.

This unit experiments frequently with new product/service offerings.

This unit has a formal process for conducting and evaluating experiments or new ideas.

This unit frequently employs prototypes or simulations when

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Highly

InaccurateSlightly

Inaccurate

Neither Accurate Nor

Inaccurate

Slightly Accurate

Highly Accurate

trying out new ideas.

Education and Training*

Please respond to each item in terms of how descriptive it is of your work unit

Highly

InaccurateSlightly

Inaccurate

Neither Accurate Nor

Inaccurate

Slightly Accurate

Highly Accurate

Newly hired employees in this unit receive adequate training.

Experienced employees in this unit receive periodic training/updating

Experienced employees in this unit receive training when shifting to a new position

Experienced employees in this unit receive training when new initiatives are launched

In this unit, training is valued.

In this unit, time is made available for education and training activities.

Building Block 3

Leadership That Reinforces Learning*

Please respond to each item in terms of how descriptive it is of the manager(s) to whom you report, using the following scale:

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NeverInfrequentlySometimesOftenAlwaysMy manager(s) invite(s) input from others in discussions.

My manager(s) acknowledge(s) his/her own limitations with respect to knowledge, information, or expertise.

My manager(s) ask(s) probing questions.

My manager(s) listen(s) attentively.

My manager(s) encourage(s) multiple points of view.

My manager(s) establish (es) forums for and provide(s) time and resources for identifying problems and organizational challenges.

My manager(s) establish (es) forums for and provide(s) time and resources for reflecting and improving on past performance.

My manager(s) criticize(s) views different from his/her own.

Respondent Data

Methodology Followed

Level 1 analysis: For Level 1 Analysis we have taken the means of IT, Non-IT, public and private companies for each learning block. We have tried to compare the means of each learning block for IT vs Non- IT and Public vs Private to infer which type of organization is aligned to which kind of learning.

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Level 2 analysis: For Level 2 analysis we have taken an ANOVAs of each learning block for IT vs Non- IT and Public vs Private and tried to infer if our hypothesis that the means of the above 2 organizations are equal i.e. if both the organizations are aligned towards similar learning types or not.

ResultsResponses to the above questions were obtained and analyzed further. For that the responses have been scaled from 1-5 and for questions with reverse coding from 5-1.

Level 1 analysis: Mean analysis.Generic analysis to obtain and compare the mean across all companies ( IT, Non-It, Public, Private) has been done as part of level 1 analysis.

BB1- Block 1 – Supportive Learning Environment BB2- Block 2 - Concrete Learning Processes and PracticesBB3- Block 3- Leadership That Reinforces Learning

Industry/Mean BB1 BB2 BB3

IT 3.77 3.33 3.41

Non IT 3.82 3.51 3.67

Private Sector 3.81 3.43 3.48

Public Sector 3.77 3.41 3.66

From the above table the following can be observed that all the companies have a mean between 3-4. In general all companies have a greater tendency of being a learning organization.

For Supportive Learning Environment type of learning, Non-IT companies are more aligned than the IT companies while Private sector companies are more aligned than the Public sector.

For Concrete Learning Processes and Practices type of learning, Non-IT companies are more aligned than the IT companies while Private sector companies are more aligned than the Public sector.

For Supportive Learning Environment type of learning, Non-IT companies are more aligned than the IT companies while Private sector companies are less aligned than the Public sector.

Level 2 analysis: ANOVAs

Industry wise analysis across all three blocks using ANOVAs has been done in this section.

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IT vs Non IT

BB1- Block 1 – Supportive Learning Environment

SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum AverageVarianc

e

IT - BB1 1349.0333333

33.77179

50.08737

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Non-IT - BB1 13 49.656253.81971

20.12909

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ANOVASource of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit

Between Groups

0.014924045 1

0.014924

0.137884

0.713652

4.259677

Within Groups2.59767561

4 240.10823

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Total2.61259965

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From the above it can be inferred that since F value is less than F critical, the hypothesis is accepted that the means for IT and Non- IT firms for supportive learning environment are equal i.e. both type of organizations are equally aligned towards Supportive Learning Environment .

BB2- Block 2 - Concrete Learning Processes and Practices

SUMMARYGroups Count Sum Average Variance

IT - BB2 10 33.33333 3.333333333 0.020494Non - IT - BB2 10 35.3125 3.53125 0.053602

ANOVASource of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit

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Between Groups 0.195855035 1 0.195855035 5.286503 0.03368 4.413873Within Groups 0.666866319 18 0.037048129

Total 0.862721354 19

From the above it can be inferred that since F value is greater than F critical, the hypothesis is rejected that the means for IT and Non- IT firms for Concrete Learning Processes and Practices are equal. For this type of learning Non- IT firms show a greater learning tendency than the IT firms.

BB3- Block 3- Leadership That Reinforces LearningSUMMARY

Groups Count Sum Average Variance

IT - BB3 827.2666666

73.40833

3 0.094206349

Non-IT -BB3 8 29.3753.67187

5 0.167131696

ANOVASource of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit

Between Groups 0.27781684 10.27781

7 2.126110950.16687

54.6001

1

Within Groups1.82936631

9 140.13066

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Total 2.10718316 15

From the above it can be inferred that since F value is less than F critical, the hypothesis is accepted that the means for IT and Non- IT firms for Leadership That Reinforces Learning are equal i.e. both type of organizations are equally aligned towards Leadership That Reinforces Learning.

Public vs Private

BB1- Block 1 – Supportive Learning Environment SUMMARY

Groups Count Sum Average VariancePublic - BB1 13 48.95455 3.765734266 0.094988345Private -BB1 13 49.575 3.813461538 0.123814103

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ANOVASource of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit

Between Groups 0.014806302 1 0.014806302 0.1353394520.71618356

8 4.259677Within Groups 2.625629371 24 0.109401224

Total 2.640435672 25

From the above it can be inferred that since F value is less than F critical, the hypothesis is accepted that the means for public and private firms for Supportive Learning Environment are equal i.e. both type of organizations are equally aligned towards Supportive Learning Environment.

BB2- Block 2 - Concrete Learning Processes and PracticesSUMMARY

Groups Count Sum Average VariancePublic -BB2 10 34.13636 3.413636 0.098921Private - BB2 10 34.325 3.4325 0.018063

ANOVASource of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit

Between Groups 0.001779184 1 0.001779 0.030418 0.863493 4.413873Within Groups 1.052851756 18 0.058492

Total 1.05463094 19

From the above it can be inferred that since F value is less than F critical, the hypothesis is accepted that the means for public and private firms for Concrete Learning Processes and Practices are equal i.e. both type of organizations are equally aligned towards Concrete Learning Processes and Practices.

BB3- Block 3- Leadership That Reinforces LearningSUMMARY

Groups Count Sum Average Variance

Public - BB3 829.3181818

2 3.664773 0.164072Private - BB3 8 27.825 3.478125 0.088471

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ANOVASource of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit

Between Groups 0.139349496 1 0.139349 1.103572 0.31128 4.60011Within Groups 1.767798941 14 0.126271

Total 1.907148438 15

From the above it can be inferred that since F value is less than F critical, the hypothesis is accepted that the means for public and private firms for Leadership That Reinforces Learning are equal i.e. both type f organizations are equally aligned towards Leadership That Reinforces Learning.

Median Analysis:

Industry/Median BB1 BB2 BB3IT 4 4 3Non IT 4 5 4Private Sector 4 4 4Public Sector 4 5 5

The median analysis of the different blocks for the various industry types has been mentioned above. We have done our survey on 5 pointer scale. So converting it to a scale of 100 for comparison with the benchmark given in the article for learning organization we get the following answers.

Median score in scale of 100

Industry/Median BB1 BB2 BB3IT 80 80 60Non IT 80 100 80Private Sector 80 80 80Public Sector 80 100 100

Benchmark score

Building Blocks and TheirSubcomponents

Bottomquartile

Secondquartile

Median Thirdquartile

Topquartile

Supportive Learning EnvironmentLearning environment

31–61 62–70 71 72–79 80–90

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compositeConcrete Learning Processes and PracticesLearning processes composite

31–62 63–73 74 75–82 83–97

Leadership That Reinforces LearningComposite for this block

33–66 67–75 76 77–82 83–100

Median Analysis:

IT industry has Supportive Learning Environment in the top quartile and Concrete Learning Processes in the 3rd quartile and Practices Leadership That Reinforces Learning in the first quartile. Hence more efforts must be put towards Practices Leadership That Reinforces Learning.

Non IT industry haveSupportive Learning Environment , Concrete Learning Processes and Practices Leadership That Reinforces Learning all in the top quartile. So continued efforts is needed to maintain the same.

Private sector industries have Supportive Learning Environment in the top quartile while Concrete Learning Processes and Practices Leadership That Reinforces Learning in the third quartile. So continued efforts is needed to maintain the same or for improvising further.

Public sector industries have Supportive Learning Environment , Concrete Learning Processes and Practices Leadership That Reinforces Learning all in the top quartile. So continued efforts is needed to maintain the same.

Summary

The three building blocks of a learning organization are

1) Supportive learning environment

2) Concrete learning processes and practices

3) Leadership that enforces learning

Supportive learning environment in an organization is when the organization is open to accepting new ideas, when workload and stress does not get in the way of reflection and when differences of opinions among people are handled in a smooth manner.

Concrete learning processes and practices are the different ways in which the organization experiments with new ways of working, the way training is valued in an organization and whether new employees are provided adequate training.

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Leadership that reinforces learning stresses on the way the leadership of the organization deals with the subordinates-how it encourages them to think and probe, how it listens attentively to them and then solves their problems.

Both IT and Non IT organizations are equally aligned towards Supportive Learning Environment. Non IT firms show a greater learning tendency than the IT firms towards concrete learning processes and practices. Both type of organizations are equally aligned towards Leadership That Reinforces Learning.

Both Private and Public types of organizations are equally aligned towards Leadership that reinforces learning, Supportive Learning environment and Concrete learning processes and practices.

AppendixThe excel sheet containing the data and analyses is attached herewith.

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