1. PAPER
ON
EXPERTISE AND LEADERSHIP THE KEY FOR LEARNING
ORGANIZATION
Abstract:
This paper is exploring about the learning of organization for the knowledge
management of the company. Learning organization is a group of people who are
continually enhancing their capabilities to create what they want to create has been
deeply influential. We discuss the five disciplines he sees as central to learning
organizations and some issues and questions concerning the theory and practice of
learning organizations.
Knowledge management (KM) comprises a range of strategies and practices used
in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of
insights and experiences. Such insights and experiences comprise knowledge,
either embodied in individuals or embedded in organizations as processes or
practices.
A learning organization combines the essential elements of strategy development
and personal development. It creates a space for people to achieve tremendous
business and personal results. It values the scientific method of hypothesis
development, testing and validation, as well as the personal development pathway
found in the concepts of "personal mastery."

2. Significance:
Why do we need Learning Organization?
Because we want superior performance and competitive advantage
For customer relations
To avoid decline
To improve quality
To understand risks and diversity more deeply
For innovation
For our personal and spiritual well being
To increase our ability to manage change
For understanding
For energized committed work force
To expand boundaries
To engage in community
For independence and liberty
For awareness of the critical nature of interdependence
Because the times demand it
Because we need a different way of viewing the process of conducting activity in a
business environment and of achieving change within that environment. Our
existing views and ways of understanding are not keeping up with the realities of
that environment or with our own belief system which defines that environment.
Answer is?
It‟s more fun to go to work in learning organizations.
Learning organizations give people hope that things can be better
Learning orgs provide a playground for creative ideas
Learning orgs provide a safe place to take risks with new ideas and
behaviors and the challenge needed to stretch beyond perceived limits
In learning organizations everyone's opinions are valued and amount that
people can contribute is not determined by position in the organization
Because it's 'in touch' with a fundamental part of our humanity -- to learn, to
improve our environment, to be active actors, not passive recipients.

3. Learning Organization
A Learning Organization is an organization that learns and encourages learning
among its people in an effort to create a more knowledgeable and flexible
workforce capable to adapt to cultural changes.
Definition
"Organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results
they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured,
where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to
learn together" (Peter Senge, 1990).
Learning Organizations Characteristics
The following are some common characteristics found in Learning Organizations:
Are adaptive to the external environment
Continually enhance their capability to change and adaptation
Develop collective as well as individual learning
Embrace creative tension as a source of energy and renewal
Foster inquiry and dialogue, making it safe for people to share openly and
take risks
Link individual performance with organizational performance
Provide continuous learning opportunities
Use the results of learning to achieve better results
Use learning to reach their goals
The basic rationale for such organizations is that in situations of rapid change only
those that are flexible, adaptive and productive will excel. For this to happen, it is

4. argued that organizations need to „discover how to tap people‟s commitment and
capacity to learn at all levels‟ and that “the pressure of change in the external
environments of organizations... is such that they need to learn more consciously,
more systematically, and more quickly than they did in the past... they must learn
not only in order to survive but also to thrive in a world of ever increasing change”
Learning Organization Concepts
The major Learning Organizational concepts focus on “Continuous Improvement”, “Culture” and “Innovation
and Creativity”.
Focus The concept of Learning Organization Practices
1. Continuous “A learning organization should The adoption of Total
Development consciously and intentionally devote to the Quality Management
facilitation of individual learning in order practices
to continuously transform the entire
organization and its context “
2. Culture “A learning organisation should be viewed Creation and maintenance
as a metaphor rather than a distinct type of of learning culture:
structure, whose employees learn adopting to cultural
conscious communal processes for change, collaborative
continually generating, retaining and team working, employee
leveraging individual and collective empowerment and
learning to improve performance of the involvement, etc.
organizational system in ways important to
all stakeholders and by monitoring and
improving performance”

5. 3. Innovation & Organization learning is the process by Facilitation of learning
Creativity which the organization constantly and knowledge creation;
questions existing product, process and focus on creative quality
system, identify strategic position, apply and value innovation
various modes of learning, and achieve
sustained competitive advantage
ORGANIZATION LEARNING VS LEARNING ORGANIZATION
There is a difference between Organizational Learning and Learning Organization.
Argyris (1977) defines Organizational Learning as the process of "detection and
correction of errors" while Senge (1990) defines Learning Organization as "a
group of people continually enhancing their capacity to create what they want to
create". He further remarks that "the rate at which organizations learn may become
the only sustainable source of competitive advantage". Ang & Joseph (1996)
contrast Organizational Learning and Learning Organization in terms of process
versus structure.
TOPIC FOR DISCUSSION
Promote and reward expertise.
Today‟s workforce is more specialized than ever. Your most talented people in
sales, manufacturing, engineering, and design are not in management – they are
doing their jobs. High-impact learning organizations unleash these experts and put
in place programs to promote and reward even greater levels of expertise.
You should also reward such expertise. Give engineers career progression in their
discipline; give people time to study and improve their own skills; publicize and

6. promote the success of experts. Such programs tell the organization that “expertise
matters” and “we are willing to invest in your own skills.”
Remember that corporate learning is “informal” and HR doesn‟t own it.
If you ask any business leader “how people learn,” their most common answer is
“on the job.” And this is correct – sales people learn by making sales calls,
engineers learn by doing design, customer service people learn by solving
problems. The key to success then is not to provide a lot of formal training, but
rather create an environment that supports rapid on-the-job learning.
Unleash the power of experts.
And remember that experts are everywhere, so let people share what they‟ve
learned easily.
A great example of such knowledge sharing is the Cheesecake Factory‟s video
learning portal. The head of corporate training for this fast-growing food chain put
in place a YouTube-like learning portal which lets any employee upload a video of
themselves doing their job well. Employees can share “how to make a hamburger”
or “how to best clean the floor” and share it in any way they wish. Within only a
few weeks of building this system people rapidly started using their cell phones to
create instructional videos and share hilarious stories about how they solve
problems on the job. The system went viral in a few weeks.
Demonstrate the value of formal training
Formal training has not gone away, and it still plays a huge role in career
development and professional networking. If you have lots of formal training
available, managers should be incented to promote such opportunities and help
people make time to learn. Yes, it might take them away from their jobs for a few
days, but ultimately the return is much greater productivity and satisfaction.
Allow people to make mistakes.
The best organizational learning (and individual learning) occurs right after you
make a huge mistake. These are the most important learning opportunities your
company has.

7. What happens in your organization when someone fails or makes a mistake? Do
you punish the participants? Or do you take the time to diagnose what happened
and put formal programs in place to improve? One of the tenets of six-sigma is
continuous improvement – and the foundation of continuous improvement is a
culture of “learning from mistakes.”
In a learning organization, leaders are designers, stewards and teachers. They are
responsible for building organizations were people continually expand their
capabilities to understand complexity, clarify vision, and improve shared mental
models – that is they are responsible for learning…. Learning organizations will
remain a „good idea‟… until people take a stand for building such organizations.
Taking this stand is the first leadership act, the start of inspiring (literally „to
breathe life into‟) the vision of the learning organization.
Leader as designer
The functions of design are rarely visible, yet no one has a more sweeping
influence than the designer
The organization‟s policies, strategies and „systems‟ are key area of design, but
leadership goes beyond this. Integrating the five component technologies is
fundamental. However, the first task entails designing the governing ideas – the
purpose, vision and core values by which people should live. Building a shared
vision is crucial early on as it „fosters a long-term orientation and an imperative for
learning‟
Leader as steward
One of the important things to grasp here is that stewardship involves a
commitment to, and responsibility for the vision, but it does not mean that the
leader owns it. It is not their possession. Leaders are stewards of the vision, their
task is to manage it for the benefit of others
Leaders have to learn to listen to other people‟s vision and to change their own
where necessary. Telling the story in this way allows others to be involved and to
help develop a vision that is both individual and shared.
Leader as teacher
“Leader as teacher” is not about “teaching” people how to achieve their vision. It is
about fostering learning, for everyone. Such leaders help people throughout the

8. organization develop systemic understandings. Accepting this responsibility is the
antidote to one of the most common downfalls of otherwise gifted teachers – losing
their commitment to the truth.
Leaders have to create and manage creative tension – especially around the gap
between vision and reality. Mastery of such tension allows for a fundamental shift.
It enables the leader to see the truth in changing situations.
Politics and Vision
To think through and define the specific purpose and mission of the institution,
whether business enterprise, hospital, or university.
To make work productive and the worker achieving.
To manage social impacts and social responsibilities. (op. cit.)
He continues:
None of our institutions exists by itself and as an end in itself. Everyone is an
organ of society and exists for the sake of society. Business is not exception. „Free
enterprise‟ cannot be justified as being good for business. It can only be justified as
being good for society. (Drucker 1977: 40)

9. CONCLUSION
We could say that while there are some issues and problems with his
conceptualization, at least it does carry within it some questions around what might
make for human flourishing. The emphases on building a shared vision, team
working, personal mastery and the development of more sophisticated mental
models and the way he runs the notion of dialogue through these does have the
potential of allowing workplaces to be more convivial and creative. The drawing
together of the elements via the Fifth Discipline of systemic thinking, while not
being to everyone‟s taste, also allows us to approach a more holistic understanding
of organizational life
If you build a culture which gives people time to reflect, develop and share
expertise, stay close to customers, and learn from mistakes you will outdistance
your competition and thrive in the face of huge market change. Take a lesson from
companies like Apple, IBM, and Google: build expertise and promote
organizational learning, it will pay off big time.
REFERENCE:
PETER SEGE BILIOGRAPY
WORLD STARDARDS
FORBES.COM
AMBN AMBRO PROJECT DONE
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/senge.htm
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