What are Learning Organizations? Need for Learning Organizations: The ever evolving, dynamic business environment and the complex relationship among various countries in the political and business arena necessitate the need for a learning organization. This becomes essential for organizations to be flexible and be able to respond to change which is the only enduring source of competitive strength. What is a learning organization? A learning organization is the term given to a company that facilitates the learning of its members and continuously transforms itself. Learning organizations develop as a result of the pressures facing modern organizations and enables them to remain competitive in the business environment. Learning is used to reach their goals and avoid repeating mistakes. Employees learn to link their personal goals to organizational goals and link rewards to key measures of performance. The managers learn to design systems and procedures to motivate learning process and to encourage employees to feel free to share information and take risks. Characteristics of a learning organization: It nurtures a climate of trust in the organization and people are encouraged to learn and develop their #knowledge and skill sets. It inspires human resources in the immediate external environment such as customers, suppliers, creditors etc., to learn as and when possible. The whole business policy revolves around #HRD strategy. The organization subjects itself to continuous transformation in which learning and working run hand-in-hand. Learning Based Techniques: Organizational learning concept is the latest OD (#Organizational Development) technique. #Ernst & Young, the largest #accounting firm has set the following procedures for learning purpose. Managers play a vital role in this transformational process of learning. They are responsible for choosing employees who are willing to and capable of learning, and must ensure that the participants in the program are trainable. They must get the support of #trainees and others. Trainees must be appraised about the benefits that will result from training and the managers also should enjoy the support of supervisors, #co-workers and their sub-ordinates. This is very essential to facilitate learning process, to ensure availing of honor and respect of peers and sub-ordinates. The opinion of trainees, supervisors, co-workers and sub-ordinates must be obtained on the content of training, the location and the time and duration of the training. Managers also play a key role in assisting others in goal-setting and meeting those goals. Goal setting is necessary to improve their performance and direct their attention to specific #behavior that needs to be changed. Managers may assist the sub-ordinates and peers to identify tools and resources for acquiring knowledge. Managers must also focus on providing performance feedback as it serves two objectives; it provides information on performance and serves as a motivating tool. Managers should urge their employees to analyze their performance, identify weaknesses and take action to overcome weaknesses. Managers may assist the employee to transfer the learned skills/knowledge to work. It will be a wiser move to design #training methods in such a way as to enable the trainees to practice skills on their jobs between training sessions. DOWNLOAD THE PDF VERSION...

Power and Balance in Corporate Governance Power has the ability to disorient a person’s behavior and attitude. When properly used it leads to height of efficiency, when misused it calls for calamity and disorientation in the entire business firm. It is nothing but the authority that comes with your job which has to be utilized for constructive purpose and at the same time to ascertain that things are “going in the right direction.” Precise use of power leads to a congenial atmosphere in your business arena”. Otherwise in course of time you might have to tackle warfare with your subordinates and the “undercurrent of animosity” might ruin your business success. How it affects Inter-Personal Relationship: When we talk about POWER it usually fits well into the top level management cadre, as managers and senior managers are assigned with huge powers in order to lead the firm in times of crisis as well as maintain the consistency of the nature of the firm. So when there is abuse of power consciously or unconsciously, people create a space between themselves and that particular person who misuses the power. So the result would be a lack of interpersonal relationship between the manager and the employees. Managers generally acquire and use influence that has its impact not only on the behavior of the individuals, but also on the organizational effectiveness as a whole which in turn affects productivity. Use Power as a Constructive Tool: In fact, authoritative behavior is often misunderstood by most of the managers in the business setup; there is a need for the managers to skillfully use their power in order to extract work from their teams as well as to maintain a balance between the extent to which authority must be used and the tolerance level of the employees’ (mind set). So it is more of a psychology which involves much critical analysis on the part of the manager to understand the constructive aspects of his authority and how employees at a lower level will always look up to him for support and guidance and not indifference. Power covers and affects the following important aspects, Discretion Crisis management Dependence of employees Responsibility Leadership Governance Interpersonal relationship Change management Environmental influences Reward systems Collaborative management Success of the firm and so on. In order to maintain his own integrity as well as the organisations’ the manager must be able to appreciate the relevance of power in management just by not looking into the literature but act in accordance with the situation. A detailed analysis of power dynamics makes the manager more effective in dealing with behavior inconsistencies in the organization. Try to be more open in your communication and make your employees feel that “You are always there” to support and guide them. This in turn will make your “Boss to have a second look at you” for a promotional pay. This discussion is from the manager’s perspective and there is more to be discussed and considered from an employee’s...

Values and Beliefs in Organizations What are Values and Beliefs in an Organization: An organisational value is “a belief that a specific mode of conduct is preferable to an opposite or contrary mode of conduct.”  Infosys Narayanamoorthy on Value System : Our team was unique in our commitment to a strong value system. We believed in putting the interest of the company ahead of our own interest. We believed in legal and ethical business. A sound value system is what differentiates long-term players from others.   Core Values of an Organization: Increasingly, organizations are setting out the core values that they think should govern the behavior of all their employees. Value statements may be produced which define core values in areas such as: Care for customers Concern for people Competitiveness Enterprising Excellence Flexibility Growth as a major objective Innovation Market/customer orientation Productivity Quality Teamwork But, is that all? By just defining what you think is important to guide the action of your employees may not suffice the cause. How do you put them into action! That’s where the secret lies.     Imitating the Boss: How do you make people do what you want them to do! Just by being a precedence or role model for your followers, is that not true? The best example that can be cited is the school atmosphere, where the kids take to their teachers. They simply, blindly follow or imitate whatever their masters do. I think IMITATION is the right word, because it makes people easily inclined to the behavior that is appreciated by the organisation’s atmosphere. When you imitate your boss you get a surreal feeling of being a boss at least for that time being.     Coercion is not the Right Approach: It is a general fact that it is very difficult to train or mould people the way we want to. And again it can be argued that people can be trained or molded very easily when you have the right kind of motivation and guidance. The core values should be INBUILT; it should be there RIGHT FROM THE START. If you have able managers to run your teams it becomes a cake walk for you to train the individuals without much COERCION. The authority and influence which the team leader has over the team says it all. Influencing the Employees the Right Way: Everybody in an organization plays their own role in cherishing the values imbibed and focus on achieving results, and keenness to “GET GOING AND KEEP GOING”. High work output is expected from a clerical staff, the Supervisor can be depended on for effective organization and control of teams and their work. THE MANAGER is clear about what “success “means for the business and is resourceful in overcoming obstacles. THE SENIOR MANAGER maintains focus on the “BOTTOM LINE” despite continuous changes to procedures and systems, and the EXECUTIVE is focused on results even when dealing with very diverse complex tasks and proactive in tackling mistakes.     Performance of Value Oriented Organizations: Value Oriented Organisations perform definitely better than others and achieve their targets in a quick manner. Values give direction to the firm backed up by solid principles to guide the action of the employees and also the commitment and determination to achieve whatever is due. Reliance Industries Limited stands as a testimony for a single man’s dream and vision and his core value was CUSTOMER SATISFACTION. To scale to greater heights, you also need STRONG WILLED PEOPLE RIGHT ATTITUDE ACTION PLANS STRATEGIES PERSISTENCE DETERMINATION and PASSION Values add integrity and honor to your organization and you should always remember that to hold your values you...

Organizational Assessment – Motive and Means Organizational assessment involves creating a picture of “what it is”. The snapshot should provide a clear view of the present position of the company and it should indicate whether there is a need to go for a change process. The data provides a baseline which can be used as a reference point to measure change in the future. Employee opinion surveys and climate surveys form a critical part of this measurement process. The key to an effective assessment is being clear about the goal of the process and being specific about the questions the intended exercise must answer. Cultural assessment: This provides information about core dimensions of organizational culture which includes satisfaction with the work itself, satisfaction with pay and benefits, opportunities for advancement, satisfaction with leadership and supervision, motivation, common values and performance commitment. If the leader proves to be aggressive, committed, value driven, so will be the employees who obviously take after their leader to fulfill his vision. The purpose behind analyzing the culture of an organization is to determine its efficiency level and to generate recommendations for continuous improvement. This exercise should not be a one-time affair as periodical inputs and feedback are excellent ways to align culture with the vision. In this way, management is better able to anticipate and prevent any potential problem, and to assess employee attitudes regularly. Survey administration: Surveys are administered to large groups of employees at one time and it is emphasized to be anonymous to erase any apprehensions in their minds. Open-ended questions allow employees to express their opinions about areas that need improvement and also the problem areas or bottlenecks that hinder their development. Report generation: The statistics collected is summarized and presented for each and every dimension covered in the survey. The report compares the organization’s current culture with previous administrations of the survey. Such open ended discussions bring out the problem areas which the management had not been previously aware of. Feedback to management and employees: The managers discuss the outcome of the survey in order to gain a better understanding of the various issues facing the organization, and decide on a plan to give feedback to their employees. This is a kind of human resource strategy which helps the management to bridge the gap between various levels of the organization and its members. Recommendations to the management: A final report submission by managers of the respective departments along with their recommendations for management’s perusal is the final step in organizational diagnosis and with the approval of “the big boss” action plans are executed that aid in improving the organizational effectiveness. The notion of this entire exercise is to provide insight into the current skill levels of the work force and to design an effective plan for performance improvement based on the assessment of total development needs....

Effective people are preferred to rather than efficient people as the former does the right thing and the latter does things right. Redesigning your workplace not only refers to the infrastructure but also the internal factors that might affect the productivity of your firm. Big corporate firms generally face challenges in the form of Lack of co-operation between subunitsIncreasing complaints from the customersRising Operating costsDip in the moraleMajor changes in technology All these signs are indications of a not so enterprising organizational climate. And it calls for quick decision making regarding introducing some changes that bring some positive development in terms of improved efficiency and increase in productivity. Redesigning Workplace in Response to Exogenous Factors Growth of Organizations The challenges mentioned above may make an organization’s existing structure, management practice or its culture obsolete for the new situation. Growth of an organization should be a result of collaborative effort of all the units of an organization and it is objective and not subjective. An organization is comprised of different elements which interact in deciding the organizational effectiveness. The task or goal, technology, structure, people and the internal and external environment of the firm; all these coexist and hold the firm together. Be it a school, a hospital, a union, a club or a business enterprise the interactive nature of these elements make the process of managing very difficult. Medical tourism and business travel are becoming more popular in Asian countries as it increases the scope of collaboration of industries that can coexist to enjoy a win-win situation. Who is an Effective Manager ? An effective manager anticipates these challenges and proactively initializes a planned change. He strategically prepares the organization to be subject to planned change by manipulating the structure, technology and behavior. Understanding the dimensions of change helps him to manage change better as people are always resistant to change. Modern enterprises right from the start have to install and implement “systems” that are technologically most modern and hire suitable people who are techno-savvy; Because technology rules the world and the development of new software programmes and hardware components feed on themselves every day. Developing an Organization as a Whole Behavior of people is unpredictable but controllable. Individually oriented training and development programmes does not prove much to the benefit of the organization as it creates apprehensions in the minds of the individual that are related to the culture and attitude of his superior and subordinates. The idea of developing the organization as a whole through team building is a better perspective as it renews the enthusiasm of people working for you and as a team they feel more cohesive and adhered. Synergy plays its role in improving the interpersonal relationship amongst the team members. Firms are becoming more modern in their outlook. For instance, a showroom whose purpose is to showcase your products also provides entertainment by its aesthetic value. Only if the customer is impressed by the artistic way of your exhibit, will he enter your showroom. Change is inevitable and it improves the health of an organization. The focus should be on “total system change” and the orientation is towards achieving desired results as a consequence of planned activities. Flat Organizational Structure You would have come across the latest buzz word “flat organizational structure”. This is designed in order to bridge the gap between front line employees and the executive level. If there is only few levels of management, the process of communication is more effective, the art of delegation becomes mandatory and need for participation in the decision making process involves all the employees which in turn reduces bureaucracy. There is no set pattern...