Week 5 Developing Individual Learning-190808_013829

Developing Individual Learning SMB 3004 By Wan Hendra Wan Hamzah

Building Dynamic Learning through the Organisation • The learning subsystem is composed of three complementary dimensions: 1. Levels of learning (individual, group and organisational) 2. Types of learning (adaptive learning, anticipatory learning, deutero learning and active learning) 3. Critical organisational learning skills (systems thinking, mental models, personal mastery, team learning, shared vision, and dialogue)

• Learning, ultimately, is a social phenomenon – our ability to learn and the quality and openness of our relationships determine what we can know. • Our mental models of the world and of ourselves grow out of our relationships with others.

Building Dynamic Learning through the Organisation – Individual learning • needed since individuals form the units of groups and organisations, or as Senge asserts “organisations learn only through individuals who learn”. • The factors that can contribute to individual learning in the organisation include:

• Individual and collective accountability for learning • Locus and focus of individual learning (learning should have immediate application to the job.) • Accelerated learning techniques.

• Personal development plan – People recognise that employers cannot guarantee them lifelong employment but that they can assist them in achieving lifelong employability. – There should be a partnership between the organisation and the employee to assist in the long-term career development. • Abundant opportunities available for professional development • Individual learning linked to organisational learning in an explicit and structured way.

• Marquardt (1996) says that individual learning is needed for organizational learning since individuals form the units of groups and organizations. • Senge (1990) believes that organizations learn through individuals who learn. • According to Argyris and Schon (1978) individual learning is a necessary but insufficient condition for organizational learning.

• Important for organizations to ensure that the individual who will learn developed into independent learners. • Independent learners have the motivation to learn, the ability to manage their learning process and ability to reflect on and learn from their activities.

• There are three main definitions of independent learners taken from Allan, Cook and Lewis (1996): b) Motivation Independent learners are motivated to learn.They accept responsibility for their own learning and have the confidence to approach others for help if they need it.

b) Management of the learning process. • Independent learners are capable of managing their learning processes effectively.The learning processes are: – Identifying learning objectives; – Selecting and using appropriate methods and techniques. – Managing times, stress, other commitments and the process of change. – Using a wide range of learning opportunities and resources. – Adapting the learning process to make use of new opportunities.

c) Reflection • Independent learners are able to monitor and reflect critically on what they learn.

Benefits of independence learning • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Successful completion of activities and projects. Very good time management Ability to cope when the going gets tough Find learning enjoyable. Learn what they need in less time. Know where to find help when they need it. Learn on their own. Gain a better understanding of their topic. More aware of gaps in their knowledge. Always be improving their ability to learn. Original and creative in thinking. Become a more effective lifelong learner. Recognise their own achievements. Value themselves as independent learner.

Management Strategies for Encouraging Learning • Managers who encourage learning among members of the organization are those who value learning. • These managers will help their staff to plan their learning by using a written plan. Learning plans can be annual, six-monthly or even weekly. • Other strategies that can be carried out will include: -providing staff with time -resource and support to attend development events. • Manager can also provide members with the workplace training by way of structured activities. These include coaching, independent study and computer-based training. • Managers should also encourage exchange of ideas and feedback through job rotation, work placements, networking etc. • Members should be encouraged to use mistakes as learning opportunities and to set aside time and psychological space for reflection

– Group / team learning • work teams must be able to think and create and learn as an entity. They must learn how to better create and capture learning (learning to learn). • A successful team learning system ensures that teams share their experiences with other groups in the organisation. • Team learning will occur more fully if teams are rewarded for the learning they contribute to the organisation.

Developing Team Learning • • • •

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Teams are important to learning organizations. Individual and independent learners form teams which will help to move new knowledge throughout the organization. Teams form the link between individual learning and organizational learning. Teams are vital in building learning organizations and they are an important influence to organizational learning and innovation. Characteristics of Good Team • • • • • • •

Honesty and trust Constructive relationships Ability to reflect and learn from previous actions Acceptance of each other's strengths and weaknesses Synergy and an alignment of goals Humor Superb results

Developing Positive Behaviors and Group Learning •

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In order to ensure the success of learning it is therefore important to develop team learning. Team learning can be developed through: Developing positive behaviors

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Developing group learning

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Honey (1991) identifies these positive (wanted) behaviors and compare them with negative (unwanted) behaviors as follow:

Honey: group learning Wanted Behavior • • • • • • • • • •

Asking questions Suggesting ideas Exploring alternatives Taking risks/experimenting Being open about they way it is Converting mistakes into learning Reflecting and reviewing Talking about learning Taking responsibility for own learning and development Admitting inadequacies and mistakes

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Unwanted Behavior Acquiescing Rubbishing ideas Going for expedient,quick fixes Being cautious Telling people what they want to hear/filtering bad news Repeating the same mistakes Rushing around keeping active Talking anecdotes ( what happened not what was learnt) Waiting for other to do it Justifying actions/blaming other people or events.

1. Identifying learning styles •

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The Honey and Mumford model of learning styles may be applied in a team situation. Each member of the team identifies their preferred learning style and an audit is carried out to identify the preferred learning styles of the team. This information may then be used by the group to explore and develop its working patterns.

2. Identifying group roles • The group role is different from a functional role, e.g. someone's functional role may be as an accountant and their team role may be to co-ordinate and encourage different individuals' activities. There are a number of different approaches to exploring group or team roles. • One of the best known approaches is that developed by Meredith Belbin who developed his model by identifying the characteristics of successful teams. He identifies nine different roles in a group

• 3 Action oriented team roles – Shaper – Implementer – Completer Finisher

• 3 People oriented team roles – Co-ordinator – Teamworker – Resource Investigator

• 3 Cerebral oriented team roles – Plant – Monitor Evaluator – Specialist.

3. Developing communication skills • Peter Senge has identified two key approaches to developing team communication and learning: these are the practices of dialogue and discussion. • Dialogue involves 'deep listening' where the listener suspends their own ideas and judgements, and focuses on exploring and understanding the issue and its complexities. • Discussion involves presenting and defending different views and searching for the 'best' ideas which will then be used to move the matter forward.

Developing goal setting and action plan • The skills of goal setting and action planning are best developed through practice. Goals are achievable outcomes and a common method for developing group goal setting is to use the SMART approach. SMART goals are those which are: – – – – –

Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-bound

• The development of group goals can be facilitated in group training or work-based sessions, where a team is asked to identify their goals for a particular time period.

Organisation learning • occur through the shared insights, knowledge, and mental models of members of the organisation • builds on past knowledge and experience which depends on institutional mechanisms (policies, strategies, explicit models...) used to retain knowledge. • Though organisations learn through individuals and groups, the process of learning is influenced by a much broader set of variables (for example symphony’s performance is more than the sum of individuals’knowledge and skills but the result of the know-how embedded in the whole group working in unison.

Types of learning • There are four types in which organisations learn: • Adaptive learning –

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occurs when an individual or organisation learns from experience and reflection: action ? outcome ? results date ? reflection. Adaptive learning may be either single-loop (focused on gaining information to stabilise and maintain existing systems) or double loop (questioning the system itself and why the errors or successes occurred in the first place).

2. Anticipatory learning – arises when an organisation learns from expecting the future: vision ? reflection ? action approach.

3. Deutero learning – occurs when the organisation learns from critically reflecting upon its taken-forgranted assumptions.

4. Active learning – involves (a group/team) working on real problems, focusing on the learning acquired, and actually implementing solutions.

Skills of learning • Marquardt has added Dialogue to the five critical organisational learning skills identified by Peter Senge: • Systems thinking – “A framework for seeing interrelationships rather than linear cause-effect chains, for seeing underlying structures rather than events, for seeing patterns of change rather than snapshots.” Changes in one part of the organisation can affect other parts with surprising consequences.

2. Mental models – An image or perspective of an event, situation, activity or concept 3. Personal mastery – A special level of proficiency that is committed to continually improve and perfect skills, a discipline of continually clarifying and deepening one’s personal vision,energies, and patience.

4. Team learning – The process of aligning and developing the capacity of a team to create thelearning and results that its members seek. The team involved must learn to tap the potential of many minds to become more intelligent than one mind.

5. Shared vision – Provides a focus, direction and energy for the members of an organisation. And learning is a way of striving to accomplish that vision.

6. Dialogue – promotes collecting thinking and communication.

Top ten strategies to build learning subsystems 1. Develop action learning programs throughout the organisation (time and effort!) 2. Increase individuals’ ability to learn how to learn 3. Develop the discipline of dialogue in the organisation 4. Develop career development plans for employability 5. Establish self-development cash programs 6. Build team-learning skills 7. Encourage and practice systems thinking 8. Use scanning and scenario planning for anticipatory learning 9. Encourage/Expand diversity, multicultural and global mindsets and leanings 10. Change the mental model relative to learning (most people retain a negative picture of learning one acquired in their school days).

The End Thank You