Management and Organisational Behaviour
7th Edition
CHAPTER 10
The Nature of Learning
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.2
Learning
• Learning means change
• Learning implies a different internal state that may
result in new behaviours & actions or new
understanding & knowledge
• Learning can be undertaken within a formal setting or
be spontaneous or incremental
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.3
Figure 10.1
Factors influencing the learning process
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.4
The significance of learning for psychologists
1. Provides understanding of development &
deterioration and is at the very heart of demonstrating
the ways in which individuals differ
2. Studies are dependent upon knowledge of memory &
intelligence
3. It is a challenge to find new ways of studying invisible
processes and of accurately measuring changes to
behaviour
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.5
The significance of learning for managers
1. Powerful processes which can lead to positive
outcomes, e.g. increased competence, understanding,
self esteem & morale
2. Individuals who enjoy learning are more likely to be
flexible in times of constant change & therefore more
adaptable to organisational turbulence
3. Growing evidence that a learning culture can affect an
organisation’s effectiveness
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.6
Knowledge management
The promotion & formalisation of learning within
the workplace with the aim of aligning training
with the needs of the business
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.7
Types of knowledge
Explicit knowledge – knowledge that is easily
communicated, quantified and systematic
Tacit knowledge – knowledge and wisdom that is not
easily communicated or quantified but is gained through
experience and communicated on an informal basis
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.8
Types of knowledge
Knowledge-creating companies systematically ensure that
tacit & explicit knowledge feed into each other in a spiral of
knowledge
Tacit knowledge is converted into explicit knowledge by
articulation.
Explicit knowledge is used with an individual’s cognitive
understanding by a process of internalisation
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.9
The importance of knowledge management
• Business pressure on innovation
• Inter-organisational enterprises
• Networked organisations & the need to co-ordinate
geographically dispersed groups
• Increasingly complex products & services with a
significant knowledge component
• Hyper-competitive marketplaces
• Digitisation of business environments
• Concerns about the loss of knowledge due to
increasing staff mobility, attrition etc.
Kerr
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.10
Knowledge management practices
The Business Processes Resource Centre at Warwick
University has distinguished four different types of
knowledge management practices –
1.
2.
3.
4.
Valuing knowledge
Exploiting intellectual property
Capturing project-based learning
Managing knowledge workers
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.11
Knowledge management initiatives
1. Getting employees on board
2. Allowing technology to dictate knowledge
management
3. Not having a specific goal
4. Knowledge management is not static
5. Not all information is knowledge
Santosus & Surmacz
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.12
Knowledge management processes
•
Managing the generation of new knowledge through
learning
•
Capturing knowledge & experience
•
Sharing, collaborating, & communicating
•
Organising information for easy access
•
Using & building on what is known
Mayo
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.13
The learning organisation
… an organisation which facilitates the learning of all its
members and continuously transforms itself.
Pedler, Boydell & Burgoyne
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.14
Basic principles of a learning organisation
1. It can learn as much, if not more, from failure as from
success
2. Rejects the adage ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ as it
constantly scrutinises the way things are done
3. Assumes that managers and workers closest to the
design, manufacturing, distribution & sale of the
product often know more about these activities than
their superiors
4. Seeks to move knowledge from one part of the
organisation to another
5. Spends a lot of energy looking outside its own
boundaries for knowledge
Lampel
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.15
Table 10.3
Learning experiences of different companies
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.16
Difficulties with the learning organisation concept
Effective implementation of the learning
organisation concept requires the resolution of:
• Meaning (or definition)
• Management (or practical operational advice)
• Measurement (tools for assessment)
Garvin
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.17
How people learn
• Classical conditioning
• Operant conditioning
• Social learning
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.18
Figure 10.2
Classical conditioning
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.19
Figure 10.2
Classical conditioning
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.20
Figure 10.2
Classical conditioning
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.21
Figure 10.2
Classical conditioning
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.22
Figure 10.3
Operant conditioning
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.23
Figure 10.3
Operant conditioning
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.24
Figure 10.3
Operant conditioning
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.25
Figure 10.3
Operant conditioning
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.26
Social learning
Drive
Cue
Response
Reward
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.27
Figure 10.4
Kolb’s learning cycle
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.28
Components of the thinking environment
•
•
•
•
•
Attention
Incisive questions
Equality
Appreciation
Ease
•
•
•
•
•
Encouragement
Feelings
Information
Place
Diversity
Kline
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.29
Action learning sets
• Small groups of people who all wish to develop
themselves through tackling live issues
• The sets provide opportunities for each
individual to report in turn on their actions and
reflect on the progress they have made
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.30
Learning styles
• Accommodative
• Divergent
• Assimilative
• Convergent
Honey & Mumford
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.31
Learning styles
Mayo suggests that organisations need to recognise the
fact that people learn in different ways & that the following
actions should be taken:
• Give people the opportunity to discover their most
natural learning style(s)
• Offer learning opportunities that suit people with different
learning styles
• Recognise the need to complete the full learning cycle
• Help people to translate the learning cycle into an
upwards continuous spiral of learning
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.32
Creative thinking process
Creativity – the application of imaginative thought which
results in innovative solutions to many problems
Goodman
1.
2.
3.
4.
Preparation
Incubation
Illumination
Verification
Wallas
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.33
Blocks to personal creativity
•
•
•
•
•
•
Perceptual
Emotional
Process
Communication
Environmental
Cultural
Goodman
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.34
Coaching
• Uses deductive techniques to increase an
individual’s ability & willingness in a specific
subject or problem area
• Ideally the techniques are used in a structured
way
• The coach does not have to be an expert in the
subject
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.35
Mentoring
• Uses a mixture of inductive & deductive
techniques to increase an individual’s ability in a
specific subject
• Ideally a structured programme is used
• The mentor must be an expert in the subject
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.36
The GROW model
• Goals – what does the coachee want to achieve, how do
they want to feel afterwards?
• Reality – what is the scenario, what is the context, what
are the problems?
• Options – what are the possible actions, which are most
attractive, what has worked in the past?
• Wrap up – what actions are needed, what does success
look like, what if things get in the way?
Starr
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005
OHT 10.37
Applying theories of learning to organisations
1. Self development – learning what to do, how to
be, learning the ropes
2. Development of others – personal
development, development of planned learning
events
3. Development of learning culture – policy
development
Mullins: Management and Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition © Pearson Education Limited 2005