What are the key elements to creating a Learning-Driven Culture?

Arun Prasand is a leading Ph.D applicant at the Indian Institue of Technology’s Department of Management Studies in Madras, India. At ICCS 2004, he put on view a paper co-authored with Dr. T.J. Kamalanabhan which analyzes the various Human Resource practices that stimulate a learning driven culture in an organization’s workplace. Prasad contents, that creating such an ecosystem, is the manner by which organizations can keep up with a sustained competitive advantage in their business sector. Here’s a summary of some of the key points presented during his talk, which shows how human resource practices are essentials to developing and bolstering this conduct: Keys to creating a sustained competitive advantage: Knowledge Learning Processes Learning Culture Knowledge Practice Theoretical model for better understanding the connection between compelling people management and a learning driven ecosystem Prasad contends that there is a relationship between Knowledge Strategy and Human Resource Practices, and between Human Resource Practices and Learning Outcomes. The idea of Knowledge Strategy originates from emanating hypotheses that concentrate on assets as a key element to keeping up with a sustained competitive. One of the most striking and vital assets a firm can procure is the knowledge of its individual employees. Human Resource Practices by and large incorporate training, selection, compensation, employee participation, and recruitment. The connection between constructive Human Resource and a learning driven ecosystem comes to fruition on successful application of these particular actions: Staffing, Training and Development, Performance Appraisal, Rewards and Compensation on the grounds that these are seen as learning empowered human resource practices. Firms that consolidate learning into HR, for example, peer review as one of the main features of the appraisal process, or propitious self-directed development program as a major aspect of a training program. It is organizations that truly adapt to the learning part of HR create a learning-driven culture Types of Knowledge Explicit Knowledge: Relatively easy to share, requires interpretation, communicated and documented knowledge used by firms in order to execute. Tacit Knowledge: Stimulate knowledge flow, social-interaction, mentoring, share ideas, thoughts, experiences etc. The competency shown by organizations to change over implicit information to explicit knowledge is at the nucleus of a learning organization. Organizations that aren’t fit to concentrate the information of its workers to the collective knowledge base are typical of Zero and First-circle learning associations. Types of Learning Organizations Zero Learning These are associations that neglect to make remedial strides when problems and crucial issues emerge. Alluded to as Disintegrators in management lingo, workers at such organizations generally don’t accept criticism and hence never take action to rectify it. There is a lack of relationship between the individual’s knowledge and the knowledge of the collective organization. These types of organizations generally work in profoundly dull and routine based ways. What are HR qualities for Disintegrators? Selection and recruitment in such firms are typically executed through disorderly questions that concentrate on manual skill sets. Training and evaluation is normally policy based, and appraisal procedures are hierarchical in nature. Single-loop learning Single-circle learning encapsulates firms where activities and issues add knowledge to the organization’s knowledge base without modifying fundamental processes. Known as Consolidators, people of single-loop learning organizations accept criticism and conform appropriately, however, they basically rectify the problems as they turn out, instead of dodging the same difficulties later on. The learning through mistakes epitomizes this conduct. People of such firms are described by straightforward versatile retaliation and incremental learning that gradually increases the organization’s knowledge base. What are the HR aspects of single-loop learning firms? Selection is focused around technical skill and organized interviews – training is focused around problem solving and communication – appraisal is focused around diverse performance measures and reward stability – compensation is focused around performance furthermore attached to individual incentives. Double-loop learning Individuals in such firms indisputably change the collective knowledge base and width of skills accessible. “Transformers” employees are allowed to change the schedules and methods that govern their duties. They re-outline issues and help changing policies and procedures and don’t sweat over taking risks in their work. What are the HR aspects for Double-loop learning firms?  Selection is focused around hard and soft skills, mentality towards learning, responsibility, teamwork and sharing; training is focused around self-improvement where workers participate in self-directed learning; performance evaluation originates from above and beneath; compensation is focused around mentoring and knowledge sharing, and on group and long term incentive structures. Triple-loop learning These are organizations that have created single and double-loop learning, and have proceeded onward to learning and creating structures for how they learn. It’s the benchmark at which a firm considers methodologies for adapting learning as a component of their core process. Alluded to as Co-Inventors, such firms consolidate process evaluation into their development of new strategies and compare achievements from over a wide span of past innovations/changes. HR aspects of Triple-circle learning are as follows: Selection is focused around state of mind towards reflective learning, cognitive thinking, sharing abilities, training which is focused on peers teaching peers, appraisal and past performance, pay is based on profit sharing and stock option plans Conclusions According to Prasad, in order to tackle challenges of the knowledge economy, firms need to “transform their HRM function by removing the old silos of the past” and facilitating it to “embrace the new roles of human capital steward, knowledge facilitator, and rapid deployment specialist“. To sum it up, HR practices such as – staffing, training and development, performance appraisal, rewards and compensation, necessitates the means that binds employees together to share and convert tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge.