Huston_Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing,

Chapter 16 Educating and Socializing Staff in a Learning Organization

397

DISPLAY 16.2 S ENGE’S FIVE DISCIPLINES OF A LEARNING ORGANIZATION

Senge (2006, p. 3), who called such organizations LOs . Senge defined a LO as a place “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 see the whole together.” In essence, LOs are places where people are continually learning how to learn together. The key characteristics of Senge’s model of LOs (five disciplines) are shown in Display 16.2. These disciplines allow for the creation of an infrastructure that promotes continuous learning, adaptation, and growth since LOs view learning as the key to the future for individuals as well as for organizations. Since Senge, many theorists have furthered our understanding of LOs. As Nichols (2021) explains, LOs embrace an organizational framework that relies on active and continuous learning as the foundation for an engaged and productive workforce. Thus, the overall aim of the LO is to create a more agile learning culture by building learning capabilities in teams and individuals (Liimatainen, 2021). This requires not only applying learnings continuously in daily work, but also continuously co-developing the learning process with fellow learners. • Systems thinking . The organization encourages staff to see themselves as connected to the whole organization, and work activities are seen as having an impact beyond the individual. This creates a sense of community and builds a commitment on the part of individual workers not only to the organization but also to each other. Consequently, one of the main goals of the learning organization (LO) is to construct an organizational culture of learning. • Personal mastery . Each member of the staff has a commitment to improve their personal abilities. This personal and professional learning is then integrated into the team and organization. • Team learning . It is through the collaboration of team members that LOs achieve their goals. Val ues, such as trust and openness, commitment to one another’s learning, and acknowledgment that mistakes are part of the learning process, are important characteristics of a LO. • Mental models . A mental model is the set of assumptions and generalizations (or even pictures or images) that influence how we understand the world and how we take actions (The Busy Lifestyle, 2020). The goal in the LO is to foster organizational development through diverse thinking. Assumptions held by individuals then are challenged because this releases individuals from traditional thinking and promotes the full potential of individuals to learn. • Shared vision . When all the employees of the LO share a common vision, they are more willing to put their personal goals and needs aside and instead focus on teamwork and collaboration. Source : From Senge, P. (2006). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. Currency Doubleday.

“LOs are dependent on the systematic and duly classified archiving of successively generated knowledge, and the more intense is the sharing of this knowledge internally among its members, as well as externally within the society, then the greater is the development of the organization” (Lopes and Fernandes, 2021, p. 33).

LOs also promote recruitment and retention by allowing employees to grow and learn with and from each other. In addition, the LO fosters a shared vision and collective learning to create positive and needed organizational change. The key aspects of a LO are an open culture with a shared vision for the work, ongoing habits of feedback and assessment, an encouragement of individual mastery and expertise, adoption of accepted best practices, and a willingness to experiment and take risks (Spas, 2021). These elements allow an organiza tion to be framed constructively, oriented toward the future, and generative of individual and collective accomplishments.