preparing for the future learning organizations and managing knowledge

Preparing for the future

Learning Organizations and Managing Knowledge

"…Ugatha Mana Shilpayamai Mathu Rekena…"

Learning leads to prospirity

"Vijja Uppaththan Setta"

Among the all inborn, Knowledge is the supreme

Learning - By Confucius

Without learning the wise become foolish

By learning the foolish become wise

Learn as if you could never have enough of learning, as if

you might miss something

Learning - By Fidel Castro

How Fidel Castro started to govern Cuba?

What was his first request to the general public?

Learning

The importance of learning was first put forward by the

Chinese Philosopher, Confucius. He believed that every

one could benefit from learning.

Learning

1. Learning is the relatively permanent change in

behavior as a result of one's interactions with the

environment.

2. It is not a quick change. It must be a sustainable

change

Types of Learning

1. Level I Learning facts, knowledge, processes and

procedures

2. Level II Learning new skills, that are transferable

to other situations

3. Level III Learning to adapt

4. Level IV Learning to Learn

Knowledge

Knowledge give me opportunities.

Open and close doors for me

Be my light, show me the way

Amazing knowledge

If I possess the knowledge

Nobody can destruct me…

Knowledge Economies

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Knowledge

Real learning gets to the heart of what it means to be

human. Though learning we re - create ourselves. Through

learning we become able to do something we never able

to do. Though learning we re - perceive the world and our

relationship to it. Though learning develop our capacity to

create, to be the part of the generative process of it.

Learning Organization/s

"An organization which facilitates the learning of all its

members and continuous transform itself".

(Pedler et al., 1988)

Two elements in the definition:

1. Individual learning

2. Organizational learning and transformation

Learning Organization/s

"Organizational learning is a process of detecting and

correcting of errors".

(Argyris, 1977)

"… in a learning organization people learn to see the

whole (reality) togher".

(Peter Senge)

Learning Organization/s

1. An organization that learns and encourages learning

among its people.

2. It promotes exchange of information among

employees to create a knowledgeable workforce.

3. People will accept and adapt to new ideas and changes

through a shared vision.

Learning Organization/s

1. Adaptive to the external environment

2. Continually enhance the capacity to change/adapt

3. Develop individual as well as collective learning

4. use results of learning to enjoy better organizational

results

Learning Organization/s

Organization En

viro

nmen

t

Learning

Adopt developing strategies

Characteristics of a Learning Organization

1. Learning Culture

2. Processes

3. Tools and techniques

4. Skills and Motivation

Learning and Knowing…. Why……?

1. Organizations and employees must know how to

change

2. To cope with rapid and unexpected changes where

programmed responses are inadequate

3. Need flexibility

4. Front - line staff ……… Customer……

Characteristics of a Learning Organization

…"the learning organization depends absolutely on skills,

approaches and commitment of individuals and their own

learning"…

(Mumford, 1994)

How to compete in this knowledge economy?

® Organization is a learning, knowing and sense making

organism

® Like humans, organizations make sense out of their

environments

® Productivity based on the correctness and the

appropriateness of its sense making judgments, and

the ability to gather, create, store and distribute

knowledge and information

How to compete in this knowledge economy?

1. Role of the manager is to use the sense making ability

to define the problem, define solutions and to build

the information and knowledge processing

infrastructure of the organization.

2. Thus, Key role of the manager is to perceive the

environment correctly….

Two types of knowledge

Tacit Knowledge Subjective and experimental

knowledge that cannot be expressed

in words, sentences, numbers and

formulas

Explicit Knowledge Objective and rational knowledge that

can be expressed in words, sentences,

numbers or using formulas

Knowledge based view of the firm……..

1. Knowledge base view emphasizes the collection,

storage and use of knowledge and information

2. This perspective has implication for IT

3. Managers must use IT to increase the information and

knowledge processing infrastructure of the firm

Knowledge based view of the firm……..

4. Knowledge is the central productive and strategic asset

of the firm

5. Explicit knowledge is codified in books, manuals,

pictures and videos and tacit knowledge is hidden

know how, build over years of experience

6. To create value/s by organizations, they require

different types of specialized knowledge

Knowledge Economies

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Competitive Advantages in the Knowledge Economy

Economic Revolutions

Economic Revolutions

— 119th Century Agrarian based economies

— 220th Century industrial power

— 21th Century Knowledge based economy

Industrial Revolution…..

Steam Engine

Division of Labor

Scientific Management

Time and Motion Studies

Activity Scheduling Charts

Moving Assembly Lines

Knowledge Based Economy

• Society today governs by knowledge workers who

apply their knowledge to work.

• Knowledge society is a post - capitalist system

• The post capitalist system is neither capitalist nor

socialist

• The controlling factor of production is neither capital,

nor land, nor labor, but knowledge

• Classes are also due to the knowledge

Knowledge Based Economy

Objective of acquiring knowledge is neither the mere

production of intellectuals nor the material and processes,

but the production of knowledge workers who are ready

to directly apply their acquired knowledge to work.

Competitive Advantages in the Knowledge Economy

Knowledge and Development

Knowledge and Development

• Key to economic progress and the vehicle that carries

the solutions to poverty

• A nation's human capital formation is the critical factor

in achieving socio economic development

• The modern trend is the shift from the resource based

economy to the knowledge based economy

Knowledge and Development

• Knowledge has become the most influential factor in

development

• Unlike physical resources, knowledge and technology

are characterized by increasing returns, and these

increasing returns drive the process of growth

• Now the production process become knowledge based

Knowledge and Development

• Knowledge is the critical factor required for

employment

• A country's capacity to take competitive advantages in

the knowledge economy depends on how quickly it

can adjust its capacity to generate and share

knowledge

• Knowledge can shape and re-shape the economy

Knowledge and Development

• Knowledge workers are vital for socio - economic

development

• Education system basically produce new knowledge

• Research as a major source of creating and

disseminating new knowledge

• The fast developing economies requires highly

qualified and skilled human capital

Knowledge and Competitive Advantages

• Collective and shared experience accumulated, share

across the organization

• Organizational knowledge has been highlighted as

important due to;

– Organization become more complex and large, the need to

share and pool what people know becomes a real challenge

– Then, ……………………

Knowledge and Competitive Advantages

• It is less likely that organizations achieve competitive

advantages through physical resources and more likely

that they will achieve advantages through intimate

knowledge

• ICT and information systems altered the business and

the way of doing businesses

Knowledge and Competitive Advantages

• In agricultural and industrial sectors of the economy

require knowledge and skilled based employees in

future

• When industries shifting towards the technological

advancements (A country like Japan), knowledge is the

essential input to reinforce the economy

Organizational Knowledge Creation - SECI Model

1 2

34

Knowledge and the Human Capital

• Human capital is the education, training and on the job

learning embodied in the workforce

• It is the employees knowledge and the brain power

• Human Capital is more than Human Resource

• From resources we can gain products, but from human

capital we can gain profits

• To create human capital tacit and explicit knowledge

should get together

Knowledge and Competitive Advantages

• In a knowledge economy wealth creation is done by the

knowledge (Like Japan)

• Without physical resources also a country can develop utilizing

knowledge

• To give competitive advantages knowledge must have basic

four features;

– Valuable

– Rare

– Imperfectly imitable

– Non substitutable

Knowledge and Knowledge Worker

• Organizational learning is the process by which

organizations acquire tacit knowledge

• "Patent System" is a must to maintain a knowledge

economy

• Knowledge worker apply the knowledge to the

organization, but not the intellect.

Strategies to compete in a knowledge economy

• Link between science and technology

• Innovations

• Increase the importance of education and training;

through the quality of it

• Attract, recruit, train and retain super performers

• Life long learning

• Greater investment in R & D

Thank You!

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