role of information technology in learning organization

8/7/2019 Role of Information Technology in Learning Organization

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Role of Information technologyin learning organization

Assignment ByVignesh .M

Role of Information technology in learning organization

THE CONCEPT OF INTELLIGENT ORGANISATIONSLearning can only occur if members of an organization are given

certain freedom to decide on their tasks and the way these tasks are bestperformed, are provided with opportunities to search for, acquire, store anduse relevant information presented in a user-friendly fashion and have welldeveloped intellectual capabilities. Translated into language of informationsystems, this amounts to building into organizational structures certainamount of uncertainty, developing systems capable of providing informationin multimedia form aimed at dynamically reducing the uncertainty and

employing natural and artificial intelligence to make decisions underconditions of residual uncertainty. Therefore the three concepts that are


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fundamental to the concept of intelligent organizations are uncertainty,information and intelligence.

The usual sources of uncertainty to which organizations are exposed include: The occurrence of unexpected external events e.g., unpredictable changes

in markets, social conditions and environmental factors.

The occurrence of unexpected internal events e.g., unforeseen changes ofpersonnel and a sudden loss of assets.

Incomplete, inconsistent or unreliable information available to the decision-makers for the purpose of deciding what to do next. This uncertainty may becaused by inadequate information technology or by the speed at whichunexpected events occur. To cope with these uncertainties the last thingthat members of an organization need are precise instructions and rigid linesof command and reporting.

They need instead a reasonable freedom to collect relevant information andmake appropriate decisions.In this context, Information is a means of reducing uncertainty about anaspect of the Universe.And, since no information is ever complete and there always is a residualuncertainty, organizations need individual and collective intelligence, whereIntelligence is the capability of a system to achieve a goal or sustain desiredbehavior under conditions of uncertainty.

Simply, Intelligence is a property, which enables an organization tooperate effectively when available information is inadequate. The ability to

recognize partially specified patterns is the key to intelligent behavior andlearning is one of its most important manifestations. "Intelligent behavior isdependent on the ability of the organization to quickly comprehend andabsorb the changing situation in the business environment and to act on thatinformation. The Intelligent organization is one that behaves like a livingsystem; it senses and reacts to environmental changes. Thus in an intelligentorganization the implicit knowledge of each learner becomes a building blockof the institutional model. Institutional learning begins with the calibration ofexisting mental models. How much and how fast this model changes willdepend on the culture and structure of the organization. Teams that have tocope with rigid procedures and information systems will learn more slowly

than those with flexible, open communication channels".

It is important to remember that in a world in which it is possible toeliminate uncertainty by collecting all appropriate information required fordecision-making, there is no need for intelligence or learning. In a stableworld that is permanently in a state of equilibriumthis is a viable option. Such words do not exist in reality though.


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Introduction

Peter Senge once stated in an interview, that a learning organization is a

group of people working together to collectively enhance their capacities tocreate results they really care about.[2] Peter Senge popularized the conceptof the learning organization through his book The Fifth Discipline. In thebook, he proposed the following five disciplines [3]:

1. Systems thinking : Organizations are a system of interrelationships. Tobecome more successful we need to analyze these relationships andfind the problems in them. This will allow an organization to eliminatethe obstacles to learning

2. Personal mastery: An individual holds great importance in a learningorganization. Personal development holds as much importance as

commitment and work for the organization. Employees need to growand work on their own goals.

3. Mental Models: This is the company culture and the diverse theoriesand mindsets that serve as a framework for the functioning of theorganization. Learning organizations look for how these affectorganizational development.

4. Shared Vision: A learning organization's employees all share a commonvision. Personal goals must be in sync with the goals and vision of theorganization.

5. Team Learning: The importance of dialogue and group discussion. For

a team to learn, they must be in sync and reach agreement.

Challenges in the transformation to aLearning OrganizationThe book The Dance of Change states there are many reasons why anorganization may have trouble transforming themselves into a learningorganization. The first is that an organization does not have enough time. [4]

Employees and management may have other issues that take priority over

trying to change the culture of their organization. The team may not be ableto commit the time it takes.
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Another problem is that an institution does not have the appropriate help ortraining. For an organization to be able to change, it needs to know the stepsnecessary and the problems that it needs to solve. As a solution, a mentor orcoach who is well versed in the learning organization concept may benecessary.

Also, the change may not be relevant to the organizations needs. Timeshould be spent on the actual issues of the organization and its daily issues.To combat this challenge, a strategy must be built. The organization shoulddetermine what its problems are before entering into the transformation.Training should be kept linked to business results so that it is easier foremployees to link it to everyday issues.

Problems Organizational learning addressesSome of the issues that Learning Organizations wanted to address within

Institutions is fragmentation, competition and reactiveness. Fragmentation isdescribed as breaking a problem into pieces. For example each organizationhas an accounting department, finance, operations, IT and marketing.Competition occurs when employees are trying to do better or "beat" othersin an assignment instead of collaborating. Reactiveness occurs when anorganization changes only in reaction to outside forces. Only doing anassignment because it is assigned and not continually creating. These aredeeply rooted in many of today's organizations as a product of capitalismand the drive to generate more profit.

The change becoming a community and a learning organization is called a"Galilean Shift". The organization is compared with the Galileo Galilei

heliocentric revolution that changed the view that earth was the center ofthe universe.

PARADIGM SHIFT IN THE DOMAIN OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYLet us consider the main characteristics of a learning organization and

their implicationsfor information systems, one by one.

(1) Distributed decision making. At every decision point within organizationthere will be a need for relevant information sources and decision support.

The client-server architecture with servers supporting decision makingcenters is capable of fulfilling this aim.

(2) Evolution of the organization. Ever changing organizational structuresrequire systems that are capable of being modified in a cost-effectivemanner. The obvious configurations for such requirements are networks ofintelligent agents capable of decision making by negotiation. At the high endof complexity such network would be capable of exhibiting self-organizingbehavior.

(3) Teamwork. Supporting groups and teams requires, as the minimum,

systems that provide shared scheduling, shared use of documents and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galileihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galileihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei


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shared project management. Further developments are required to providesystems for shared assessment and remuneration.

(4) Learning, Intellectual Capital and Organizational Memory. These conceptsimply information technology capable of handling knowledge rather than

mere data. Organizational Memory requires intelligent systems capable ofextracting, storing and refining knowledge as it is being accumulated in anenterprise. For an effective learning there is a need for an interaction withmultimedia systems that combine a variety of representations such as text,data, sound, colors, images, animation, video and virtual reality as well as anintelligent support for information retrieval e.g., browsers and searchengines, multi-agent systems and push-technology.

(5) Virtual organizations. Decision making distributed over space and timerequires intranets and extranets, web technology, videoconferencing, whiteboarding, virtual reality and email.

The sum total of changes outlined above amount to a fundamentalshift from conventional Data Processing Systems based on corporatedatabases and mainframes to Intelligent Multimedia Systems based on theInternet, artificial intelligence and a mix of media. To achieve desiredsynergy between organizational structures and information systems it isnecessary to design them concurrently. Any mismatch is known to cause aloss in effectiveness. Intelligent multimedia systems, as characterized above,are particularly suited for learning and sharing knowledge. Legacy systemscan be interfaced via Web technology and thus hidden from users. Massive

databases can be incorporated into data warehousing systems and searchedusing data mining technology.

5. CONCLUSIONSA framework for understanding essentials of learning organizations brieflyoutlined above allows aligning organizational structures with supportinginformation systems. Individual and collective intelligence of members oflearning organizations must be matched by the artificial intelligence andflexibility of new information technology.

REFERENCEShttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_Organizations_%28Peter_Senge%29#Challenges_in_the_transformation_to_a_Learning_Organizationhttp://www.infed.org/biblio/learning-organization.htmhttp://www.rzevski.net/98 Learning Organisations.html
http://www.infed.org/biblio/learning-organization.htmhttp://www.rzevski.net/98%20Learning%20Organisations.htmlhttp://www.infed.org/biblio/learning-organization.htmhttp://www.rzevski.net/98%20Learning%20Organisations.html

role of information technology in learning organization

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