I can't believe Jack Welch said.....

I use several of Jack Welch (CEO of General Electric) quotes in my classes. I admire him.
I see him as a great troop motivator.

Today I found this quote (unbelievably) ascribed to him:
"I own the people, you just rent them".

Ready, D.A. & Conger, J.A. (2003). Why leadership-development efforts fail.
Mit Sloan Management Review, 44(3), 83-88.


My first reaction is:
I am really disappointed.
I am concerned that evry time I use one of his motivational quotes, my mind will recall this awful one.

Who do you think owns the workers in a capatalistic society? Don't they own themselves?


Then I remember our conversations regarding managment school graduates and the job of HR
I can refocus.

What are your thoughts on this scenario?

WFED 597E end of week #11

I have been thinking alot about each of the people I interviewed for my project.

Each one believes he/she is doing a great job but is hindered in someway by others.
One believes HR hinders employee development. Can you imagine such a thing?
Another believes the big guy hinders learning and himself needs to learn about learning
One is hesitant to say more than basic answers to my questions
One has ideas but appears not to act on them

Four very diverse realities all in the same organization.
What do you do?
If I were to interview those same people today and ask those same questions, I believe I would get different answers. Reality has changed. Life has moved on.

I am pumped up again about motivational courses and helping people to broaden their horizons
I am also encouraged to be a knowledge enabler and keep going - not quit
Cease the moment!

Thanks for listening.

Make your day great!

What is learning?

Conducting an interview of the Senior Director for my project, I encountered his definition of learning:

"Learning is knowing how to do our jobs and how to do them better".

Would you agree that learning is limited to job knowledge?

What about career development? What about organizational development? If our only concern is for workers to know how to do their jobs better, what will be missing?

Can workers be energized and engaged when the only focus and expectation is doing the job better?

Are you getting the picture that this definition is way too narrow for me? I have been thinking alot about the narrow vision of the Senior Director. While our conversation did include his desire for individual growth and development of the workers and the efforts he is taking to increase their job knowledge, is learning about doing a your job the sum total of desired learning? NO!

I was also reminded of theory-in-use as he talked. His word choices all had to do with growing the worker and equipping them. But his words limited a worker's growth to job knowledge. What about the processes? What about the system? What about the environment? What about whether the way the job is structured is the best fit overall? And yet the SD obviously belivese he has the best interest of tehr worker and the organization at heart.

I remember we talked about learning not happening at once. So I can expect that some seeds I planted will sprout. But I need to contemplate some thought provoking comments I can make when I see him around.
How to help him put his theory-in-use to reality?

Do you have comments or thoughts for me?

WFED 597E end of week #10

Finsihed and transcribed the 4th interview for my Project.

I must review the interview answers from all 4 people.

There are three questions to be answered by this research:
1) What are the major themes appearing in their answers both individually and collectively?
2) What are the similar answers to the interview questions?
3) What are the disparity answers to the interview questions?

Everyone asked me what I mean by the word "learning" in the questions.

Can you relate that question to more than one thing we have studied this semester?

I finished each interview with a question about their childhood career dream. Each one got so enthused, with a lit up face when talking about that dream.

Professionally, I want to help people recapture the essence of their childhood career dream and make it their reality.

What was your childhood career dream?

10th week WFED 597E

My project is to interview 4 people at different levels of an organization to examine the perspectives on learning based on level of position within the organization.

Conducting a limited review of records for ABC Organization (my project) to look for clues about learning.
Expect to do alot of observation of activities this week.


The Senior Director (whom I will interview on Friday) was hired in 1999 from a software/hardware vendor, which with ABC Organization does business.

Since that time a reorganization has been done at least annually! Another one is currently under way. Only this time the Senior Director has asked for any organizational member with an idea to make an appointment to see him.

The Deputy Director, whom I already interviewed, has been with the organization for 25+ years and was passed over for the Senior Director position.

journal entry

conducted and transcribed 3 of the 4 interviews for my project

1 of the interviews was very curious:

The guarded answers from the manager surprised the interviewer. He seemed relaxed and casual but gave substantially less information in his answers than did the others interviewed. He maintained eye contact with the interviewer, didn’t fidget, smiled, seemed relaxed in every way except for his answers. This guardedness did not diminish throughout the interview.

It should be noted that unlike the other interviewees he did not bring a copy of the questions to the interview for reference, although he was given one in advance. It also should be noted that the interviewer has had no work related contact with him to judge whether or not this is his customary way of dialoguing.

If this is not his normal way of dialoguing and the absence of a page of questions for him to reference during the interview was not the cause of the guardedness, the interviewer could conclude his position within the organization requires him to be guarded in what he says. That is a red flag!

What does this sound like to you?

Learning organizations give the freedom to fail. What causes his guadedness? It would be interesting to interview and compare the answers from another manager within the organization. But that was not within the original scope of this project.

week#9 - WFED 597E

completed all required reading!

continued reflecting on what I am learning
working on my reflective paper

3 of the 4 interviews for my Project are scheduled this week

When Managers Become Philosophers: Integrating Learning With Sensemaking (Schwandt, 2005)

What an informative, thought-provoking article!

Thank you, Tom, for bringing this article to our attention!

As I think about the people I meet and my desire to cultivate personal and organizational growth, the fact that learning is not always immediate and the fact that the organization will retain the aftermath of my learning long after I am gone, this handy reference of information blows me away!

The 5 theoretical orientations to adult learning include:

Behaviorist = environmental stimuli evoke responses or behavior changes

Cognitivist – Learning involves reorganization of experiences in order to make sense of
Stimuli. Does cognitive development end between 15 and 20 years of age?

Humanist – relationship of learner and environment is characterized by discovery, value acquisition, control of impulses, continuous concern with the wonder of human potential for growth and fulfillment.

“For the individual, the motivation to learn is intrinsic and leads to self-actualization (Maslow, 1943) to the extent that self-actualization is more th goal of learning than mastery of content (Caffarella, 1994).

Social-Learning = an individual’s knowledge depends on interaction with and
observation of other people in a social context.
I have trouble accepting the validity of this theory. So often people are upset and dissatisfied with group activities in an adult classroom setting. The facilitator must constantly balance the needs of those who do enjoy learning by interaction with others and the needs of those who attend class for information “not games”. Is this theory only valid for certain folks?

Constructivist = experience is the source of meaning for the individual and reflection becomes the method for changing mental frames.

Sensemaking is human interactions or a process that uses prior knowledge to assign meaning to new information.

Basic components of sensemaking (meaning making)
Cues from environment signal that meaning is required
Framework or knowledge structure (rules, values) serves as a guide to knowledge
understanding
script linking new info to framework

Properties distinguishing sesnsemaking from other processes
Grounded in identity construction
Retrospective
Enactive of sensible environment
Social (never solitary)
Ongoing
Focused on and by extracted cues
Driven by plausibility rather than accuracy
Areas of thought
Nature of knowledge and meaning
Action-learning relationship
Social context
Reflectivity

Knowing how one learns requires practice, experience with self reflection and reflective judgement.

Constraints on Organizational Learning During Major Change at a Mental Health Services Facility (Rowe, Boyle, 2005)

Research performed at Sunnybrook, a mental institution in Australia provides information about what not to do and guidelines for better managing major change.

Too many changes at once, in my opinion. Downsizing the number of staff and patients to fit into new facilities and physically relocating; moving to a team approach for patient care; and change in philosophical orientation.

The change was top down, led by the CEO and orchestrated by the Australian government based on an industry wide need. This type of change always magnifies the FUD factor (fear, uncertainty, doubt)

Characterizations of organizations that build learning cultures- (McGill & Slocum, 1993):
Clear and consistent communication
Openness to experience
Encouragement of responsible risk taking
Willingness to acknowledge failure and to learn from it

Constraints to learning faced at Sunnybrook
1. Preoccupation on the change process and less attention to the roles of stakeholders – people want to know how the change will affect them, their daily routines, their wellbeing, what is in it for them

2. staff feared dismissal for making mistakes. This is somewhat understandable because patients can die when mistakes are made, a learning organization puts structures in place so people can proactively examine and improve business practices.

3. avoidance behavior learned through punishment was more stable then behavior learned through rewards. For new learning to occur, a process of de-conditioning to overcome the fear of future punishment must commence.

4.History of punishing rule-breaking. Change necessitates the loss of control by the administration. Common defenses people with learned anxiety employed: a) not to hear the change message; b) deny the message applies to them; c) rationalize that management doesn’t understand the situation

5. communication patterns – before the change, leaders issued orders, workers carried them out

The Relationship Between the Learning Organization Concept and Firms’ Financial Performance: An Empirical Assessment (Ellinger, Ellinger, Yang, Howton

This is a great, down-to-earth article!
It made me to consider again: what are my goals for the participants in my classes? is my objective to equip them to perform their jobs well or is it something much greater? in order to keep fostering their learning I must keep validating the effect on the bottom line.

It is so important because how HR affects the bottom line via performance is crucial to so much more than just job security. People choose HR as a profession usually because they care about people, want to make a difference, enjoy learning.
Yet some of those same skills that make accountants great (meticulousness, ability to affect the bottom line) are needed to validate the outcome of HR.

Watkins and Marsick’s Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ)
is an instrument with 7 dimensions representing the 7 action imperatives. The DLOQ asks respondents for perceptual assessments of various measures associated with financial performance and knowledge performance.


The seven complementary action imperatives are:
Create continuous learning opportunities
Promote inquiry and dialogue
Encourage collaboration and team learning
Establish systems to capture and share learning
Empower people toward a collective vision
Connect the organization to its environment
Use leaders who model and support learning at the individual, team and organizational levels

3 leverage points emphasized by Watkins & Marsick:
systems-level, continuous learning; 2) that is created in order to create and manage knowledge outcomes; 3) which lead to improvement in the organization’s performance, and ultimately its value, as measured through both financial assets and non-financial intellectual capital.

A major research challenge is to establish the relationships between characteristics of the learning organization and organizational performance.

The theoretical framework guiding this research was the Watkins & Marsick concept;
A learning organization learns continuously and transforms itself.

This exploratory research “suggests” a positive association

WFED 597E 8th week

continued reflecting on what I am learning

finished reading the Dixon text

finalized the interview questions for my Project

scheduling those interviews

downloaded and began to read the outcome articles

WFED 597E 8th week

continued reflecting on what I am learning

finished reading the Dixon text

finalized the interview questions for my Project

scheduling those interviews
downloaded and began to read the outcome articles

thoughts on "Common Knowledge" by Dixon

major themes of Common Knowledge by Dixon
there are many different ways to transfer knowledge
knowledge is transferred most effectively when the transfer process fits the knowledge transferred

It was an easy read and thoroughly enjoyable. I really liked the case studies. I could relate to several of them with experiences and situations I have lived through.

KNOWLEDGE AS A GROUP PHENOMENON (page $156) took me away!
Especially because all through academics we are measured individually and on-the-job performance reviews are most always individual measurements. In our class discussion we talked about performance reviews being a grade of the supervisor/worker relationship rather than performance, didn't we?

This book has planted some seeds in my thinking!

Part of what I really like about grad school is the different things I am learning from the other students in group activities. My life is too short to learn everything by my own experience. I value the learned lessons others share with me and also the varied perspectives they bring to the tasks.

But when in a class my grade depends on the group's effort, getting the grade I want requires a whole different set of skills. Suddenly today, I realize professors giving this kind of assignmnet are trying to foster an appreciation for sharing knowledge and the value of the same. I thought they were just trying to foster getting along in groups skills and working together skills
and diversity skills. But it really is also about learning to share knowledge and to learn from others!

The same would be true on the job. How can I foster an environment where workers will be willing to share rather than horde their work expertise? "Thinking together" may not work in competitive environments but sounds so exciting with unlimited possibilities in team and group efforts!

I aslso liked page #156 the synopsis about communities of practice.

WFED 597E end of 7th week

continued to reflect on what I am learning

finsihed reading the process and tools articles

pressing on reading the Dixon text book

Important kinds of knowledge activities:
creating new common knowledge
leveraging common knowledge across organizational boundaries

A perfect example of this need for knowledge leveraging occurs almost daily here at our institution.
When I did my internship with Continuing Ed I realized that so much of the cutting edge knowledge that organization uses to train and instruct the Commonwealth's organizations and businesses is really needed by other organizations within our institution's community.

Another example is when a staff assistant from Continuing Ed met me in the Women's Mentoring Program. She saw immediately the need for Continuing Ed to address the members of the Program and present info on Continuing Ed offereings. The Women's Mentoring Program is 10 years old!

This need for common knowledge is so big - like blind folks describing an elephant. I only grasp a small part. Do I have the tusk, the trunk, the ear, the leg, the tail? What part do you have? How can we dialogue about our parts?

The bottom line is to press on, keep pursuing what really matters to you, learn from everything that comes your way, make your world a better place. GO!

The Construct of the learning Organization: DImensions, Measurement and Validation (Yang, Watkins, Marsick, 2004)

I apologize to anyone who has been reading my blogs because my typing errors are awful.

I obviously must be in grad school because I can noiot support myself typing!

This study attempts to develop and validate a measure of the learning organization.

Approaches to defining the construct

Systems thinking – Senge’s Five disciplines a learning organization should possess
Team learning – emphasis on learning activities rather than process
Shared vision
Mental models –
Personal mastery - focusing energy, developing patience, seeing reality objectively
System thinking – see inter relationships rather than linear cause-effect chains

Learning perspective – comprehensive aspects of learning at all organizational levels
Strategic perspective – understanding of the strategic internal drivers necessary for
building learning capability
Integrative perspective – Learning is a continuous, strategically used process – integrated
with and running parallel to work


the learning organization is a multi-dimensional construct
This study shows there is an underlying structure that represents patterns of learning
activities in an organization.