1st Edition

Learning Organizations Developing Cultures for Tomorrow's Workplace

By John Renesch, Sarita Chawla Copyright 2006
    572 Pages
    by Productivity Press

    What is a learning organization? What are the advantages of creating one? Why should a company want to become a learning organization? Where does one start?

    Learning Organizations: Developing Cultures for Tomorrow's Workplace contains essays by thirty-nine of the most respected practitioners and scholars of this topic. This definitive collection of essays is rich in concept and theory as well as application and example.

    Lead authors include Harvard's Rosabeth Moss Kanter, London Business School's Professor Emeritus Charles Handy, and MlT's Fred Kofman and Peter Senge.

    The thirty-two essays in this comprehensive collection are presented in four main parts:

    1. Guiding Ideas

    2. Theories/Methods/Processes

    3. Infrastructure

    4. Arenas of Practice

    Preface Acknowledgements
    INTRODUCTION:
    Beginner's Mind
    Sarita Chawla
    PART ONE: GUIDING IDEAS
    1. Communities of Commitment: The Heart of the Learning Organizations
    Fred Kofman and Peter Senge
    2. Managing the Dream
    Charles Handy
    3. Ahead of the Wave: Valuing Gender Perspectives in Learning Cultures
    Marilynne Anderson
    4. Mastering Change
    Rosabeth Moss Kanter
    5. The Renaissance of Learning in Business
    John W. Thompson
    6. The Transformational Leader: The Wellspring of the Learning rganization
    James Rolls
    7. Why Smart Organizations Don't Learn
    Lisa J. Marshall, Sandy Mobley, and Gene Calvert
    PART TWO: THEORIES/METHODS/PROCESSES
    Story:
    8. Stories for Learning: Exploring Your Circumstances
    Diane Cory and Paula Underwood
    9. The Seventh Story: Extending Learning Organizations Far Beyond Business
    Dialogues:
    10. Dialogue: Capacities and Stories
    Judy Brown
    11. Mindshift: Strategic Dialgoue for Breakthrough Thinking
    12. Language as Action: Linking Metaphors with Organization Transformation
    Coaching:
    13. Generative Coaching: A Surprising Odyssey
    Kendall Murphy
    Systems:
    14. Building Learning Laboratories to Create More Effective Distributed Decision Making
    W. Brian Kreutzer
    15. FASTBreak: A Facilitation Approach to Systems Thinking Breakthroughs
    David P. Kreutzer
    Tools:
    16. The DNA of the Learning Organization
    Robert Dilworth
    17. Wisdom at Work: An Inqurity into the Dimensions of Higher Order Learning
    Dr. Joel Levey and Michelle Levey
    PART III: INFRASTRUCTURE
    18. Learning Communities: An Alternative to the "Expert Model"
    Stephanie Ryan
    19. Learning Out of Context
    Eric Edwards Vogt
    0. Vitalizing Work Design: Implementing a Developmental Philosophy
    Carol Sanford
    21. Development Strategies for the Knowledge Era
    Linda E. Morris
    22. The Faster Learning Organizations (FLO)
    Bob Guns
    23. Managerial Practice Fields: Infrastructures of a Learning Organization
    Daniel H. Kim
    24. Learning as an Organization: A Journey Into Chaos
    David R. Schwandt
    PART FOUR: ARENAS OF PRACTICE
    25. The Challenge of Stewardship: Building Learning Organizations in Healthcare
    Alain Gauthier
    26. Restructuring Education: Designing Tomorrow's Workplace
    John H. Wood
    27. Transforming Mental Models through Formal and Informal Learning: A Guide for Workplace Educators
    Robert Weintraub
    28. Leadership: Quality and the U.S. Navy
    Robert L. Masten
    Case Studies:
    29. Organizational Learning: Medical Metaphor and Corporate Practice
    Alan K. Graham30. Shared Values: Nutrients for Learning
    Frank Hoffmann and Bill Withers
    31. Creating a Learning Organization By Accident
    Mary Byrd
    32. Beyond Ego to Wisdom: The Eicher Experience
    Dinesh Chandra
    CONCLUSION
    Reflections of Learning from a Gathering
    Sarita ChawlaRecommended Reading and Resources
    How to Contact Authors, Co-Authors, and Co-Editors
    Index

    Biography

    John Renesch, Sarita Chawla

    "In a rich dialogue of many voices, this book explores some key ideas of an emerging new management paradigm. Community, networks, feedback, self-organization, and learning are essential aspects of understanding business organizations as living systems. For managers and entrepreneurs in the twenty-first century this perspective will be vital."
    Fritjof Capra, Author, The Turning Point , 06/01/04

    "This book will be referenced many times because the depth of material is profound. Learning Organizations: Developing Cultures for Tomorrow's Workplace is a collection of essays for the serious learner involved with creating learning organizations. The essays presented by key practitioners, range from theory to models and applications, and all are thoughtful and insightful. The result for the reader is a richer understanding of what organizations may become. I strongly recommend this collection."
    Herbert Rau, Total Quality Manager, National Semiconductor 06/01/04

    "The authors of Learning Organizations capture the depth, breadth, vision, and challenges inherent in the struggle for modern corporations to 'learn together as one body.' This book is a magnificent mosaic of experience, theory, and practice."
    Kazimierz Gozdz, Editor, Community Building: Renewing Spirit 06/01/04