Page 178 - Managing Change in Organizations

CarnCh10v3.qxd 3/30/07 4:27 PM Page 161

Changing perceptions of organization
There are two main points here:
1 The debate may be largely irrelevant to those concerned with developing
organizational practice.
2 Many ideas about organization and ‘organizational learning’ are incomplete.
We would accept the following:

Scholars of organisations have developed theories that not only don’t work for
them but won’t work for others.
Weick, 1991
In any event, the focus of this chapter is on how an organization can be designed,
systems created and a climate developed to encourage learning and effectiveness.

Changing perceptions of organization

We have already seen (in Chapter 2) that our perception or mind-set related to
how organizations are described, designed and experienced is changing. This is
due to technological, market and competitive changes and challenges. However,
part of the change is associated with the impact of rapid, often discontinuous,
change and attempts by those involved to find ways of dealing with this
increased pace and complexity. In addition, issues such as managing diversity,
cross-cultural influences, gender and the environment are creating new chal-
lenges to rethink the organization. Finally, the challenge of the long-term switch
from a ‘career for life’ model for at least some employees to a more individually
centred concept of career perhaps adds a new impetus to ‘learn how to learn’.
In consequence, new ways of describing organizations are now beginning to
replace more orthodox approaches. Peter Senge maintains that it is now neces-
sary to think more carefully about what is meant by learning and organization.
His work challenges practising managers to recognize that ‘mind-set’ is a crucial
aspect of learning.

The most accurate word in Western culture to describe what happens in a
learning organisation is one that hasn’t had much currency for the past sev-
eral hundred years. The word is ‘metanoia’ and it means a shift of mind. To
grasp the meaning . . . is to grasp the deeper meaning of learning.
Senge, 1990
Looking back at the Ford case study given in Chapter 3 (see page 38), whether or
not you conclude that Ford was (or is now) a ‘learning organization’ it is clear that
over a period of time the company believes it has learned lessons and/or devel-
oped systems (e.g. the worldwide engineering release system) which provide an
important platform for the global developments now underway.
Van der Erve (1994) argues that evolution is the engine of corporate success. He
argues that evolution requires that we both understand the changes impacting on
us and know how to ride those changes. Evolution involves a succession of dif-
ferentiated ‘life forms’. Clearly organizational change involves differentiation
whether of product features, or target markets or internal capabilities, employee

161