Finance, Technology and Macroeconomics

Learning Organizations: TQM 2003

I am posting my notes of my report of LEARNING ORGANIZATIONS in my Total Quality Management class under Mr. Nestor Raneses. Basically, it is about dealing with change due to intense competition, reduction of barriers to trade, faster information dissemination through culture change. Opening of highly-concentrated groups to expertise of other teams. Grasping the big picture and knowing your contribution to achieving grand goals. Admits that might not be easy to practice but can be done. People just have to be totally pscyhed to do it.

Slide 1

Since the 1980s, the world of business has begun to see the need for entirely new models of management in order to succeed in regaining and defending a position of global competitiveness.

Why? What happened?

On the same decade, flagship US corporations, such as GM and IBM, plunged into failure in the face of devastating competition from Japanese rivals.

Slide 2

Surprisingly, intensive overseas competition came not from low wage areas but from those that reinvented the business corporations to produce unprecedented levels of quality at low prices.

As the 80s turned the 90s, the US managers were challenged to understand the new Japanese paradigm and determine how US companies could compete successfully on these new terms.

Note, however, that it would be foolish to claim that the new paradigm was the sole factor determining the success of some US companies such as Ford but we believe that it was an essential component of their recovery.

Slide 3

So a new paradigm was needed for US businesses. Note again that this paradigm does not necessarily allow us to counter-strike but we must understand it.

There are several sources we must study in order to understand what must have been done differently

- atypical companies, which have successfully met the global challenges
- insights of the QUALITY consultants especially DEMING

Slide 4

The "Art..." by Pascal and Athos, focused on Matsushita, highlighted management's dedication to building a culture that pays attention to each of the seven strategic factors, both "hard" and "soft".

What does US practice?

They paid more attention on hard strategic and structural factors than long-term attention to culture building.

In Matsushita, culture building occurred over several decades finely adjusting to perfect fit.

Slide 5

To substantiate this part of the report, let us look at Theory Z: How American companies can meet Japanese competition.

Theory Z is named to designate a third model different from (I'll check it out soon). It anticipated much of work that adopted the banner of L.O (Again, pardon the lack in information. I think the presentation is in my old notebook). When this factors are cultivated over the long-term within a well-integrated organization and employees do not have their performance appraised against measured criteria, accountability is maintained within a deeper and more subtle shared understanding of the fundamental goals of the enterprise, shared by workers and managers.

Slide 6

-experience and thinking provides third major body of knowledge

Full Circle (Neglected in US companies): Deming's thinking methods influenced some of the leading Japanese companies, which were embraced in their strong and patiently-built corporate cultures. They do this through cross-functional teams, across different status levels, united "horizontally" by a focus on giving customers what they expect.

Real Quality Thinking is a radical break with bureaucratic organization.

Slide 7

Bureaucratic Organizations: central feature of modern, western economies and public administration (I wrote this down " At this point, read slides: Defined by main features"

Whatever their advantages, bureaucracies are not nice places to work.
Communication, especially going up the hierarchy, tends to be systematically distorted.

Assumes expertise of higher levels to solve problems - wrong, because higher level managers lacked the information possessed by lower level workers and vice-versa.
Reasons for not sharing: fear of punishment, boss' refusal to listen, secretiveness of subordinates

Slide 8

Sometimes, these informal arrangements are aligned with the goals of the organization, sometimes they served the goals of the sub-unit rather than those of the whole organization and sometimes they involved sabotaging efforts of the administration to tighten controls on the rank and file.

Slide 9

The Bureaucratic Paradigm - mechanistic product of a modernists, objectively stated (actually, I don't understand what I wrote here because the punch hole took off much from the statement), stipulates required structural features and operating principles -- no post-modernist non-sense about different viewpoints and different realities

So this leads us to question what is a learning organization? One that continually expand its capacity to create.

Generative Learning -- learning that enhances our capacity to create.

Slide 10-16

Peter Senge overviewed the pratice and theory of the L.O. in terms of 5 disciplines that include many tools and infrrastructure.

The Five Disciplines include:

Systems Thinking: learning to see the big picture, to understand how the consequences of our actions loop around to affect us in unsuspected ways and to use this analysis of system dynamics to find points of leverage to free the organization from vicious cycles that thwart effectiveness

Essential that individual aspirations of the membersare linked to the goals of their teams, which should be integrated into the larger corporate goals.

The first 3 disciplines have particular application for the individial participant and the last 2 have group application.

Those who excel in these areas will be natural leaders of learning organizations.

Systems Thinking: distinction as the the fifth (5th) discipline since it serves to make the result of the other disciplines work together for business benefit.

Fundamentally distinguish learning organizations from traditional authoritarian "controlling organzations" will be the master of certain basic discipline.

Systems Thinking: tools developed in 50 years.

Essense of Discipline lies in a shift of seeing ( I still have to find out why I left this blank) rather than linear cause-effect. Seeing processes of change rather than (again, blank).

Starts with simple concept called FEEDBACK.

Systems Archetypes are basic and understandable cycles that systems go through.

If we have personal vision and we also see current reality objectively, then the difference between the 2 causes "creative tension", which can be drawn from (i cant remember what should fill the blanks. Hehehehe), in current reality, to the vision.

Commitment to the truth is the other part of the process.

Using the subconscious is important in personal mastery ( I am pretty sure that this is not something paranormal. TQM might have a different definition for subconscious because it sounds like it doesn't make a huge sense. Nonetheless, this is acceptable as far as I am concerned.)
Mental Models: The discipline of working with MENTAL MODELS starting with (another blank from the outer space), internal pictures of the world, (oh maan! another blank!), hold them rigorously (huh?). It also includes "Learning Conversations" (my notes has "learningful")

The discipline starts with (refer to the powerpoint presentation that I have yet to find), the capacity members of an organization to learn to suspend (another blank, which means it is in the powerpoint being flashed while I was reporting) and enter into a genuine "thinking together". It involves learning how to recognize patterns of interactions in teams that undermine learning such as DEFENSIVENESS.

Involves mastering the practices of dialogue and discussion -- two distinct ways that teams converse. In dialogue, there is free and (ahem..ahem). In contrast, discussion (has been cut because I was referring to the slide).

Dialogue and discussions are potentially complementary but most teams lack ability to distinguish between the two and move consciously between them (For me, dialogue is brainstorming and discussion is coming up with resolution).

For more information, please see David Bohm's analytical discussion on suspending assumptions, team members regard each other as colleagues and on facilitator, who holds the context.

Mind Mapping: way of thinking that you can develop as an individual .

Paradigm Shifting Devices: should you become a manager or someone who could initiate change.

posted by JD @ 9:46 PM