Chronology of Learning Organization Concepts 1938: In his book "Experience and Education," John Dewey publicizes the

concept of experiential learning as an ongoing cycle of activity. 1940s: and The Macy Conferences -bring -featuring "systems Margaret thinking" Mead, to the Gregory awareness Bateson, of a

Lawrence

Kubie

cross-disciplinary group of intellectuals. 1940s: Scottish psychologist Kenneth Craik coins the term "mental models,"

which later makes its way to MIT through Marvin Minsky and Seymour Papert. 1946: proposes of reality. 1956: Edgar Schein's research on brainwashing in Korea paves the way for Kurt idea Lewin, of a founding "creative theorist tension" of between National personal Training vision Laboratories, and a sense

an understanding of "process consultation." 1960: "The Human Side of Enterprise," by Douglas McGregor, is published. 1961: major Jay Forrester of publishes system "Industrial dynamics Dynamics." to This book, the first the

application

corporations,

describes

turbulence within a typical appliance value chain. 1970: study actions. 1972: "The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome's Project on the Predicament of Mankind," by Donella Meadows and Dennis Meadows, is Chris of Argyris how and Donald values Schon clash begin with work the on values "action that science," underlie the real

espoused

published. The book draws on Forrester's theories about system dynamics. 1971 to 1979: attitude Erhard shifts Seminars that Training can ( EST ) demonstrate a seminar the kind of lasts

powerful several days. 1979:

occur

during

that

Consultant

Charlie Robert becomes

Kiefer, Fritz the

Forrester the of

student

Peter

Senge, and

and

researcher-artist seminar, which

design focal point

"Leadership their new

Mastery" firm,

consulting

Innovation Associates.

1984

to

1985: at

Pierre Harvard

Wack,

scenario

planner

at

Royal writes

Dutch/Shell, two

spends

sabbatical

Business

School

and

articles

about

scenario planning as a learning activity. 1982: Devices Senge, CEO Arie de Geus, Stata, Hanover and Insurance other CEO Bill O'Brien, Analog a

Ray

executive

leaders

form

learning-organization study group, which meets regularly at MIT. 1987: Peter Schwartz, form Stewart the Brand, Global Napier Business Collyns, Network, Jay with a Ogilvy, charter and to

Lawrence

Wilkinson

foster organizational learning through scenario planning. 1989: quantum Oxford University David management Bohm, scholar Bill to Isaacs, the an associate of of

physicist

introduces

Senge

concept

dialogue

as a process for building team capability. 1989: "The Age of Unreason," by Charles Handy, is published. 1989: as and it's The Center and O'Brien for with as Organizational Ed key Bill Schein, advisers. Isaacs, Learning Chris The Daniel work to is formed Arie of ( the at de MIT, Geus, with Ray Senge Stata, as

director Bill called, the

Argyris, staff Kim the

"learning

center,"

includes learning

whose quality

research movement

involves ), and

linking

organization

research director George Roth. 1990: "The Fifth system Discipline" dynamics, is published. mastery" The ( book based draws on on Fritz's many work

influences:

"personal

and the concept of creative tension ), mental models ( based on Wack's and Argyris's work ), shared vision ( based on work done at Innovation

Associates ), and team learning ( based on David Bohm's concepts ). 1990: "fifth Daniel Kim founds issues. the The "Systems following launches Thinker," year, an a the annual newsletter devoted to

discipline" Pegasus

newsletter's conference

parent series

organization,

Communications,

called Systems Thinking in Action. 1993: Harvard University learning in professor the David Garvin publishes Review, an article that on only

organizational

Harvard

Business

arguing

learning that can be measured will be useful to managers.

1994: which (

"The Senge

Fifth edited, of

Discipline include

Fieldbook" Charlotte

is

published. Rick ),

Authors Ross, and

of

the

book, Smith ( who new

Roberts, of Canada

Bryan

president as

Innovation

Associates ).

and

Art

Kleiner a

serves

editorial

director

The

"Fieldbook"

becomes

management-book genre. 1994: The use of "learning histories" as a method of assessment begins at

the Center for Organizational Learning. 1994: The first major Organizational Learning Center projects reach

completion. Many of them have produced remarkable results. But a few have resulted in disappointing career prospects for some of the line leaders

who were involved in them. 1995: Working process with of Dee Hock, the an Organizational ambitious Learning Center begins a

two-year

building

international

consortium

called

the Society for Organizational Learning, with Peter Senge as chairman. 1996: "The Age of Heretics," by Art Kleiner, and Synchronicity: "The Inner

Path of Leadership," by Joseph Jaworski, are published. 1997: "The Living Company," by Arie de Geus, is published. 1999: "The Dance of Change" is published. In recent years, the idea of building a "learning organization" has gained currency in management circles. Many senior managers, in particular, have come to recognize that, with the right approach to collective learning, their enterprises can continually gain new talents and capabilities even as they weather the vicissitudes of fate. Managers in middle levels, meanwhile, have embraced the "learning organization" idea because it encourages people to follow their own aspirations and, in the process, boost organizational performance. This implies that people can reclaim a little bit of the spirit of community and personal involvement that has been leached out of conventional business decision-making. But even the most fervent "learning organization" enthusiasts have difficulty demonstrating a link between organizational learning efforts and key business results. The leaders of all learning and change efforts in organizations sooner or later run up against the challenge of proving the value of their efforts' accomplishments. The same is true for other types of "change" and "transformation" efforts. Executives authorize millions of dollars for organizational learning,

reengineering, re-invention, or quality improvement -- and then grapple unsuccessfully with the problem of assessing their investment. Assessment is also vital for the participants in learning efforts. They need to judge the value of their past experience, if only to help their organizations move forward and to develop their judgment and skills further. Moreover, the rest of the company also needs to understand the experience of its learning efforts to date. They will, after all, need to build upon that experience. How do they replicate the first successes, and avoid repeating the first mistakes? How do they spread the sense of potential achievement through the rest of the organization? How do they overcome the disdain for anything "not invented in our part of the company"? Companies have found it notoriously difficult to institutionalize the learning of its subgroups, to help the rest of the organization develop. Finally, successful learning efforts generally require people to rise above their conventional blinders to add new ways of thinking and new forms of behavior to their repertoire. But these sorts of changes are misunderstood. They may be seen as evidence of cultishness, as windowdressing that isn't backed up by action, or as well-intentioned but misguided attempts at change. To really make sense of a learning effort, people throughout the organization need to see it through the various perspectives of people who have been involved with it firsthand ,so that they can come to terms with it based on actual data (not just on the gossip that reaches them), and make sense of it in a way that is credible to them. In short, when an organization has been through a learning or change process, people throughout the organization need a feedback process that can provide guidance and support Yet reacting to the pressure of assessing learning can easily undermine any learning effort. As people become aware of being assessed and measured, the intrinsic motivation which drove them to learn is supplanted by an extrinsically motivated desire to look successful. Any feedback, mediated through an outside observer's eyes, will be tainted by this built-in set of distortions.