Kim Woods Only (602 1.1 R)

Respond to each post (150 words per response)

Post #1

Employee empowerment has allowed organizations to have quicker response times to customers for resolutions, but my thoughts of this quick solution being beneficial shifted as I read Senge’s studies. “Today, many executives are articulating a new philosophy revolving around ‘empowering people.’ But few organizations are working hard to introduce tools and methods to actually help people to make more intelligent decisions, especially decisions that improve systemwide performance” (Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, & Smith, 1994, p. 40). It is important for organizations to consider the impact of the training systems, as well as how to evaluate their effectiveness. Without the proper ‘tools’ it is difficult for employees to make decisions that are best for both the business and the customer. This also makes it difficult for leaders to be confident in backing their employees decisions or in holding them accountable to the decisions made when effective learning systems were not developed prior to training. “Once we learn to distinguish our assumptions from the ‘data’ upon which those assumptions are based, we are forever more aware of our own thinking” (Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, & Smith, 1994, p. 43).

“Motivation also appears to be an important correlate of leadership” (Vidic, Burton, South, Pickering, & Start, 2016). By utilizing the teachings of each section and putting them into practice within real life situations I can support my learning while also utilizing success stories of the implementation of my practices of the materials to share with the class for discussions. Many of the teachings discussed in this week’s material would work for the current organization I work for. Senge mentions situations where employees are placed into quick training courses that only last a few days, but later the training is not reinforced or further developed upon. Organizations will then give up on the current training practices as they believe them not to be effective. In the organization I work for there is always change. Changes in culture, leadership, and even training styles. There is an opportunity to evaluate the importance of each change prior to implementation and utilize different metrics to evaluate success which could include quantity, but most importantly quality of the results with the success of the organization.

References

Senge, P., Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R., & Smith, B. (1994). The fifth discipline fieldbook: strategies and tools for building a learning organization. New York: Doubleday.

Vidic, Z., Burton, D., South, G., Pickering, A. M., & Start, A. (2016). Emotional and Motivational Correlates of Leadership Styles: A Comprehensive Framework for Understanding Effective Leaders. Journal Of Leadership Studies, (3), 22. doi:10.1002/jls.21485

Post #2

I found it interesting how Kleiner, Roberts, Ross , Senge & Smith (1994) discussed team development as a learning organization. They note that team members “develop new skills and capabilities” (p. 18) through the learning cycle of team development. As team members move through the cycles and change both individually and collectively as a team. Having been a member (in different capacities) of many teams throughout my career, I agree that teams grow or change as they progress through a work process. Kleiner et al (1994) note that the learning cycle includes: (a) development of new skills and abilities, (b) new awareness and sensibilities, and (c) new attitudes and beliefs. This can be applied to different sized groups (including individuals) and over different time spans. For instance, I’ve been part of the Air Force team for over 20 years, and I am very aware of how the learning cycle presented in the text has applied just to me. As I moved through my career, I continuously developed (and continue to develop) new skills. These capabilities shifted my awareness which ked to attitude and belief changes. I know that I certainly look at situations differently now than I did as a 19 year-old. Furthermore, Senge (2006) notes that team members each bring to the team their own mental models regarding a system. According to Bolman and Deal (2013), mental models are internally-conceived images that we project onto the external world (Bolman & Deal, 2013). Humans utilize experiences to construct internal images of how the world should look or be. We tend to project that image during an applicable situation. This distorts our perception of reality as we mentally constrain that reality to stay within the confines of that mental image. Bolman and Deal (2013) go on to say that we tend to fill gaps of information in reality using what we already know, what we expect, and what we believe (Bolman & Deal, 2013). It is important to note that the diversity that each team member brings to the group is what lends to effective problem-solving. When a team can gain perspectives from each member’s different mental model, then a situation can be looked at through different lenses. This will be particularly helpful in this class, as I know it has been beneficial in my organization.

Bolman, L., & Deal, T. (2013). Reframing organizations: artistry, choice, and leadership. San Fransisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R., Senge, P. & Smith, B. (1994). The fifth discipline fieldbook: Strategies and tools for building a learning organization. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Senge, P. (2006). The fifth discipline: the art and science of a learning organization. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Post #3

In a learning organization, members are free to learn and express their thoughts, challenge themselves and their peers, and participate in work related activities. A certain shift that could happen is from a traditional, authoritarian viewpoint to a paradigm workplace, as described in Senge’s (2006) Systems Thinking discipline. This way, members of the organization can work and learn together to create the result they desire for the good of the company and its people. It transforms the environment from being unconnected to interconnected to the whole by realizing how your own company and people operate and where problems stem from (Senge, 2006).

In this class specifically, I think group projects and constant communication is key for learning and success. I also think it’s incredibly important to be open minded during these discussions. Especially with touchy subjects, deep discussions, and sharing of stories and experiences, people need to be open, respectful, and willing to hear all sides of stories. All this relates back to Senge’s (2006) ideas of working together to work for the whole.

“Managers need to understand the importance of communication skills in order to increase the effectiveness of internal communication between management and staff” (Importance of Communication Skills in the Workplace, 2017). The above quote was pulled from an online article stating how important communication skills are in a workplace. They go on to talk about communication is also essential for behavior modification and creating an awareness on issues in the workplace. I completely agree with this. Communication can solve so many issues and avoid a lot of uneccessary conflicts at the source.

These ideas would absolutely work in my workplace. I work in the APS where we load and unload cargo and passengers from aircraft, so communication and togetherness between the units is definitely a must. We have to be able to help each other out when need be and talk to other sections to complete the task.

Resources

Importance of Communication Skills in the Workplace. (2017). Retrieved January 11, 2018, from http://www.workplace-communication.com/importance-communication-skills.html

Senge, P. (2006). The Fifth Discipline: the Art & Practice of the Learning Organization. New York: Crown Business.