Encouraging a Learning Culture

Last week one of the posts I made addressed how important the culture of an organization is in relation to performance improvement and change. The article titled, A Model Linking the Learning Organization and Performance Job Satisfaction examines two survey tools that have proved to be valid in measuring job satisfaction; Dimensions of Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ) and Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ).

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1b/df/6b.pdf

The DLOQ is based on the seven dimensions of the learning organization

Dimension	Definition
Create continuous learning opportunities	Learning is designed into work so that people can learn on the job; opportunities are provided for ongoing education and growth
Promote inquiry and dialogue	People gain productive reasoning skills to express their views and the capacity to listen and inquire in to the views of others; the culture is changed to support questioning, feedback, and experimentation.
Encourage collaboration and team learning	Work is designed to use groups to access different modes of thinking; groups are expected to learn together and work together; collaboration is valued by the culture and rewarded.
Create systems to capture and share learning	Both high-and low- technology systems to share learning are created and integrated with work; access is provided; systems are maintained.
Empower people toward a collective vision	People are involved in setting, owning, and implementing a joint vision; responsibility is distributed close to decision making so that people are motivated to learn toward what they are held accountable to do.
Connect the organization to its environment	People are helped to see the effect of their work on the entire enterprise; people scan the environment and use information to adjust work practices; the organization is linked to its communities.
Provide strategic leadership for learning	Leaders model, champion, and support learning; leadership uses learning strategically for business results.

Job satisfaction has been one of the factors that research shows correlates with performance. It is not easy to measure as several factors influence one’s satisfaction with a job.

The article divides satisfaction into two domains, the affective, which deals with positive emotional appraisal of the job, and the cognitive satisfaction which deals with the logical evaluation of hob conditions. In addition, job satisfaction may occur on three levels.

• Individual: behavior due to interaction between employee and environmental situation. “As a result, job satisfaction is most likely influenced by both the psychological and personality characterizations of employees as well as by their definition of and interaction with the overall work setting.” Pg. 4

• Group: “the work group is part of a larger psychological climate that includes an atmosphere of cooperation and friendliness among work group members and that resulted in more satisfaction among employees. At the same time, job satisfied workers at the group level produced work of higher quality and quantity than other groups in the organization” pg.5

• Organizational: “At the organizational level, research had shown that environmental antecedents of job satisfaction were linked to extrinsic rewards such as promotional opportunities and pay.” Pg 5

The author argues that in order for an organization to be successful a learning culture must be fostered; where everyone becomes interested in learning and improving their work knowledge.

I agree that a learning culture is the way to go, as things are currently changing. Innovations are being developed rapidly and the only way to survive is to continuously be learning. Once it’s apart of the culture it becomes natural and effortless. I especially like the fact that the article recommended two instruments I have not seen them yet but it should help in our quest to allow research to inform our practice and decisions.