Learning Organization Part 3

-The advantages-

Why is important to become a learning organization?

Resolving these “problems” while struggling to gain the profit, can be very complex and difficult to achieve, especially for traditional orientated organizations. Therefore, the most common reasons why the organizations are deciding to transform into the learning subjects are:

·       Unmotivated and passive employees, without the knowledge necessary for new processes, and unwilling to gain new skills

·       Employees who don’t recognize and share the company’s vision

·       Uninterested employees’ in bringing new ideas,

·       Low level of communication between the teams, employees within one team, teams and leaders, etc.

·       Employees rather complain and transfer the problems to their “boss”, instead of trying to resolve the challenging situations first

·       Low level of productivity and a high number of customers complains

·       Increased numbers of problems repeating over and over, etc.

The concept of organizational learning has contributed to the development of the intrapreneurship – readiness of the employees to cooperate within the teams and working groups, to interactively exchange the knowledge and experience, to learn and develop different skills in order to join the unstructured and unprogrammed activities of the organization. Intrapreneurs are highly important for every organization, responsible for improving and redesigning a traditional and overcome processes and practices. 

The advantages of the learning organization

Learning organization actively creates, spread, memorize and use the knowledge, in order to improve and build different competencies and skills, raise the capability to change, and reach the higher performances and goals. Therefore, the learning organization promotes the information exchange among the employees on all the levels, and support their continuous development. Finally, this type of behavior increases the flexibility of the organization, and redefine the level of the bureaucracy.

Famous theoretical Peter Senge claimed that the learning organization is not satisfied only with the basic survival on the market, but with the constant improvements and development.  A successful learning organization has 5 crucial competencies:

The learning organizations are more successful

The reason why learning organizations are the most successful organizations in modern society is their flexibility to change. Employees are motivated to develop, express their creativity, communication, interaction. Teams and working groups cooperate better and share experience.

Learning organizations are creative, innovative, and leaders on the market. Every employee, team, and sector share the same vision of the company. There are many examples of the good practice, especially among the international companies, and The Coca Cola Company is one of them.

Learning organization - Example of a good practice

Founded in 1892, Coca Cola Company is a symbol of one of the most successful learning organizations around the world. The refreshment drink Coca Cola (also known simply as Coke), was introduced to the public a few years earlier, in 1886. Since then, the company introduced several other refreshment drinks, and they have been all very popular in more than 200 countries worldwide.

In 2017, the Coca Cola Company achieved revenue of a brilliant 35.41 billion USD. The same year, the number of employees was around 61.800. So what does it make the Coca Cola Company stands out among many other companies from the same industry?

The Coca Cola company investments in the learning process and knowledge are among the highest in the world. The company even has the Vice President for knowledge, learning and intellectual capital, responsible for creating and improving the knowledge management system. Huge investments are being directed in marketing, and the company is continuously adjusting to the needs of the customers, distributors, bottlers, and suppliers. The company’s mission states that “partners should be nurtured in a winning network of customers and suppliers, for together the company will create mutual, enduring value, and that people would be inspired to be the best they can be to work at Coca-Cola”.

Coca Cola – The Vision for 2020

(source coca-colacompany.com)

ü People: Be a great place to work where people are inspired to be the best they can be.

ü Portfolio: Bring to the world a portfolio of quality beverage brands that anticipate and satisfy people's desires and needs.

ü Partners: Nurture a winning network of customers and suppliers, together we create mutual, enduring value.

ü Planet: Be a responsible citizen that makes a difference by helping build and support sustainable communities.

ü Profit: Maximize long-term return to shareowners while being mindful of our overall responsibilities.

ü Productivity: Be a highly effective, lean and fast-moving organization.

The Values Coca Cola Company is based on, are implemented on all the organizational levels, which directs the minds of all the employees to work for a same set of goals, and have the same vision and mission. The following values are clearly showing this approach:

Leadership                                  The courage to shape a better future

Collaboration                            Leverage collective genius

Integrity                                      Be real

Accountability                            If it is to be, it's up to me

Passion                                       Committed in heart and mind

Diversity                                     As inclusive as our brands

Quality                                        What we do, we do well