Section IV

Maximize with Learning

Today's technology integration in school systems is more than systems, networking, and groupware projects. These technology integration projects involve massive cultural changes, and if attempted without considerable thought, they will encounter much resistance. Much attention to organizational culture changes needs to be given when attempting to institutionalize technologies throughout a school system (Preparing for Change).

Collaboration and teamwork have been difficult enough to accomplish in school systems without complicating the process with emerging technologies. However, the problems do not reside in the technologies, but in the methods for creating cultural change in schools. The learning organization concepts as proposed by Peter Senge (1990a) address this dilemma and contribute to the development of high-performance teams.

Groupware design has focused upon issues of communication, interaction, and collaboration as does the principles and disciplines of the learning organization, but the benefits of groupware are not strong enough to create the momentum for change that's required (Karash, 1995).

Fundamental change occurs in how schools and school personnel perform as the result of learning and its transformation to knowledge. There is an abundance of knowledge, but much of this knowledge is implicit and resides with individuals (see Figure 10). In order to build learning teams and learning organizations, implicit knowledge must become explicit knowledge. A system of making implicit knowledge explicit is shifting processes from a focus on individuals to a focus on teams.

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Figure 10. Systems of information transformed to implicit and explicit knowledge among individuals and among teams and school systems.

Organizational learning requires knowledge acquisition. Information distribution (sharing information) refers to a process of information distribution that promotes learning and the production of new knowledge. Explicit knowledge (being able to tell how to do something) is distributed in many forms from written communications to conversations. Organizational learning may occur in both the processes of sharing stories as well as in formal didactic situations. Senge et al. (1994) refers to these processes as "communities of practice."

Information interpretation occurs when distributed information takes the form of understood meanings. Team members have belief structures that influence and shape interpretations of information and the resulting meanings of the information. Belief structures such as mental models as describe by Senge (1990a) are the rules that team members apply to new information for forming meanings. Learning is then entirely dependent upon the combination of individual's mental models (belief structures) and their resulting interpretations.

Implicit vs. Explicit Knowledge

There are two types of knowledge to consider when developing a learning organization, and the distinction can be described as implicit (tacit) and explicit knowledge (Karash, 1995; Senge et al., 1994). Implicit knowledge is personal, context-specific, and usually difficult to communicate. Explicit knowledge refers to knowledge that is transmittable with some form of communication such as documentation. A clear explanation is that it is implicit knowledge when one knows how to do something, but has trouble describing how to someone else. Explicit knowledge is evident when one can tell someone, or write down important how-to information. Most schools are high on tacit knowledge (the ability to do), but schools need to increase their explicit knowledge for sharing knowledge and to become more of a learning organization (Karash, 1995). Knowledge is created as implicit knowledge by individuals, then made explicit and shared. Acquiring knowledge is more than taking-in information, but instead, knowledge under most circumstances involves action and requires more than the intellect. The human elements involved in the transformation of information to knowledge involve curiosity, trust, experimentation, and feedback.

Characteristics of Learning Organizations and Knowledge

• Learning organizations continuously develop and increase knowledge capacity (Senge et al., 1994). Disciplines and processes that are associated with building a Learning Organization center around increasing capacity for effective action. Teams continually increase their capacity to learn and produce what they genuinely want to produce.
• Learning organizations promote learning that implies a sense of learning to do rather than knowing things.
• Learning organizations, as with teams, uses the collective intelligences and commitments of all its members.
• Learning organizations use technology to expand capacities for taking action while acknowledging interdependence.
• Learning organizations implement teams where learning begins with a passion to do something, and once there is a passion for doing something, then a learning approach to teams occurs.
• Learning organizations create knowledge, and knowledge is created as tacit knowledge by individuals, then made explicit and shared. Acquiring knowledge is more than taking-in information.
• Learning organizations promote knowledge that under most circumstances involves action and requires more than the intellect. Knowledge is created by human interaction. Tacit knowledge is personal, context-specific, and thus, hard to formalize and communicate. Explicit knowledge refers to knowledge that is transmittable in language. A clear explanation is that it is tacit knowledge when one knows how to do something, but would have trouble describing how.

Checklist for Implementing Learning Organization Concepts

• Begin with the end in mind. Starting with an essential school activity such as school improvement will help to ensure sufficient energy to carry the project through.
• Involve all stakeholders for developing commitment to the endeavor. To succeed with large scale change requires addressing the desires and aspirations of the team, and this requires much more attention than simply starting a new project based on its benefits. The level and quality of energy present when people are working on something that they believe in and care about is much more powerful that the level of energy present when people are doing something because they think they should, or because they were directed to.
• Develop shared vision for what is desired among the team and strive for a shared understanding of the realities of the "as is" state, and exploit and maintain the "tension" between them. Energy and creativity result from the tension between what is desired and what is.
• Grow and learn through exploring and exposing mental models. Mental models strongly affect thinking and thus, influence action. Mental models are perceptions of how things work and can be very difficult to change. Mental models that are out-dated, inappropriate, and ineffective are dangerous to the organization, and this danger is most extreme when people are not aware of their mental models.
• Incorporate systemic thinking and work from a systemic model. A strong vision for what is possible and a systemic view of realities helps provide the direction for success. Look to create a reinforcing spiral in which success provides the energy for further successes.

Cautions with Learning Organization Concepts

$Be prepared to "stick it out" through the downfalls long enough to see the results of the system. In many endeavors, progress does not occur in steady progressions but includes "ups and downs." Avoid the short-term fixes that have long term ramifications and that create vicious cycles.

$ Provide the fundamentals of teaming and team learning such as dialogue, suspending assumptions, and practice fields. Remember that the goal of becoming a learning organizations is never realized, but instead is a perpetual process.

Adapted from Covey, 1994; Covey, 1989; Karash, 1995; and Senge, 1990a.

Last updated: March 10, 1998