8.4.3 The learning cycle
After more than a decade two of the more influential approaches are those of Redding and Catalanello (1994) and Dixon (1994). Nancy Dixon builds this organisational learning cycle on previous studies detailing how individuals learn. Dixon suggests the organisational learning cycle has four steps as shown in the following diagram.
(Redding & Catalanello, 1994:36) (Dixon, 1994:45)
Figure 2 Learning cycle
The above learning cycles of Redding and Catalanello, Dixon, or other variations (for example, see Argyris & Schon's double-loop learning, 1978:18-23; Kolb, 1984; Garrat, 1987; Revans, 1982) reinforce the need to view learning as a cycle that extends beyond the benign absorption of information for applied purposes . It can be viewed as a cycle that needs to have components managed to maximise its total impact. This process is never static. It varies with context, the individual and the content of learning.
The Redding and Catalanello figure depicts a simple learning cycle used in the management of learning and knowledge. How well we can transfer knowledge between individuals or improve an organisation's capacity to learning and to perform. Not all knowledge required can be tied to actions that produce known outcomes or found in processes used by individuals or the organisation to achieve productive outcomes. Knowledge may be generated through experiences or completely unstructured events.
The value of learning to organisations can be appreciated if it is viewed in terms of its contribution to the speed organisations can innovate. The effectiveness of learning can be assessed by the speed, depth and breadth of learning (Redding & Catalanello, 1994:Ch2).
Speed of learning - the pace organisations are able to move through the learning cycle and the speed at which the organisation can complete the learning cycle, will determine the opportunities available to learn.
Depth of learning - the ability of organisations to learn. How much knowledge is taken in at each learning cycle.
Breadth of learning - refers to the capacity of the organisation to utilise the learning or "how extensively organisations are able to transfer new insights" (Redding, 1997:479-480).
Traditional learning in organisations takes a long time to occur. The time between market changes and the development of organisational structures and procedures to meet new conditions, and reconfiguration of organisational processes to strategic planning may only be completed when the next change impacts the organisation. For the learning organisation the implementation of change is through the realisation that all processes within the management system are learning processes. The speed of the organisational learning cycle increases as the organisation learns to learn and respond to change.
Learning is impacted by the specific context of the organisation and the knowledge being absorbed, generated or transferred. Understanding the source and structure of knowledge is therefore a precondition for understanding how to manage knowledge as an asset and for determining its capital value.
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