JRSSEM 2022, Vol. 02, No. 2, 188 – 202

E-ISSN: 2807 - 6311, P-ISSN: 2807 - 6494

DOI : 10.36418/jrssem.v2i2.251 https://jrssem.publikasiindonesia.id/index.php/jrssem/index

THE STUDY OF LEARNING ORGANIZATION MODELS: A

LITERATURE REVIEW

Dian Yulia Sari

Ministry of Finance Republic Indonesia

e-mail: dian.yu[email protected]enkeu.go.id

*Correspondence: dianyuliasari6[email protected]l.com

Submitted: 02 August 2022, Revised: 22 August 2022, Accepted: 19 September 2022

Abstract. Peter Senge’s learning organization model, “The Five Building Blocks,” initiated five

elements of learning organization, namely “personal mastery, team learning, shared vision, mental

models, and systems thinking”. Inspired by this model, several developed learning organization

models and the elements are proposed by the scholars in the last two decades in order to preserve

the needs of the change world. The aims of this study are to analyse the development of learning

organization models and the elements attached to the model. A systematic process of literature

review is implemented as the methodology of the study which critically resulted ten journals to be

investigated. According to the research, three scholars implemented the five building blocks model

from Peter Senge, while the other scholars proposed their studies with developed elements and

learning organization models. The characteristics, the readiness, the perception, and the existing

conditions of the organizations are several factors that affect the learning organization model.

While the differences in the level of how important each element in the learning organization

model is also encourages the development of learning organization model itself. Heretofore, the

Five Building Blocks model is still very relevant to be used by the scholars and become the basis of

learning organization model research in the future.

Keywords: learning organization; model; elements; characteristics; dimension.

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DOI : 10.36418/jrssem.v2i2.251 https://jrssem.publikasiindonesia.id/index.php/jrssem/index

INTRODUCTION

A continuous improvement has

become a demand for every organization

today. Various organization are trying to

improve themselves so as not to be left

behind the development of an increasingly

advanced and globalized world. This

should be a concern for an organization to

change the “command” style to the

“participation’ style. Organization must

provide opportunities for their members to

always learn and develop so that they can

have a positive impact on the organization.

One of the strategies that must be done is

to develop a learning organization.

Learning organization is a continuous

and planned organization facilitate its

members to be able to continuously

develop and transform themselves, both

collectively and individually, in an effort to

achieve a better result and in accordance

with the perceived needs shared between

the organization and the individuals within

it, (Minister of Finance Republic Indonesia

Decree., 2018). The concept of learning

organization itself was first popularized by

Peter Senge in his book, The Fifth Discipline

(1990). According to (Senge., 1990), the

success of an organization is largely

determined by its ability to develop its

institution into a learning organization. The

book also explain that learning

organization are a place for people who

continuously improve their capacity to

create the results that are truly expected.

Ideally in a learning organization each

individual is able to develop various new

thoughts, freely express his aspiration, and

how each individual continues to learn how

to learn together. To achieve this goal,

(Senge., 1990) suggests the use of five

components of technology, namely:

“systems thinking, personal mastery,

mental models, shared vision, and team-

learning”.

Several experts also formulate the

notion of learning organization, (Pedler et

al., 1991), stated that a learning

organization means an organization that

facilitates the learning process of all its

members and continues to carry out

positive transformations. This means that

each individual can continue to learn, in line

with organizational changes for the better.

Furthermore, (Watkins and Marsick., 1993)

add that learning organizations will

continue to learn, transform, empower

communities, emphasize collaboration and

group learning process, strongly encourage

open discussion, and recognize that there

is interdependence between organizations

and individuals within them. Moreover,

(Marquardt., 1996) argues that a learning

organization is an organization that

powerfully and collectively learns and

continues to transform for the better in

collecting, managing, and using the

knowledge for organizational success.

The importance of sharing in the

context of a learning organization is not

only beneficial for the continuity of the

organization in the face of change and

uncertainty that is happening. Learning

organization is an investment. Learning

that has become a culture can encourage

individuals and organizations to increase

knowledge, competence, and improve

performance on an ongoing basis. Until the

time comes, will encourage continuous

improvement, support the achievement of

goals, enrich innovation, and the ability to

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deal with change, (Senge.,1990)

While the objective of Learning

organization according to (Minister of

Finance Decree Republic Indonesia., 2018)

are, anticipating the accelerated change,

disruption and uncertainty at national and

global levels by creating an agile, adaptive

and innovative organization; enhancing a

collaborative, digital, creative, and

independent learning culture for all

employees; improving the competence of

reliable human resources, accountable,

competent, and ability to complete the

tasks effectively and efficiently; improving

the individual, team, and organizational

performance in achieving the vision,

mission, and the strategic objectives of the

organization; maintaining the intellectual

assets of the organization through

knowledge management; and improving

the culture of sharing knowledge both at

the individuals, teams and organizations.

The learning organization itself opens

opportunities for organizations to continue

to grow following changes in the

environment, competition, technology, and

stakeholder demands. Along the way, the

model of learning organization continues

to develop. On that basis, this study will

analyses the development of the learning

organization model implemented by the

scholars in the last two decades and the

element attached to the model.

METHODS

The study conducted a traditional

research method called literature review.

According to (Cooper., 2010), literature

review is a research that examines and

critically reviews the knowledge, the ideas,

and or findings contained in the body of

academically oriented literature, and

formulates theoretical and methodological

contributions to a certain topic.

This study analyses the development of

learning organizations models and their

elements proposed by the scholars since

the Five Building Blocks model from Peter

Senge. The search for the articles and the

journals is done through the research gate,

google search, and google scholar with the

keywords of learning organization, learning

organization models, and learning

organization elements in both Bahasa and

English. The criteria for the articles and

journals tracked include the period of the

publishing journals in the range of the last

20 years from 2002 to 2022 with; learning

organization, learning organization

models, and learning organization

elements as the research theme; and the

types of journals are in original and full text

journals.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

For the last three decades a numerous

studies of learning organization models

have come up as an essential discussion to

the scholars. The change of the elements of

learning organization has been proposed

by the scholars as a development and

improvement of the five building blocks

model pioneered by Peter Senge. The

following table of Learning Organization

Models presents several key development

of learning organization models and the

differences of the elements implemented

to the models.

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DOI : 10.36418/jrssem.v2i2.251 https://jrssem.publikasiindonesia.id/index.php/jrssem/index

Table 1. The Learning Organization Models

The Model

The Author

LO Elements

The five building blocks

(Peter Senge, 1990)

“Personal Mastery, Team Learning, Shared

Vision, Mental Models, Systems Thinking”

The eleven characteristics

of a learning company

Pedler et al (1991)

“Internal exchange, Enabling structure,

Reward flexibility, Inter-company learning,

Informing, Learning approach to strategy,

The formative accounting and control, The

participative policy making, The boundary

workers as environmental scanners, Self-

development opportunities for all, and

Learning climate”.

Dimension of Learning

Organization

Questionnaire (DLOQ)

(Watkins and Marsick,

1993), (2003)

“Empowerment, Inquiry and dialogue,

Team learning, Continuous learning,

Strategic leadership, System connection,

and Embedded system”.

Five factors of readiness

Wick and Leon (1995)

“Planning, Leadership, Innovation,

Information dissemination, and

Implementation”.

Learning Organization’s

five indicators

(Marquardt, 1996)

“People Empowerment, Technology

Management, Learning Dynamics,

Organizational Transformation,

Knowledge Management”.

The five strategic

building blocks

Goh and Richard

(1997)

“Experimentation and rewards, Clarity of

organizational mission and vision, Team

problem-solving, Leadership commitment

and empowerment, and Effective transfer

of knowledge”.

Learning Organization

Process Survey

Udai Pareek (2003)

“Synergy, Information flow, Holistic frame,

Shared vision, Emotional maturity,

Strategic trust, Empowerment, Learning”.

The reliability and validity

of the “Organizational

Learning”

(Mets and Torokoff,

2007)

“Internal Environment and Learning, “Main

Process” for the scale of employee, “Main

Process” for the scale for managers, Shared

values, and Internal Environment, Goals

and Development”.

The Learning Security

Model

(Garvin et al, 2008)

“Admitting new concept, psychological

security, learning process, welcoming

differences, learning encouraging”.

The Learning Climate

(Jamali et al, 2008)

“Systematic employee development,

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Model

Employee participation, Learning reward

systems, Learning climate, Constant

experimentation”.

An Open Systems of

Learning Organization

Liesbsch (2011)

“Relative dynamic systems, Self-organized

in an adequate way and structure-

determined, Relative opened systems, and

Relative underdetermined systems”.

An Integrated Learning

Organization Model

(Waheed et al, 2015)

“Self-development, Innovation, Leadership

facilitation, Information sharing,

Empowerment, Collective collaboration”.

The Five Critical Elements

of learning Organization

(Shin et al, 2016)

“Empowering at all levels, gathering and

integrating external information,

establishing and communicating a clear

sense of direction and purpose,

accumulating and sharing internal

knowledge, challenging the status quo

and enabling creativity”.

Learning Organization

Management model

D’Amato et al (2016)

“Shared responsibility, Total Transparency,

Top down and bottom up approach,

People and team increasingly self-

managed, Intrinsic and based on

involvement and job quality, Creation of

learning infrastructures that facilitate

learning, Build the better context to obtain

the best people”.

A Collective

Organizational Model

(Lau et al, 2019)

“Processes, Principles, Purposes”.

The Learning

Organization Dimension

(Wetzel et al, 2019)

“Discipline, decision making, desire,

equality”.

Adaptive Learning

Organization Model

(JoshBersin, 2020)

“Leadership, Partnership, Innovation;

Intelligence, Analytics, Velocity; Agility,

Experience, Value”.

Since the first introduced by Senge in

the early 90s, numerous theories regarding

learning organization have been proposed

by organizational experts. According to

table 1 above, the five building blocks by

(Senge., 1990) is a commencement of a

learning organization model. The model

integrates five elements which include

“personal mastery, team learning, shared

vision, mental models, and systems

thinking”. It is believed that learning

organization is a place where collective

thoughts are spread, new thinking patterns

are raised, and how learning together is

being continuously developed for all

individuals in the organization (Senge.,