Answer :

LEADERSHIP AND LEARNING ORGANIZATIONS

Introduction:

Learning organizations comprise of those organizations in which continuous efforts are given by the leaders and the employees to increase their capabilities and skills to adapt with the changing business environment (Serrat 2017). In the learning organizations, importance is given on learning new skills and competencies so that the business can be updated and innovation can be created effectively. In the era of high competition and disruptions due to innovations created by the competitors, it has become necessary for all the organizations to become learning ones.  Employees of these organizations use the shared vision in which a collective commitment is induced among the employees in a vision to achieve the business goals. In the learning organizations, leaders can play significant roles in the process of become the designers and teachers of the employees to help them to achieve new competencies (Berson, Da’as and Waldman 2015). This is conducted in a process to achieve competitive advantages in the market.

In this essay, I will be conducting a research on the theories on the role of leaders in the learning organizations and how the leaders can become the perfect designers and teachers in these organizations. 

Theories on leadership in the learning organizations:

There are many theories present which are based on the role of leadership in the learning organizations. According to the view of Peter Senge, a learning organization is required following five important disciplines which are- personal mastery, mental models, creation of the shared models, team learning and lastly, the creation of a particular language (Chia 2019). The theory of Peter Senge also describes the role of the leaders in the learning organizations as designer, steward and teacher (Patti et al 2015).  In the course of developing the personal mastery among the employees, leaders can play the role of the teachers to guide them to get adapted with the new competencies. Leaders can also induce the shared model in which the employees can have a shared vision which they can follow to achieve the objectives. Lastly, in the process of team learning, leaders in the learning organizations can help in developing the strong team and to manage those teams effectively. 

According to the theory of Donald Schon, in the process of diffusion of the innovation, learning models in the organizations are far better than that of the classical models (Elkjaer 2017).  The theory states that with the help of a learning model, an organization can induce continuous transformation in the business models which help them to get adapted with the changes in the business environments (Oeij et al 2017). The theory also highlights the presence of ad hoc leadership in the learning organizations. Leaders can play the role of the transformer who can eliminate the fear on the mind of the employees on getting adapted with the changes. Therefore, it can be stated that with the presence of successful and strong leadership, it is possible to develop a learning model in the organizations. According to authors Imran, Ilyas and Aslam (2016), in order to induce a learning model, organizations need to focus on having transformational leaders who can actively motivate the employees to adapt with the changes and continuously learn from the new innovations and process of the business functions. That is these leaders bring in creativity in the overall process of organizations learning which is extremely important to induce innovation in the business. 

Critical analysis of the theories:

As a part of a learning organization, I have gained significant knowledge about the importance of leadership and the role that they can play. In the theory of Peter Senge, I have analyzed that the essential criteria of the learning organizations have been provided. These criteria can be also considered as the principles which Peter Senge has demonstrated effectively through his vision on the learning organizations. Further, his perspectives on the leadership in the learning organizations also has been well defined with the analysis on the different types of role that the leaders can play to assist the employees to adapt with those defined principles of a learning organization. This theory has helped me to learn about the way the leaders can become effective in these organizations.

By analyzing the theory of Donald Schon, I have realized the difference between the learning culture and the traditional culture in the organizations. With the theory, Donald Schon has successfully demonstrated the major contribution that the learning culture can bring in for the development and sustainability of the business. With the analysis on the continuous changes in the learning organizations, as stated by Donald Schon, I have able to learn the real importance of inducing the learning culture in the organizations in the process of getting adapted with the changes in the business environment. Therefore, both these theories have been extremely effective for my learning process of the learning organizations. 

Other theories of leadership and learning organizations:

Motivation plays a key role in the process of encouraging the employees to adapt with the learning model. Authors Banerjee, Gupta & bates (2017) highlighted that learning culture in the organizations can be properly implemented if the employees can be motivated with perfection. In order to make this possible, the organizations need to have strong leaders who can play the role of the motivators of the employees and to encourage them to learn new skills with effectiveness. Successful leaders have the skills to understand the problems and difficulties of the employees to adapt with the learning culture. In this process, motivation can be done if these leaders are able to guide the employees to accept the challenges and implement the suitable methods to get adapted with the learning culture. Therefore, leaders need to have suitable listening skills as well as creative thinking skills to be successful in a learning organization (Muthia and Krishnan 2015). Even presence of the transactional leaders is also important in the learning organizations as they can help in managing the process of learning of the employees and can also help them to guide in case of any problems that they face in the scenario of effective learning. Authors Marshall, Coleman and Reason (2017) analyzed that with the help of successful leadership, it is possible to bring in sustainability in the process of learning. This is due to the fact that leaders can continuously provide guidelines to the employees to enhance their working skills. Leaders can also asses the changing scenarios in the business models and the innovations that are required to be implemented to ensure proper sustainability of the business. Therefore, leaders can help the employees to take the way by which they will be able to learn in a sustainable way. According to authors Shao, Feng and Hu (2017), leaders can also play key role in the learning organizations to encourage the employees to gain skills about the new technologies and proper implementation of the emerging technologies to bring in innovation in the business. Supporting this fact, authors Kremer, Villamor and Aguinis (2019) highlighted the strong contribution of the leaders on enhancing the scope of innovation in the business of the learning organizations. 

After assessing the theory, the main question lies about the skills that the leaders require to play active part in the learning organizations. After assessing different theories on the topic, I have assessed that the most important skill that the leaders in a learning organization require is creative thinking. This is the skill which helps the leaders to develop innovative ideas of learning for these organizations and to guide the employees to take up those processes of learning.  Leaders help the companies to learn from their mistakes and the loopholes in the business strategies. After analyzing the theories, I have also learnt that problem solving is another key skill that contributes hugely to become a successful leader in the learning organizations. This is because, if the leaders are able to understand the problems of the employees and help them to solve those problems on learning, then the process of sustainability in the learning culture can be enhanced significantly. Another question that I would like to assess is that how can leaders be the effective teachers in the learning organizations.  By analyzing the theories, I have learnt that the leaders can help the employees gain new knowledge by providing them with efficient training on the process that would be highly effective for them to adapt with organizational changes. I have also assessed that in the learning organizations, business processes tend to change to adapt with the external environment. In this regard, leaders can bring in sustainability in the continuous changes of the business process.

Conclusions:

With the help of analysis on the theories regarding leadership and learning organizations, I have been able to gain significant knowledge which will help me to play the role of an effective leader in my organization. The theories were based on the perspectives of different experts on the impact of leaders for execution of a learning culture and to help in bringing sustainability in the learning process in the learning organizations.