Learning Curve in an Organizational Context

A highly useful learning concept which is valid for a wide range of situation is the  organizational learning curve, a diagrammatic presentation of the amount learned in relation to time. A typical learning curve will show on the Y-axis the amount learnt and the X-axis the passage of time. Characteristics  of the Organizational Learning Curve Certain characteristics are common to all learning curves. One such feature is the initial spurt. At the beginning, it is natural that the rate of learning exhibits spurt. Usually, the graph levels off at some stage, indicating that maximum performance has been achieved. Apparently at the beginning of the learning process, the subject is highly motivated and seems to exhibit a significant surge of effort. Many experienced trainers exploit this initial spurt by selecting the most important items to be communicated and presenting them as a package to the students at the beginning of the Continue reading

Unitary Perspective of Industrial Relations

The Unitary perspective  of industrial relations views the organisation as a team ‘unified by a common purpose’, namely the success of the organisation. This perspective views all the people in the organisation as part of one big team. Unitarists view everyone within the organisation as part of one team with one loyalty structure. This immediately says that there are no barriers between different groups and departments which could lead to poor communication and animosity, which would go against the notion of common values and common goals as that would not be advantageous to the common goal, of the success of the organisation. The set of common goals and values that are put in place are there to try to create and maintain the order within the organisation, the ‘common’ set of values and goals are important so that all of the employees are working in unison. This is important as Continue reading

The Impact of Organizational Culture on Business Strategy

Organizational culture is an essential aspect to a company that can influence the strategy of the organization. Organizational culture can define as one organization share their own traditions, values, policies and attitudes during their daily operation. Organizational culture is a basement of company strategy. Company can achieve their business goal very easily if they put organizational culture into their business vision and mission; make sure the culture can match with company strategy, in this way company culture can push their business keep going. Each of organization has their unique culture which the company can benefit from it. The culture can give a large effect to employees, even the company’s customers. As long as staffs know about the culture of company, they know the core business of the organizational hence the strategies they make will surround the organizational culture and that will not deviate their organizational goal. On the other hand, Continue reading

Knowledge Management (KM)

Knowledge Management is the process through which organizations generate value from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets. Most often, generating value from such assets involves sharing them among employees, departments and even with other companies in an effort to devise best practices. The term is used loosely to refer to a broad collection of organizational practices and approaches related to generating, capturing and disseminating know-how and other content relevant to the organization’s business. Knowledge management can be explained as an effort by organizations to manage some or all of the knowledge within them as a resource, much as they manage real estate, inventory, and human resources. It involves the following: Capturing it; that is, explicitly recording the tacit knowledge within an organization. Cataloguing and storing it; that is, placing the information into a central area where all members of an organization who have a need to know have access to it Continue reading

Company – Definition, Meaning and Characteristics

A company can be defined as a group of persons associated together for the purpose of carrying on a business, with a view to earn profits. The word ‘Company’ is an amalgamation of the Latin word ‘Com’ meaning “with or together” and ‘Pains’ meaning “bread”. Thus, a company is nothing but a group of persons who have come together or who have contributed money for some common person and who have incorporated themselves into a distinct legal entity in the form of a company for that purpose. There is very good definition by Lord Justice Lindey, “A company is an association of many persons who contribute money or money’s worth to a common stock and employ it in some trade or business and who share the profit and loss arising there from. The common stock so contributed is denoted in money and is the capital of the company. The persons Continue reading

Role of the Change Agent In Organizational Development and Change

Change agents are the persons who initiate change and manage change in the organizations. They are specialized   in theory and practice of managing changes. The change agent may be a member of organization or an outsider such as a consultant. An internal agent very well knows the organization and have ability, knowledge and experience of directing people for changes. But, internal agent is removed from regular duties to concentrate on the transition. However, external agents view the organization from the system point of view and is much affected by the organization norms. Top managers also prefer hiring specialized consultant change agents as they can offer more objective prospective than insiders. External experts are, however, not well aware of the desires and attributes of the employees, therefore, the changes suggested by them are generally resisted by the employees. Change agents have five set of powers as support of managers is Continue reading