=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-280/paper-15
|storemode=property
|title=Organisational Learning in India - Creating the Organisational Learning Space
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-280/p01.pdf
|volume=Vol-280
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/ectel/Raychaudhuri07
}}
==Organisational Learning in India - Creating the Organisational Learning Space==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-280/p01.pdf
Organisational Learning in India:
Creating the Organisational Learning Space
Suvro Raychaudhuri, 2 Concorde Way Apt#2-A3, Windsor Locks, Connecticut, USA,
suvro.raychaudhuri@wipro.com, suvro.rc@gmail.com
Abstract. Indian organisations have transformed organisational learning to face
multiple challenges posed by external market conditions, legal and regulatory
considerations and internal factors. The way Indian organisations have
developed their learning platforms and learning delivery has been instrumental
in equipping a global workforce with the required knowledge and skills. This
has, in turn, reduced time-to-market and built up a repository of knowledge and
a culture of learning through correct assessment of the socio-cultural nuances
that are congenial to organisational learning in India. This paper is aimed at
finding out how organisations in India have been able to do that and what kind
of learning delivery methods and techniques provide a good learning experience
for employees in Indian organisations, forming the basis for an Organisational
Learning System.
Keywords: Indian organisations, Learning methodology, Success parameters,
Organisational Learning Space, Learning delivery, Knowledge Management.
1 Introduction
This paper is exploratory in nature and aims to reveal some of the strategies adopted
by successful Indian organisations to implement learning platforms required for
continuous growth. This paper also discusses how corporate India has integrated the
historical Indian learning system of peer-to-peer learning and sharing under an
instructional and mentored learning design to create a contemporary learning model
integrated with the employee self service tools and knowledge management systems
of the organisations.
1.1 Design of the paper and method of data collection
The aim of this paper is to identify the various learning methodologies used in Indian
organisations for an effective learning experience. The outcome of this paper is to
establish the fact that the market-responsiveness of Indian organisations today is
primarily due to establishment of a successful learning system rooted in the
preferences of the learners (employees) that is implicitly influenced by cultural and
historical learning roots in India based on peer-to-peer mentored learning.
Data was collected through telephonic interviews and questionnaires sent through
electronic medium (e-mails), to over 60 employees (HR Executives/Managers,
Knowledge Management champions and HR Information systems specialists) in more
than 50 small, mid and large-size organisations in India. The questionnaire was
further administered to more than 60 junior employees (0-5 years of work
experience), middle-level employees (5-15 years of work experience) and senior
employees (15+ years of work experience) of the same organisations to gauge the
learner-preferences. Responses received were from across industries, but skewed
towards Information Technology/Information Technology-enabled service sectors.
Raw data in the form of responses from this population was collated and put into
Microsoft’s spreadsheet for further analysis.
2
2 Transforming Learning Roots into Organisational Learning
2.1 History of Indian Learning System
Indian education and the methodology of learning dates back to historical ages and
were primarily driven through education imparted through the “Gurukul” 1 concept,
essentially an interactive, peer-to-peer system of education. At the end of the tough
and rigorous learning period encompassing multiple subject areas and skills, the
students came out to be successful and responsible citizens capable of taking on
multiple challenges in life and society through “Kul”, which roughly means “domain
knowledge”. The failure of the “Gurukul” system of education is primarily attributed
to multiple conquests from invaders, religious and class/clan complexities, lack of
documentation and storage that rendered it an ad-hoc process that passed away with
the dilutions over time and also to the comparative lack of speed with and technique
through which it was delivered in a non-networked environment.
2.2 Learning from the Historical System
A knowledge of the success (and failure) of the Gurukul system and other
historical learning methodologies have helped Indian organisations develop
parameters required for creating what I will term as “Organisational Learning Space
(OLS)” and strategically link the OLS to business drivers, market environment and
internal human resource (HR) structure and processes like performance appraisal,
succession planning, development and growth, rewards and recognition, as modelled
below.
Technology People
Learning Framework
Knowledge
Environment Strategy Organisation Management
HR Framework
Culture
Structure
Fig. 1. Organisational Learning Framework in response to the market-facing factors.
Indian organisations have been able to recognise each knowledge category
(Historical, Cultural and Functional knowledge) separately, and have been able to
“discover”, “codify” and “migrate” invisible knowledge through the OLS. The model
below, adapted from Takeuchi and Nonaka’s model, shows the cycle of knowledge
that Indian organisations have attempted to capture.
1 Guru refers to "teacher" or "master"; Kul refers to his domain
3
Codified Migratory
knowledge knowledge
EXPLICIT
TACIT Discovered Invisible
knowledge knowledge
PROPRIETARY SHARED
Adapted from Takeuchi and Nonaka’s model
Fig. 2. Knowledge Circle model, adapted from Takeuchi and Nonaka’s model
Organisations high on the learning methodology path have attempted to capture
data/information sources scattered in various pockets of the organisation (sales
departments, general white papers, legal department, staffing and financial
departments, etc), filter the artefacts, classify and tag the information with the
appropriate metadata for easy storage, search and dissemination. This way, an
organised repository of knowledge has been built up, serving the needs of learning
based on role-based access to these knowledge repositories (groups and individuals)
through logical and/or virtual views defined in the knowledge management
repositories, making it easy for the user to search and navigate to solutions or
approaches to a problem, on a case-management solution approach.
External Learning System(s) Employees Employee Self-Service Applications
1. Third-party developed and hosted web
based learning solutions 1. Training and Development application
2. Third-party managed instructor-led 2. Performance Management application
learning solutions 3. New-Hire integration application
4. Salary and compensation application
Contact Centre 5. Relocation/Other change-of-status
1. Help Desk agents - Tier1,2,3 support information, etc
2. Multi-channel query resolution system
3. Case management solutions Contributes to/Receives
information from
Integrates with
Knowledge Management System
Knowledge Portal
Expert Services Search Services
(Expert-finder/Yellow Pages/Expert solutions) (Knowledge Discovery Systems)
Knowledge Base Tools
(Built on organisational taxonomy and metadata) (Workflow engine, Security, etc)
Organisational Knowledge Sources
1.Business Intelligence / Data Warehouse (Sales and Marketing information, Staffing data, etc)
2.Available documents (Technical papers, sales documents, etc)
3.ERP and CRM Databases, etc
Fig. 3. Organisational Learning Space model: Integration with Knowledge Management,
Employee Self-service and Learning frameworks.
This model of learning integrated with the knowledge management system of the
organisation has helped in improving employee productivity, reduce time-to-market,
retain and share knowledge and use that for proactive decision-making, enhance
collaboration and reduce costs associated with learning content development and
delivery. Indian organisations, for example have not embraced technology as a means
to deliver training – they actually tend to use technology as an expediting medium to
4
encourage peer-to-peer sharing of knowledge. Somewhat like Japanese organisations2,
Indian organisations have invested in trying to understand the psyche of its employees
and have established a more shared and interactive learning platform aligning with the
collectivistic culture that is inherent in the Indian society.
Establishing the OLS has been based on understanding the learning needs of the
organisation - “Education and growth needs” have been identified as necessary for re-
skilling the existing labour pool taking into consideration business downturns,
downsizing, future employability, penetration into emerging/new markets etc.
“Learning-as-an-entertainment needs” have been identified as creating a space that is
conducive to learning and fun. “Market-facing competency needs” have been
identified to reduce time-to-market and diffuse issues arising out of a geographically
spaced-out workforce. Similarly, “Innovation needs” have been identified for a leaner
way of productivity increase through reducing re-work, utilising and leveraging
existing processes and tools. To meet each of these needs, the OLS has been adapted
to incorporate different learning techniques, methodologies, processes, tools and
applications like corporate blogs, online libraries, sales repositories, knowledge and
discussion rooms, etc.
2.3 Key Success Factors
One of the most important success factors behind a successful OLS was to get the
learning-initiative coordinates right, in order to ensure value-on-investment. The
factors fuelling this success are not just knowledge of tangible factors (simple vendor
analysis, cost, time and project management) but also that of intangible, invisible
ones. The first success factor is a deep understanding of the People-Process-Culture
factors that determines, affects and is influenced by the “learn-ability” index of the
target population of learners. The second factor is the correct feasibility-analysis of
organisational learning with respect to the organisational infrastructure, thereby
setting the foundation right – which means rationalizing the existing resources,
infrastructure, tools and applications and strategically link these entities to other HR
processes. The third factor is a dedicated focus on internal processes and process-
streamlining, without an immediate plan of converting the training initiative to a
profit-centre one. The fourth factor is a well-researched learning/training outsourcing
initiative to avoid non-core, but critical requirements like compliance. The fifth factor
is concentrating on subject-matter expertise and “keeping the right people on board”
from the project management perspective, for all projects related to learning and
development – This means exercising greater control over project movements by
keeping the ownership of the HR projects under control and avoiding big-bang
implementations.
3. Summary of Findings
The conclusions provide an indication of the way Indian organisations customise
their learning strategies to respond to learners’ preferences. There is a high inclination
to interactive learning (physical, instructor-led) rather than through web-based
learning alone. Some of the organisations have been able to reduce costs on external
training (instructor-led or third-party developed-and-hosted web based learning) by
building-on and leveraging available knowledge repositories of the organisation.
2 Cross-cultural influence on organisational learning: the case of Japanese companies in China,
Jacky F. L. Hong, Working paper presented to Organisational Learning Conference,
Lancaster University, June 1999
5
Organisations cited the success of the OLS to an effective integration of the learning
management system with other strategic and automated HR applications (through
Employee Self-service portals with single-sign on facilities) over the intranet/internet.
Very few organisations actually have multilingual learning portals. Most
organisations have a mix of in-house and outsourced training programs (60%), with a
few cases of end-to-end outsourced training programs. Around 40% of the
organisations have some type of executive programs geared specifically for
executives, and these are high-budget internal, external or a blend of both. These
programs are strategically linked to HR initiatives of succession planning, promotions
and critical workforce deployments. 60% of the respondents stated that they have
dedicated investments in learning centres (infrastructure facilities, instructors, etc) and
some Indian organisations have reward programs for any contributions made to the
knowledge repository (Rewards may be monetary, certificates, etc). There have been
observed variations in learners’ preference with seniority of employment, learning
content and delivery method – however, all three levels of employees displayed an
almost equal inclination towards instructor-led/peer-to-peer learning in a classroom
environment.
4. Caveats, Shortfalls and Opportunities for Further Study
Lack of sponsorship on deeper research on this specific topic has limited reaching
out to a larger population.
A secured website developed and used for administering the questionnaire and
collecting the responses could have been a more sophisticated way of carrying out this
study, rather than telephonic interviews and emails.
More sophisticated analysis techniques are required to refine the findings of the
study. This calls for usage of licensed software like the SPSS, rather than MS-Excel
which has been used to analyse the data.
Construct and Content validity of the questions may be questioned and therefore
requires refinement.
Relating the findings of this study to an international population is expected to be
helpful to multiple ‘entities’, in terms of understanding the relations between learners’
preferences and parameters that influence organisational learning. The ‘entities’
mentioned above may be multinational corporations with a globally-spaced
workforce, product vendors on the e-learning space, ERP vendors, etc. Hoefstede’s
dimensions are recommended as additional study, as are Black, Gregersen and
Mendenhall’s expatriate-repatriation theories and their application.
References
Dimitris Karagiannis, Ulrich Reimer: Practical Aspects of Knowledge Management, Publisher
– Springer (2004)
Nonaka, I, Takeuchi, H: The Knowledge-creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create
the Dynamics of Innovation, Oxford University Press, New York (1995)
Rajendra Pal Singh: Professional Education in Ancient and Medieval India, Publisher – Arya
Book Depot (1970)
David R.Schwandt, Michael J. Marquardt: Organisational Learning: From World-Class
Theories to Global Best Practices, CRC Press (2000)
Verna Allee: The Knowledge Evolution: Expanding Organisational Intelligence, Published by
Elsevier (1997)
Chris Argyris: On Organisational Learning, 2nd Edition, Blackwell Publishing (1999)
Marjorie A. Lyles, Mark Easterby-Smith: The Blackwell Handbook of Organisational Learning
and Knowledge Management, Blackwell Publishing (2003)
Black, J.S., Gregersen, H.B. & Mendenhall, M.E.: Global Assignments: Successfully
Expatriating and Repatriating International Managers, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass (1992)
6
Jacky F.L Hong: Cross-cultural influence on organisational learning: the case of Japanese
companies in China, Working paper presented to Organisational Learning Conference,
Lancaster University, June 1999.
Appendix A: Graphical Representation of Findings
Chart 1. Learning delivery methods Chart 2. Facilities for learning
Organisational Facilities for Learning
Learning Delivery Method in Indian Organisations
"Verticalization" of knowledge
80 modules
Accessibility over the Intranet
Percentage response
60 70
50 Accessibility over the Internet
60
Percentage Response
40 Collaboration with academic Online libraries
50
30 institutions
20 40 Knowledge portals as part of ESS
Outsourced Instructors with SSO
10 30 Independent knowledge portals not
0 tied to ESS
20 Knowledge communities for alumni
In-house Instructors
Blended Web-based Asynchronous Instructor-led 10
Role-based access to online
Learning learning learning learning 0 knowledge centres
Multilingual portal
Delivery Method Type of Facility
Chart 3. Training programs Chart 4. Other features of learning
Training Programs in Indian Organizations Other Features of Organis ational Learning
90 Training program associated with
80 awards
80 70
In-house
70 Training program linkages to other
Percentage response
Percentage response
60
60 HR strategic modules
Outsourced 50
50 Dedicated investments in permanent
40
40 Mix of in-house and learning centres
outsourced 30
30
Executive programs 20 Online Communities
20
10 10
0 0 Reward for contribution to
Features knowledge repository
Program type
Chart 5. Learners’ preferences
Learners' Preference for Delivery Methods (Cross-Industry)
ing )
in g) eer) in g) ear n
d ) f L earn e r to P ed ) e d ) f L earn (Self L
e (Se l e s l
tur L d ) s (P eb-bas eb-b a cts (S e tiv ities
truc e ) edia ) r oo m W (W je ac
es (Ins uctor L tor Led r in ted m to-peer s/chat ations ( lation s red Pro he-jo b
c tur n str tr uc ls / p e er - si on m u l m u ns o n -t
L e ( I n s n a ( P u s si si po / O
ive kshops inars (I ks/Jour kshops ne disc -based timedia p any-s k -based r s
r act r r i r e
In te Wo Sem Boo Wo Onl Web Mul Com Wo Oth
100%
Percentage preference
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Delivery Method
Junior employees (1-5 years) Middle level employees (5-15 years) Senior Employees (15+ years)