Chapter 1: What is a learning organization?

The Centre for Education and Work has been researching learning in organizations for the past six years. Our initial research focused the the assessment of informal learning in the workplace with the development of the Workplace Informal Learning Matrix.  (www.wilm.ca) This research led us to a better understandig of how and what adults learn on the job.

Workplace learning is essential for Canadian companies to maximize their growth potential.  All companies, large and small, must ensure that learning is applied in the workplace in order for Canadian companies to keep pace with the advances of the world marketplace.  The Centre for Education and Work in partnership with Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) received funding from the Federal government to conduct research to investigate what conditions need to be in place for a company to invest time, energy, and money in Essential Skills learning opportunities (training, formal education, and informal learning)  especially in small and medium sized businesses/enterprises (SME’s). More generally, we want to identify what factors underlie a company’s decision to invest in employee learning and development. 

This project has produced a National magazine publication, CEW Today, which highlights innovative learning practices in small and medium sized businesses and enterprises (SME’s) across Canada.  The case studies and a review of the literature on learning organizations are available at www.weslat.com.

The research led to the development of the Workplace Essential Skills Learning Assessment Tool (WESLAT), a tool that enables workplaces to asses their learning culture to identify strengths and gaps in their organization. This free and easy to use tool is also available at www.weslat.com

The Multimedia and Guided Learning Experience (MAGLE) walks the assessor thorough the Workplace Essential Skills Learning Assessment Tool process. The course:

a. defines learning organizations

b. provides a business case for why organizations need to invest in learning

c. explains how to complete and analyze the results of the assessment

d. describes how  to provide feedback on learning to the organization assessed

After completing over 30 organizational assessments across Canada, the CEW is  developing a series of interactive on line resources to address the learning gaps identified. These resources will be availale on the MAGLE site in the coming year. Feel free to contact us anytime for further information on the CEW products and services at chawkins@cewca.org

Organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together. (Senge, Peter, 1990)

The Centre for Education and Work completed a review of literature on learning organizations as part of the National research study.  (See www.weslat.com) Peter Senge's name was most often cited in the literature. Peter Senge has been studying learning in organizations for the past 25 years. His publication The Fifth Discipline, the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (1990) is a well recognized publication that outlines the five disciplines necessary to build a learning organization.

The CEW saw a connection between Peter Senge's five disciplines and the Essential Skills as outlined by Human Resource Social Development Canada (HRSDC). The CEW merged the five disciplines of Peter Senge with the language of Essential Skills to create an assessment tool to measure learning in organizations.  The result is the Workplace Essential Skills Learning Assessment Tool (WESLAT), a tool that has been piloted, revised and validated by workplace professionals and adult education researchers across Canada.   

Essential Skills are the skills needed for work, learning and life. They provide the foundation for learning all other skills and enable people to evolve with their jobs and adapt to workplace change.

Through extensive research, the Government of Canada and other National and International agencies have identified and validated nine Essential Skills. These skills are used in nearly every occupation and throughout daily life in different ways and at different levels of complexity.

There are nine Essential Skills:

Reading Text
Document Use
Numeracy
Writing
Oral Communication
Working with Others
Continuous Learning
Thinking Skills (finding information, decision making, job task planning and organizing, problem solving, use of memory
Computer Use

According to research by the Centre for Work on informal learning in the workplace (2003) organizations have tools to assess the technical skills or hard skills required on the job but have diffculty assessing the soft skills. The hard skills include reading, document use, numeracy, writing and computer use. The soft skills include continuous learning, oral communication, working with others and thinking skills (finding information, decision making, job task planning and organizing, problem solving and use of memory)

The Workplace Essential Skills Learning Assessment Tool assesses these soft skills. The tool assesses communication,  working with others, continuous learning and thinking skills. In addition the WESLAT addresses the organizational vision and workplace culture.

The following describes each of these Essential Skills in greater detail