Peter Senge stated in an interview that a learning organization is a group of people working together collectively to enhance their capacities to create results they really care about.
In the book, he proposed the following five characteristics:[5][6] The idea of the learning organization developed from a body of work called systems thinking.
However, O'Keeffe[3] believes that the characteristics of a learning organization are factors that are gradually acquired, rather than developed simultaneously.
[6] Research shows that most learning in the workplace is incidental, rather than the product of formal training,[3] therefore it is important to develop a culture where personal mastery is practiced in daily life.
[8] Personal mastery makes possible many positive outcomes such as individual performance, self-efficacy, self-motivation, sense of responsibility, commitment, patience and focus on relevant matters as well as work-life balance and well-being.
[13] In creating a learning environment it is important to replace confrontational attitudes with an open culture[10] that promotes inquiry and trust.
[3] To achieve this, the learning organization needs mechanisms for locating and assessing organizational theories of action.
For organizations, problems arise when mental models evolve beneath the level of awareness.
[6] On the other hand, the lack of clearly defined goals can negatively affect the organisation, as it cannot attain its members trust.
[15] Applying the practices of a shared vision creates a suitable environment for the development of trust through communication and collaboration within the organization.
[7] In team meetings members can learn better from each other by concentrating on listening, avoiding interruption, being interested and responding.
[16] In such a learning environment, people don't have to hide or overlook their disagreements, so they make their collective understanding richer.
As organizations grow, they lose their capacity to learn as company structures and individual thinking becomes rigid.
[3] To create a competitive advantage, companies need to learn faster than their competitors and to develop a customer responsive culture.
[19] For example, USAID has a number of technical website platforms focused on development topics including Learning Lab, AgriLinks, DRGLinks, Edulinks and ResilienceLinks.
[20] Overall the customer performance of learning organizations might be better, which is the direct and measurable channel, that establishes a competitive advantage.
[3] A learning organization needs to fully accept the removal of traditional hierarchical structures.
[3] Unless implemented coherently across the organization, learning can be viewed as elitist and restricted to senior levels.
[10] Learning and the pursuit of personal mastery needs to be an individual choice, therefore enforced take-up will not work.
When the number of employees exceeds 150, internal knowledge sharing dramatically decreases because of higher complexity in the formal organizational structure, weaker inter-employee relationships, lower trust, reduced connective efficacy, and less effective communication.
[22] Problems with Senge's vision include a failure to fully appreciate and incorporate the imperatives that animate modern organizations; the relative sophistication of the thinking he requires of managers (and whether many in practice are up to it); and questions regarding his treatment of organizational politics.
Based on their study of attempts to reform the Swiss Postal Service, Matthias Finger and Silvia Bűrgin Brand (1999) provide a useful listing of more important shortcomings of the learning organization concept.
They believe that by referring to the notion of the learning organization it was possible to make change less threatening and more acceptable to participants.
'However, individual and collective learning, which has undoubtedly taken place, has not really been connected to organizational change and transformation'.
Some of the issues that learning organizations were designed to address within institutions is fragmentation, competition and reactiveness.
Because best results in team learning form through discipline, it is essential to have an agenda, make atmosphere open and respect others: avoid interruption, be interested and respond.