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The University as a Learning Organization

Is the university a learning organization? There is much information available from the discipline of business management theory regarding learning organizations, businesses that encourage change, development, and adaptation to rapidly changing times and markets. One wonders whether the university, society's institution of higher learning, measures up as a learning organization using theories of learning from a business management perspective. It is the purpose of this paper to explore this question.

Argyris defines a learning organization as one which acquires information or new practices, any kind of new expertise (Argyris 1996, p.3). According to Peters and Waterman, an organization that is too focused on a rational mode of operation does not instruct future leaders in the "rock bottom importance of making the average Joe a hero and a consistent winner" (Starkey 1996, p.32). Academic life can sometimes be about preventing failure rather than becoming a winner and a hero. One learns how to negotiate through the university system and survive, but there are tremendous hurdles and resulting insecurities to surmount in order to come out the other side with a degree. It is more a system of eliminating those who cannot figure out the puzzle of the academic process than a system of creating heroes and winners. My friends and I are often stressed, going through the process.

Some would not agree that the university is a business, and that business theories of learning organizations do not apply, but, in fact, universities are businesses. They are complex bureaucracies with forecasts, expenses, and a bottom line. Certain groups of students are cultivated in order to enhance the level of tuition income. The university would not exist if there were not enough income to pay for its processes. My tuition helps to pay peoples' salaries. The product is education, but one cannot exactly equate education with learning. Learning is an ...

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The University as a Learning Organization. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 04:41, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1696015.html