Seeking Feedback on Learning for Change

{Excerpt} Feedback underpins organizational learning. To find the highest level of success in learning for change, feedback should be invited, analyzed in the most positive manner possible, and used to impact decision making. The rapidly changing—and, at times, excessively complex—nature of development work demands diverse competences from aid agencies such as the Asian Development Bank. In addition to technical knowledge and skills, they include no less than appreciating political economy; building relationships; reading and responding to complex organizational and social predicaments; and increasing capacity to contend with uncertainty, task-compromise, and deal with difference and diversity. The learning challenges that these demands present require the ability to work more reflectively in a turbulent practice environment. There is no alternative: to remain relevant and effective, an organization’s rate of learning must be at least equal to—but preferably greater than—the rate of change in the environment

Organizational Memory: an Approach from Knowledge Management and Quality Management of Organizational Learning Perspectives

The recognition of the fact that, as of late, knowledge represents one of the most important assets of an organization, decisively influencing its competitiveness, has led to some comprehensive approaches of organizational memory. The organizational memory and the organizational learning capacity are the main sources for a competitive edge, so the main challenge is to effectively manage knowledge while maintaining the quality of formation services. The scientific investigation of literature (Crosby, 1979; Deming, 1982; Juran, 1990; Barcet and Bonamy, 1994; Barnabé, 1997; Bouchard and Plante, 2002; Demeuse and Strauven, 2006) specific to the area of management of services related to organizational learning, reveals the orientation of research, based on: (a) conformity between delivered services and the demanded characteristics or specifications; (b) meeting client’s needs; (c) studying the existing adequacy between result and what had been announced, foreseen or promised; (d) improving overall functioning of the organization by defining and implementing of a quality project, one that will involve the whole necessary staff for satisfying the needs of the learners. This paper will present: (1) contributions to a coherent point of view regarding the organizational memory from the perspective of the principles of quality management of services associated to organizational learning and based upon Knowledge Management; (2) the analysis of the main quality models that may be employed in organizational learning related services; (3) a study regarding the perception of successful organizational factors in the field of Knowledge Management-based training services amongst Romanian companies and institutions.organizational learning services quality management, organizational learning success model, cognitive acquis, organizational memory, knowledge management methods

Learning in a Flash

Text is no longer the primary means of learning transfer. Character-based simulation, in which animated characters provide a social context that motivates learners, can improve cognition and recall and bodes well for high-impact e-learning