In general, static organizations refer to organizations that are not moving or changing in the right direction. In this article, static organizations refer to organizations that are rigid, task-oriented, controlled through coercive power without proper participation expected at all levels etc. Any decisions made in these organizations are considered final and communication is top-down. Many factors lead to static organizations. Confusion between management and leadership is a huge factor that leads to static organizations. Employee morale is another factor that leads to static organizations. The level of education of employees also contributes static organizations. When examining static organizations, it is always a good idea to approach them comprehensively. One single factor alone does not necessarily leads static organizations.
Published in Chapter:
A Critical Review of Learning Organizations in the 21st Century
Copyright: © 2017
|Pages: 15
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-1049-9.ch051
Abstract
With the forces of globalization, economic turbulence and persistent change bearing down on organizations, it is imperative to an organization's survival that it ‘stays ahead of the game'. Knowledge and the ability to learn faster than competitors is ultimately what will sustain the organization in the 21st century. In the present chapter, the authors critically analyse what it means to be a learning organization. An analysis of organizational components such as structure, atmosphere, management philosophy and attitudes, decision-making and policy-making, and communication is used to help distinguish learning organizations from static organizations. It is argued for an organization to be a learning, rather than static, organization, its leaders must be flexible and people-centered, and engage in the use of supportive power, involving high participation at all levels, and conducting multidirectional communication in order to turn static organizations into learning organizations.