Transforming anglian water

IntroductionIt is believed that survival of an composition in coeval era of globalization & liberalisation is get hold ofly corre youthfuld to the extent to which it utilizes groundbreaking info technology tools and practices enumerate prime(a) perplexity.The invention of scholarship Organization was introduced by Chris Argyris and and researched and explained by Sange (1990). Sange outlined nurture Organization as the nerve in which you postnot not learn beca spend attainment is so insinuated into the fabric of life. He gain defines erudition Organization as a mathematical group of people continu whollyy enhancing their capacity to draw what they want to create.The purpose of this assignment is to shoot Anglian piddle in the light of breeding Organization and1. Investigate the extent to which the organization could re entirelyy claim to be a acquire Organization.2. Identify those factors that whitethorn pervert the impression of larn Organization in Anglian urine and call into question the investments made.3. explicate if Anglian urine can engender the ideals and practices of a eruditeness Organization. musical composition exploring the definitions and characteristics of accomplishment Organizations, the graphic symbol study of Anglian waters will be investigated and comparisons will be drawn.Chris Argyris oppositeiates surrounded by primary order or virtuoso closed circuit-the- curl up acquire versus back order or double loop discipline. schooling is further explained as detection and correction of errors. hit loop eruditeness detects the errors and then functions indoors the construct of organizations presidential termination varying to achieve the desired result. biramous loop cultivation challenges the reigning vari suitable itself and aims at producing drastic ethnic c atomic number 18ens at heart the organization. Argyris further divides organizations into stick I and impersonate II. Model I repres ents the traditional bricks and mortar culture, a few characteristics of which atomic number 18 secure the purpose as the actor defines it, Win, do not lose, Suppress Negative Feelings, Advocating courses of military actions which reprove inquiry, Defensive relationships, low freedom of prize.Model II represents a development organization, the characteristics of which ar Valid info, Free and Informed choice, inner(a) Commitment, Sharing fit, Surfacing conflicting view, minimally defensive relationships, High freedom of choice, change magnitude likelihood of double loop instruction.Considering the above view point, Anglian water clearly go in the Model II di imaging of double loop learning. In the 1990s it diversified into untested markets, conducted employee mirth surveys and acted on the results of it. The watchfulness clearly had a flock to introduce and sustain drastic ethnical changes and go towards becoming a learning organization. This was achieved to a gre at extent d star employee em functionment & executeation of transformation excursion which enabled incumbents at all levels to pause attitudinal and behavioural change to be able to c be up with turbulent and uncertain environment.Argyris further introduces us to the imagination of triple loop learning (Learning how to learn) which is in continuation to single loop (What to do) Double Loop (Learning what to do). trey Loop Learning questions the grammatical constructions and strategies of learning and how our psychic map affects the way we be shed. It is considered as the highest level of organisational learning and restructuring. Triple loop learning leads to restructuring of current brasss and processes. Dialogues atomic number 18 initiated with in the organization in the form of bodied brainpowerfulness to extrapolate the basis of earth of hierarchies policies, procedures etc and RESTRUCTURING within the organization takes center.A Learning Infrastructure is create d where existing structure is studied, negotiation is initiated and new and more setive structures atomic number 18 proposed. Focus then is on maturation competencies and skills of idiosyncratics teams organization and hence emerges a Learning Organization. Anglian weewee as an organization seems to have all the characteristics that the Triple Loop learning mentions as that of a Learning Organization. At Anglian water, face to face parley is chalk upicted ut almost importance amongst employees university of Water was naturalized to integrate , support and accredit all forms of learning develop skills and competencies that was required to move Anglian water to the 21st century and place it as a global consorter. hawkshaw Senge (1990) remarks The rate at which organizations learn may become the only sustainable cum of warlike advantage. He differentiates between adaptive and generative learning. Adaptive Learning is the initiation of a corporation into the fraternity of Learning Organization. Generative learning utilizes the power of creativity and basis to reconstruct those systems and processes that govern consequences. Senge, in his much acclaimed book The twenty percent part discipline explains the five disciplines which according to him argon cucial in building a learning organization.The first discipline Personal dominance concentrates on learning of each and either individual in the organization resulting in Learning organization as a whole. Individual goals and tools to measure the proximity to these goals argon developed. Significant tell apart of Personal ascendency can be found at Anglian water done the introduction of the concept of travelers whose four guiding principles were a willingness to master to know myself, a desire to develop myself, a desire to develop my sufficient potential with and done others, an ability to connect my personal development to the development of Anglian water.The second discipline of psychol ogical Model is the fashion model of cognitive processes of our judging which determines our thought and action process. Argyris concept of theories of action is similar to the kind Model concept and govern actual behavior. Espoused system is what we would like others to believe as our actual action theory. Anglian Water does not seem to have incorporate the Mental Model theory in its learning curve. The third principle of systems opinion or the ability to see interrelationships / circular causations (where a variable is both the cause and effect of another)is prevalent in the practice of shifting Journey , Total Quality focusing , Change Agent Networks.The Fourth maven of shared fantasy (build on individual reverie of its members) is not considerably supported at Anglian Water. While the vision and order statements were rolled tabu in the 1990s it is unclear if these were created by dint of and finished the interaction between leaders and employees of the organizat ion. It seems more potential that the vision and values were communicated from top to bottom. The fifth discipline of team learning or genuine thinking together was extremely encouraged by the leadership at Anglian water and is corroborated with the team and group formations by the methodology of Transformational Journey.Victoria Marsick states that learning organizations learn deep change in the mind sets of people as well as the culture of the organization and socities. Gephart , Marsic & Van Buren 1997 emphasize on Continuous Learning at the system level which at Anglian Water was initiated in the form of Transformational Journey and University of Water. intimacy generation and sharing was made realistic through the introduction of University of Water which aimed at acknowledging, integrating, supporting and accrediting all forms of learning in the company. The concept was further given a boost with the establishment of an intranet for information supercede and communicati on.Systematic Thinking capacity which enables employees to severalize linkages and feedback loops. The presence of the concept of systematic thinking can be illustrated by the feedback statements of employees on the Journey be a levelheaded learning experience OR the findings of the employee gaiety survey that clearly demanded a cultural change in Anglian Water.Greater society and accountability by a bigger percentage of employees is promoted by Anglian Waters through miscellaneous methods such as employee satisfaction survey , employee givement , transformational journey that proverb the participation of more than 3000 employees, new HR Performance Management Policies. Culture and structure of rapid communication and learning was introduced with the sexual climax of the 2 year long traveler grapheme and Aqua University. Rapid communication was facilitated through the installment of Intranet.Pedler, another major(ip) pioneer, in his work Blue prints of a learning company characterizes such organizes through the usage of five themes.Strategy is explained throughi. Learning admission to strategy was seen in the efforts to promote team working and cooperation through transformational journey which would have a direct bearing on the operational durability and business performance.ii. Participative Policy devising is wanting in Anglian Waters organizational learning.Looking in encompassesi. Informating or use of information technology to inform and empower employees by giving them access to information was be practiced at Anglein Water through installation of Hawk their intranet system.ii. inbred Exchange was facilitated through the introduction of Total Quality Management i.e. Each incision treated the other as subjective Customeriii. Formative Accounting and chasten andiv. reward flexibility are lacking(p) from the grounds of Anglian Water.Enabling structures are ductile organizations which revisit & reformat structures, goals, objectives t o align with the interest of employees, shareholders and suppliers. place privatization, Anglian Water reorganized its business, restructured to a flatter organization, encouraged cross structural and individual participation to facilitate despotic change. Transformational Journey empowered employees to arrange for their knowledge support and skill development.Looking show up encompassesi. Boundary workers as environmental scanners, which refers to the battle array of information from the external stakeholders of an organisation in order to establish their unavoidablenesss is seeming(a) through the introduction of TQM a divulge element of which is to be sensitive to client requirements and to respond rapidly to themto achieve customer satisfaction (Stark, 1998)ii.Inter-company learning which entails joining with customers and suppliers in training experiences, research and development and wrinkle exchanges is conspicuous by its absence in Anglian Water.Learning Opportunit ies talks ofi. Learning mood encourages employees to seek continuous improvement, learn from their experiences and score time to question practices and try show up new ones. Establishment of university of water by Anglian Water for the sole purpose of learning and development of employees attests the presence of Learning humour in the company.ii. Self Development opportunities for all was encouraged at Anglian Water through the introduction of Transformational journey which was a holistic strategy designed to fixate and provide employees for the technical and emotional challenges of operating in a turbulent and uncertain environment.To Summarize, whether Anglian Water can claim to be a learning organization, I would like to overwhelm a few ideas organized by Art Kleiner states as Why fray?i. Because we want superior performance and competitive advantageii. For customer relationsiii. To debar declineiv. To improve qualityv. To control risks and diversity more deeplyvi. For aimvii. For our personal and spiritual well macrocosmviii. To increase our ability to manage changeix. For energized committed work forcex. To expatiate circumscribeariesAbove mentioned ten points are official results of a achievementful learning organization. Anglian Water when viewed in the light of the above mentioned results comes out as a winner in the scope of learning organizationsThe next flavour is to identify factors that may undermine the concept of Learning Organization in Anglian Water.Senge states that the role of a leader is to build a shared vision. Though the vision and value statement that were released at Anglien Water were designed to inculcate new attitudes and behaviors, no evidence of participation of employees in shared vision building exercise is found.Shell (1997) as well talks of Creative tension as a characteristic of Learning Organization. This enables innovation and visioning the future and further working towards a commonly agreed goal . However, this capacity to vision the future seems to be lacking in the employees of Anglian Water. This was more than evident when in 1990 Ofwat recommended a price reduction of at to the lowest degree 17.5%. and this conclusion hit the company hard. It suffered fearsome losses and had to initiate a major cost reduction strategy. If the government decision had been predicted by the visionaries of the company, they would have had time to prepare ground for the turbulence that they faced as a result of this Change.Davenport and Prusak (1998) are touch with the magnitude of importance that has been given to Information technology centric Knowldege Management in Learning Organizations. They state that it is more Copernican to build a culture tributary to knowledge and learning rather that show on information storage, retrieval and transfer. Clarke and make state that in their goal to be a learning organization, Anglian Water rolled out a complete association Management Policy . However, their Intranet, despite of being called set up Harnessing Anglian Waters Knowledge appears to play only a secondary role. champion of the major characteristics of Learning Organization is existential Learning. Polanyi (1967) characterizes experiential learning as understood or not highly conscious. scrub and Wenger term the process as legitimatise peripheral participation which further dilutes lessons learnt. Employees undergoing experiential learning efficacy not be capable of fully understanding the reasons for success or ill luck. Thought Processes that are different from that of the value systems of a learning organization might be considered null and void.Marsick points out that when an organization is undergoing change and simultaneously assessing feedbacks, a confused and chaotic situation is bound to emerge. Multiple feedbacks emerge resulting in reaction to various signals at the same time. figure the environmental factors that would affect the well bein g of the company in future and predicting the types of challenges that the company should be ready for becomes very difficult. A tiny random fluctuation, often called hindrance can induce the path of choice (Capra 1996). It is hence expected of a learning organization to crumble well the various feedbacks and signals and prepare for the future challenges. It appears that the visionaries ay Anglian Water deep in thought(p) the point and hence future environmental challenges could not be well predicted.A few other vital characteristics of a Learning organization, mentioned by Pedler, seem to be missing at Anglian Water are Formative Accounting and Control, Feedback loops being built in policy making process. Formative Accounting and control insists on accounting , budgeting and reporting systems that are designed to help people understand the operations of organizational finance.However, It is beta to add here scholars often caution against one size fits all approach to creating t he learning organization (Marsick). Hence, it should not be a mandatory criteria for companies to absorb all characteristics defined by all scholars in the field of learning organizations.The third step is to analyze if Anglian Water can sustain the ideals and practices of a Learning Organization. If we refer to that portion of eccentric person study which is called The future, what immediately comes to our mind is that Anglian Water can not sustain the ideals and principles of a learning organization.When Anglian Water adopts a major cost reduction strategyin 1998 99 it seems to be moving away from the concept of Learning Organization. 10% of the employees (400 in number) were seen losing their line of descents. While Learning Organizations are all some Investment in social, human and keen capital Cost reduction strategies accommodate lay off, low levels of risk taking, short term focus minimal levels of employee training and development, and narrowly defined career paths (S chuler and Jackson, 2006168) These practices are in stark contrast to senior managements machinate to change Anglian Waters approach to doing business to entrepreneurial, innovative and outward face (Jenkins, 20081)Cost Reduction would further flirt with minimizing overheads and it is assumed that the worse affected areas would be clement Resources & logistics. Under tender Resources, most of the benefits such as training programs, employee usage activities would have been scrutinized and the logical conclusion would be to cut the costs related to them. In this scenario, existence of a corporate university might come under investigation with assess to the total costs being incurred on it.Huczynski and Buchanan (2001135) describe LO practices as A abstruse difficult set of practices, difficult to experience systematically. This criticism is relevant toAnglian Waterin numerous ways. Firstly, with regards to the University of Water, in the long run, those employees involved ma y scrape with coping with learning and their day job at Anglian Water and also the need to encourage employee attrition and encourage new blood at Anglian Water. Secondly aft(prenominal) the initiation of the cost-reduction strategy the practices of a Learning Organization would be even harder to implement for reasons which were discussed previously.It is imperative to mention here that a lot of scholars in the field of Learning Organizations consider suppression as a part of the Learning and restructuring process. Labbas 1999, states that employment downsizing has been regarded as the preferred route to change organizational performance. Success or failure of a downsized organization depends on the custody remaining afterwards the downsizing (Best Practices in Downsizing 1997). The Organizational trends in late 1990s and then at the approaching of 21st century was moving towards downsizing , restructuring and outsourcing.Managers continue to use downsizing and other forms o f restructuring to improve productivity ( Ellis, 1998 ). Downsizing has been termed as a reorganization strategy by Mckinley, Sanchez and Schick. Few other companies which downsized in 1998 and are still going strong are Kodak, Levis and Citicorp. Freeman and Cameron mention downsizing as an intentional reduction in force play intended to improve the efficiency of the firm. refinement but not the least, the chaos theory related to learning organization deserves to be given its due importance musical composition discussing the probability of success of Anglian Water after downsizing. This theory talks about a situation when an organizational equilibrium becomes structurally unstable at critical bifurcation points.in the systems evolution where a classify suddenly appears and the system branches off in a new direction (Capra 1996). As a result of occurrence of chaos, a new form of organization would evolve.Since it is important for an organization to always be in the learning categ ory to be able to survive environmental changes, downsizing at Anglian water could be looked as a phase in the learning process. It can be assumed that Anglian Water emerges prospered after the process of downsizing and continues in its process of learning through as innovative techniques as Transformational Journey traveler and University of Water.BibliographyPeter Sange, Fifth containChris Argyris On Organizational LearningWatkins and Marsick Sculpting the Learning OrganizationBeardwell, J and Claydon, T (2007) Human Resource Management A contemporary approach Fifth Edition Pearson pedagogics LtdOrganizational Behavior Tata Mcgraw HillBurnes, B (2004) Managing Change Pearson Education LtdEasterby-Smith, M, Burgoyne, J and Araujo, L (2006) Organizational Learning and The Learning geological formation Sage PublicationsHuczynski, A and Buchanan D (2001) Organisational conduct (4th Edition ) FT/Prentice pressure groupPaton, R, Peters, G, Storey, J and Taylor, S (2005) Handbook of somatic University Development Gower producePedlar, M., Boydell, T. and Burgoyne, J. 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