Learning organizations is a concept which is little understood and researched in Southern Africa, particularly in Zimbabwe. The researcher chose the subject matter of learning organizations because she feels it is critical to the success of organizations. To date in most organizations the understanding of learning organizations and what they represent has been understood to a very small extent, if any at all. The concept of learning organizations has been researched and practiced mainly in the European and American parts of the world but not to the same extent in Africa. This paper seeks to examine, The extent to which organizations in Zimbabwe are learning organizations, a case study of BancABC.

Learning organizations is a concept which is little understood and researched in Southern Africa, particularly in Zimbabwe. The researcher chose the subject matter of learning organizations because she feels it is critical to the success of organizations. To date in most organizations the understanding of learning organizations and what they represent has been understood to a very small extent, if any at all. The concept of learning organizations has been researched and practiced mainly in the European and American parts of the world but not to the same extent in Africa. This paper seeks to examine, The extent to which organizations in Zimbabwe are learning organizations, a case study of BancABC.

Purpose: The aim of the study is to analyse why the socialworker at the socialservices havn’t implemented the perspective of woman as subordinate and men as superior. Questions: Is the perspective of woman as subordinate and men as superior significant for the socialworker? Is the organisation, colleagues or de individuals thought structure of importance when it comes to implement the perspective? Does the socialworkers view of the clients as victims have an impact on the fact that the perspective has been given interest?  Method: Critical case study. Flexible design; The study is based on interviews with socialworkers and study of documents and statistics Conclusion: One of the central findings of the field study was that the implementation of the perspective of woman as subordinate and men as superior was of no use for the socialworkers as they saw it. The findings showed that the definition of a victim was not used or that they were unconscious that the definition of a victim did affect them in their work. The possibilities for the organisation to learn is of  importance for the implementation of the perspective of woman as subordinate and men as superior. Finally the results showed that in some way their work was influenced not only of the definition of the victim but also indirect of the perspective of woman as subordinate and men as superior.

In 1995 a Federal Government Report, Enterprising Nation: Renewing Australia?s Managers to Meet the Challenges of the Asia-Pacific Century (Karpin, 1995) was published. One of the key themes of this report was that "The "learning organisation" will be standard philosophy for many Australian enterprises and a major way they cope with change and turbulence. Managers will create conditions conducive to learning for both individuals and the enterprise as a whole, within and between groups, across individual business units and between enterprises and their external environments." There is a dearth of published literature internationally, not only on clubs and the degree to which they are learning organizations but organizations in general. A systematic search of the literature identified only one published report in which there was an in-depth exploration of an organization to determine if it was a learning organization. Therefore, this study has a dual purpose. Firstly, it provides an in-depth study of a specific industry; and secondly it helps to fill a knowledge gap in the study of organizations. This study has used as its theoretical framework Marquardt?s (2002) learning organization model to determine the extent to which the characteristics of the learning organization are perceived to apply to a group of clubs in a regional area of Australia. The study has used a survey method utilising the Learning Organization Profile (LOP) questionnaire developed by Marquardt (1996) and validated by Griego, Geroy and Wright (2000) and interviews with the CEOs and Human Resource Managers from four clubs. The LOP was distributed to permanent staff working in these clubs resulting in 36% of the LOPs being returned. Statistical analysis of the returned LOPs indicated that the clubs had not adopted the characteristics of the learning organization to any great extent. The clubs divided into two groups. The perceptions of staff from two clubs were that the clubs had adopted learning organization characteristics to a minor extent. The perceptions of staff from the other two clubs was that the two clubs had adopted learning organization characteristics to a moderate extent. In all cases the pattern of perceptions of staff represented differences of degree rather than fundamental differences. When the data obtained from the managers were examined, managers perceptions were that the clubs had adopted the characteristics of a learning organization to a moderate extent. These results compare favourably with the results of the Byers study (1999), which found that the perceptions of senior managers in Australian organizations were that the characteristics of a learning organization applied to a moderate extent. The perceptions of non-managers were that the characteristics applied to a minor extent. Statistical analysis of the data indicated that there were no significant differences between managers and non-managers, with the differences being in the degree rather than there being any fundamental differences.

Increasingly the competitiveness of organisations will depend on the level of service and quality of experience offered by the employees of the organisation. In short, it is the employees within an organisation that define how successful the organisation can be to the market. The opportunity to outperform competitors lies in the ability to innovate quicker, respond faster and better understand the needs of the consumer, in so doing, becoming the organisation that creates the next trend rather than follow it. The key to achieving outstanding performance, driving both bottom-line revenue and sustained growth in the long term is in harnessing the collective knowledge latent within the organisation and freely available just beyond the organisation in the external context. This can only be done through developing a strong Learning Organisational Culture. The impact this has on the organisation is in improving employee engagement providing the catalyst in which employees perform at an optimum, minimising the unproductive cycles of the organisation resulting from employee turnover, lost intellectual capital and general employee apathy. The study provides evidence that Learning Organisation Culture is positively correlated with Employee Engagement. Copyright 2010, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Knox-Davies, B 2010, The extent to which a learning organisation culture influences employee engagement in two service based organisations in the property sector of South Africa, MBA dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03242012-174550 / > F12/4/208/zw / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Communication methods in the corporate environment must change. Organisations can no longer expect effective communication when using intranet sites or sending employees countless emails. This type of communication does not create the learning environment and most employees either do not read the intranet sites, or there is just too much email which could be seen as spam by the employee. These types of technologies also create a culture where organisations are lead from the top and there is not a culture or platform to create feedback loops. Most large corporate organisations have a tendency where many silos are created and cliques are formed, which is not in line with the culture of a learning organisation. Although there are a number of studies which look at how Internet based micro-blogging affect social connectedness, there is however limited information as to the effect that micro-blogging, if used internal to the organisation, would have on employee engagement, or how it can affect the competitive nature to the organisation. The research is exploratory in nature and set out to review what impact internal micro-blogging has on the organisation. The research uses Vodacom, one of the leading Information and communications technology (ICT) and telecommunications companies in South Africa, as the case study, as micro-blogging was recently introduced into this organisation.

The intention of this essay is to study the Swedish General Staff as a learning organisation during the period of 1914-1918 based on the theoretical work developed by the philosopher Bertil Rolf. Previous international research on the Prussian/German General Staff has shown that it is considered to be the first learning organisation in history. The Swedish General Staff was based on the German General Staff model and the focus of this study is to compare the development the tactics in Germany and Sweden regarding defence and attack in trench warfare. The questions are: How were the possibilities for gathering and analysing informa-tion affected by the war? Which conclusions were made for trench warfare in Swedish conditions? What experiences from the war and exercises in Swedish army were implemented in manuals and training?The conclusion of the study is that the Swedish General Staff was functioning as a learning organisation during the WWI through the ability to follow the international development, mainly in the Central Powers, and by modifying the experiences to the prevailing Swedish strategic and tactical conditions. During the war the German experiences, mainly from the eastern front, were used as a model combining movement and trench warfare. The main reasons were that the conditions on the western front with the concentration of artillery and troops were considered as an anomaly.The learning was created by processing the war experiences and experiences from the annual field exercises in several studies. One additional condition for the learning process was the demanding selection process for the employment of new General Staff officers, a process which meant that only a very small number of officers annually were appointed to general staff officers.

Communication methods in the corporate environment must change. Organisations can no longer expect effective communication when using intranet sites or sending employees countless emails. This type of communication does not create the learning environment and most employees either do not read the intranet sites, or there is just too much email which could be seen as spam by the employee. These types of technologies also create a culture where organisations are lead from the top and there is not a culture or platform to create feedback loops. Most large corporate organisations have a tendency where many silos are created and cliques are formed, which is not in line with the culture of a learning organisation. Although there are a number of studies which look at how Internet based micro-blogging affect social connectedness, there is however limited information as to the effect that micro-blogging, if used internal to the organisation, would have on employee engagement, or how it can affect the competitive nature to the organisation. The research is exploratory in nature and set out to review what impact internal micro-blogging has on the organisation. The research uses Vodacom, one of the leading Information and communications technology (ICT) and telecommunications companies in South Africa, as the case study, as micro-blogging was recently introduced into this organisation.

<p>The purpose of this study was to investigate, through a qualitative survey, the need of knowledge and strategy in organisations today and tomorrow. The empirical investigation is built on a semi structured interview that was conducted on nine different companies in Gislaveds community. The companies were from three different branches namely: tree, metal and polymer. Three interviews were conducted in each branch.</p><p>The result from the interviews showed that the globalisation had put the companies under hard competition which had made the need for rationalisation and effectivness more apparent. Having said this, the demands on the organisation and the individuals within it will constantly increase. In order to enhance the individuals and the organisation there are an increased need for flexibility and openness and the responsibility and authority must be with in the individuals in the organisation. Our work show that the individuals with in the organisation shall be some kind of “superhuman” that can perform most of the tasks in the organisation, he or she should be flexible and open minded.</p><p>Our findings shows the way an organisation can create this “superhuman” and what an organisation needs to do to become a learning organisation.</p>

The purpose of this study was to investigate, through a qualitative survey, the need of knowledge and strategy in organisations today and tomorrow. The empirical investigation is built on a semi structured interview that was conducted on nine different companies in Gislaveds community. The companies were from three different branches namely: tree, metal and polymer. Three interviews were conducted in each branch. The result from the interviews showed that the globalisation had put the companies under hard competition which had made the need for rationalisation and effectivness more apparent. Having said this, the demands on the organisation and the individuals within it will constantly increase. In order to enhance the individuals and the organisation there are an increased need for flexibility and openness and the responsibility and authority must be with in the individuals in the organisation. Our work show that the individuals with in the organisation shall be some kind of “superhuman” that can perform most of the tasks in the organisation, he or she should be flexible and open minded. Our findings shows the way an organisation can create this “superhuman” and what an organisation needs to do to become a learning organisation.