The Learning Organization

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I left the company because there is no real leadership there and the office manager believes that she has full control of every person there and every situation. She has created her own set of rules and that is not necessarily a bad thing except that she changes those rules at whim. This makes it extremely difficult for anybody to be successful. It actually creates a sense of “why bother” amongst staff because you never know when she will change the rules. Many employees go to work, do the minimal amount to get by, and go home. There is no sense of accomplishment or sense of working together toward a common goal. The manager would often say, “If we do well this year, there is a possible surprise for everybody at the end of the year.” However, nobody knew what it meant to “do well” and since there was no tangible reward at the end, it lessened the desire to achieve it. The implied message from the office manager is that everybody there does what she says, there “might” be a reward at the end. No actual rewards were vocalized – neither extrinsic nor intrinsic. According to Kenneth Thomas of the Ivey Business Journal, there are four intrinsic rewards. They are a sense of meaningfulness, a sense of choice, a sense of competence, and a sense of progress. The sense of meaningfulness comes about when an employee feels that what they are doing has value and is important in the bigger picture. The sense of choice is when employees are given freedom to accomplish what they are doing in a way that makes the most sense to them. The sense of competence is accomplished when the employees feel good about the work that they have done. The idea that what you are doing is important and making a difference toward your goal creates a sense of progress. The fact that “doing well” was never verbalized by leadership and keeping the reward a secret did not lead to any of these things. Nobody really knew what it meant to do well. It could have meant increasing the number of sales, treating more lawns during the course of a day, or having a higher level of customer satisfaction. It could have been all three, but nobody actually verbalized the goal. The office manager simply said “if we do well…” and handed all of her staff a new set of rules. One of those rules included “doing your job the way I have laid out”. So, that left no room for her staff to do their job the way that made the most sense to them. In fact, if anybody questioned her about how she wanted to handle things, they were labeled as trouble makers. One example of this was that she made a rule for her two administrative assistants that one was no longer to answer the phones. Both had specific tasks that they were to accomplish throughout the day and one was busier in the morning while one was busier in the afternoon. The new rule created a hardship for the admin who was busy because she also had to answer the telephones while her coworker may have been sitting with nothing to do. When the manager was asked why, she became very angry and her response was, “because that is what I want and you do what I say.” Meanwhile, she would say “we are a team or I have an open door and want your ideas.” Her actions were in direct conflict with her words. My recommendation to the owner of the company would be to work more closely with his office manager and create a list of real responsibilities for her. He has to stop allowing her to have full control of the office. Her job description has to be created and followed. Any rules have to be discussed with him and can only be made or changed with his approval.

The owner has to create an environment of learning for every member of his organization. He will have to confront any and all sexism and racism that occurs in his company. There is a sense of acceptance of racial and sexual slurs by people in the organization, including management. The sales manager tells racial and sexually driven jokes all the time. Most people laugh while others simply ignore it. The owner has been there for these things and he laughs along with his sales manager. If his company continues to grow at the rate that it has been, he will soon hire someone who will not tolerate such behavior and he will be facing a lawsuit. He has to stop this sort of behavior in its tracks every time. He cannot tolerate any level of this if he wants to create an inclusive atmosphere for his employees which will help to promote learning by all. The team of technicians feel completely comfortable swearing in front of each other, other departments, and customers. The image of professionalism that he claims he desires, is not seen in his employees. It also makes others uncomfortable because they will yell at anybody that they feel has crossed them in any way. His first course of action should be a required course on inclusion and sensitivity for every employee. He will also have to create a disciplinary course of action that will be followed for all employees. It cannot be a “good ole boys” atmosphere any longer. The business owner needs to find a way that will create a positive learning environment for every employee. He has to create collaborative learning opportunities for his employees. It will not be easy for some members of his organization to let go of their “positions of power” in order to be open to learning from other members of the business, but it is necessary. “Once both teachers and trainers, as well as learners, get used to the idea of working together, the barriers between individuals and groups break down. Co-learning takes place and a feeling of community is built.” (Helping Adults Learn and Fostering Learning in Organizations) Leadership needs to promote and encourage self-directed learning of all employees. Right now, only the technicians receive any sort of continual training and learning. Learning opportunities should be made available to all employees. There is a convention every year and it should be made available to team leaders as well as employees who are front line members of the organization. Increased knowledge will lead to more confident and more committed employees as well as increased customer satisfaction. Increased knowledge should not be looked upon as a threat. The current office manager sees her staff as minions and it seems that she is threatened by them if they learn too much. She was my direct supervisor. The owner of the company told her for two years that she was to teach me every aspect of her job so that she had a backup person if she ever needed it. She would say ok to his face but never taught me anything more than what I needed to know to perform basic customer service. He asked me to attend the national convention but when she found out about it, she became angry and told him that he should have asked her first. He called me and told me that it would be best if I did not go. In fact, every member