Social networking is one of the defining processes of our current information age. The construction and maintenance of social relationships is one of the main things that we use our brains for — and it is through such relationships that we learn about the world and how to cope with it. While the tools available for social networking have become increasingly technological, the aim is still the same — basic people-to-people contact in search of growth and development.
Thinking of an organization as a brain leads us logically to the idea of thinking of the organization as a learning entity. The concept of learning is one of those individual attributes that we have in recent years found it increasingly useful to apply at the organizational level. A number of years ago, Peter Senge popularized the concept of “the learning organization” as a way of thinking about organizational information processing as a process extending across time. But just as individuals learn within a social context, so too do organizations. As the case for this module, you’re going to read some things about the idea of the learning organization and then think about the role of social networks in their cultivation.
The first thing to understand is the network properties of organizations. The brain is a network of nerve cells; the organization is a network of people, groups, tools, and other components. Talking about networks requires a rather specialized sort of language. Valdis Krebs has a particularly useful short introduction to networks that you should go through quickly:
Krebs, V. (2007) Knowledge Networks: Mapping and Measuring Knowledge Creation. Retrieved July 26, 2009, from http://www.orgnet.com/IHRIM.html
A good place to begin learning about the Learning Organization is with David Skyrme Associates’ “Insights on The Learning Organization” http://www.skyrme.com/insights/3lrnorg.htm
This should give you a fairly full exposure to the basic concept of the organization as a cognitive processing unit. Note also that the background information contains links to a number of other optional sources of information about these topics, should you wish to dig further into the concept.
When you feel that you are at least moderately familiar with the vocabulary of the learning organization, you should then read the following short discussion of organizational learning in the context of social networks:
Bersin, J. (2008) Social networking and corporate learning. CLO Magazine. October. Retrieved December 1, 2010, from
http://www.bersin.com/uploadedFiles/Bersin/Website_(Pages)/News_and_Events/Bersin_in_the_Press/JoshBersinArticle_Oct08CLO.pdf
Case Assignment
Read this article in light of the material that you have read on organizational networks and learning, supplemented if you wish with material from the optional readings and perhaps the supplementary background as well, and even other outside reading you might find by yourself to be useful. Then write a short paper describing how social networks and social media create and support a “learning organization”.
Case Assignment Expectations
Your paper should be short including cover sheet and references) and to the point. You are expected to deal with these issues in an integrated fashion, rather than treating them as a series of individual questions to be answered one by one and left at that. To help guide your thinking, however, you will need to consider issues such as:
What is a “learning organization”? How does it differ from the sum of the knowledge possessed by all the individual members of the organization?
Organizations aren’t just one big social network in which everybody is equally connected to everybody else, but a lot of smaller networks that are often only partially connected to each other. How does this increase or decrease the possibilities for a learning organization?
How can the kinds of social media that Bersin discusses help develop the learning organization? Are there any potential downsides to the use of such media?
Are there any ways in which social media tools might facilitate learning in the context of a widely distributed organizational system like TUIU classes? How could we become more of a “learning organization” ourselves?
What, if anything, does thinking about an “organization as a brain” add to what we have learned by thinking about an “organization as a machine” and an “organization as an organism”?
You will be particularly assessed on:
Your ability to see what the module is all about — the “big picture” is the brain-like aspects of organizations– and structure your paper accordingly.
Your informed commentary and analysis — this is as important as your summary of the material in the article — simply repeating what the article says does not constitute an adequate paper.
Your ability to apply the professional language and terminology of the underlying model — in this case, organizational learning correctly and helpfully. However interesting your paper about social media and networks it’s not going to be complete unless you also show that you can write about it in oprganizational learning terms.
Your ability to apply the language of the brain metaphor effectively.
Your effective and appropriate use of in-text citations to the assigned readings and other source material to support your arguments
Last Completed Projects
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