Senge LO intervention

Quantitative assessment of
a Senge learning organization
intervention
P. Jay Kiedrowski
Public and Non-profit Leadership Center, Humphrey Institute,
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Suradej Jongwannasiri

 Purpose – To quantitatively assess a Senge
learning organization (LO) intervention to
determine if it would result in improved
employee satisfaction.
 Design/methodology/approach – A Senge
LO intervention in Division 123 of Company
ABC was undertaken in 2000. Three
employee surveys using Likert-scale
questions over five years and correlation
analysis were used to compare the impacts
in the division, and with the company.
Abstract
Suradej Jongwannasiri, 2013

 Findings –
Employees in Division 123 accepted Senge’s
concepts more and had improved employee
job satisfaction over those five years
demonstrated by statistically significant gain
scores and positive correlation results.
However, the division’s gain scores were not
statistically better than the bank, and
correlation analysis did not show a positive
relationship between the intervention and job
satisfaction compared to no intervention.
Abstract

 Practical implications –
Aspects of a Senge LO intervention such
as team learning, systems thinking, and
shared vision were valuable as part of a
change effort in an organization.
Senge’s disciplines appeared insufficient
as a total change methodology.
Abstract

Senge Learning Organization

 Senge’s theory was that if you apply his five
disciplines (Personal mastery, Mental models,
Shared vision, Team learning, and Systems
thinking) a LO would be created, and that the
improved organization would have greater
learning that results in improved employee
satisfaction and productivity.
 The underpinning of Senge’s LO theory and
disciplines were three basic concepts:
1. The “primacy of the whole”, or systems thinking
2. The community nature of self
3. Language as generative practice
Senge Learning Organization

 a comprehensive quantitative assessment was
undertaken of a Senge LO intervention in a division of a
major US banking organization from 2000 to 2004.
 This research builds on the quantitative work of Wright
(1997) and Ellinger et al. (2002), and supports/refutes
others’ theory development work by attempting to
answer the following question.
 Research question
Can a Senge LO intervention improve employee
acceptance of LO concepts, and does that
acceptance lead to improved job satisfaction in a
single organization?
Design methodology

 Hypotheses
1. A Senge LO intervention will improve employee
attitudes about both acceptance of LO concepts
and employee job satisfaction in a single
organization; and, that the two will be positively
correlated.
2. Acceptance of Senge’s concepts and employee
job satisfaction will improve more in a single Senge
LO intervention organization than in a non-
intervention control organization.
Design methodology

 Measures of variables
1. The Senge LO intervention or L, was measured by
nominal data
2. Acceptance of Senge’s concepts or A, the
second variable, was measured by the average of
the ordinal “Likert-scale” responses to the seven
survey items
3. Employee job satisfaction or S, was measured by
the average of the ordinal “Likert-scale” response to
the following survey item: Considering everything, I
am satisfied with my job.
Design methodology

 Framework
Design methodology
L
The Senge
LO
intervention
A
Acceptance
of Senge’s
concepts
S
Employee
job
satisfaction

 Description of the population and sample
Division 123 within Bank ABC had 1,547 employees in
2000 in 26 states and was implementing a Senge’s LO
intervention and constituted the intervention
organization.
Bank ABC, excluding Division 123, had over 100,000
employees in 2000 across North and Central America,
and was selected as the control group.
The reasons for selecting Bank ABC and Division 123 were
convenience and interest. This author was the head of
Division 123, an employee of Bank ABC, had access to
employee survey. While the researcher was the head of
one of the organizations under study which could
present a bias, it also provided a unique perspective.
Design methodology

 The intervention
The following describes the Senge LO intervention in
Division 123 of Bank ABC.
1. Beginning in 1998, Division 123 of Bank ABC had been
part of a “merger of equals”, acquired six new groups,
and expanded its products. Because of those changes,
many new team members, aggressive competition,
differing cultures, and the poor profitability of the division,
employee morale was low.
2. The first step in the implementation of Senge’s
concepts in Division 123 was to determine how best to
apply Senge’s concepts.
Design methodology

3. The whole intervention was called “Learning to
serve our clients better”. Senge’s concepts were
renamed for better understanding.
4. The senior team of Division 123 next began a
process to develop a shared statement of its
mission, vision, and values. Senge (1990) argued,
from his experience working with leaders, that this
was the first task of designing a LO.
Design methodology

5. all new division team members participated in an
orientation that included an hour-long discussion of the
mission, vision, and values of Division 123 presented by
the head of the division.
6. Training of the top 80 division managers in Senge’s
concepts occurred in the spring of 2001 at their annual
two-day meeting. The shared mission, vision, and values
statement was reinforced. A common set of mental
models was discussed as a part of the review of the
strategy of Division 123. Separate sessions dealt with
personal mastery and team learning. A special exercise
was used to practice systems thinking. The senior
managers were asked to personally accept the new LO
concepts.
Design methodology

7. all aspects of Senge’s LO intervention were
implemented at least minimally. In 2002, Division
123’s managers’ meeting again reviewed the
mission, vision, and values. A simulation was done
with the whole group by an organizational
development firm to practice systems thinking.
8. the head of the division, this researcher, wrote an
open memorandum to all division team members
describing the importance of learning and Senge’s
concepts in the division, and asked for their
reactions. A number of responses were received.
Design methodology

9. Division 123 developed a team member website
in late 2003 to enhance communication. This web
site was the main screen each employee saw on
their computers, and carried daily messages, some
promoting Senge LO concepts.
10. the head of Division 123 wrote a memo to all the
employees of the division congratulating them on a
successful 2003, setting the goals for 2004, and
discussing some of the LO initiatives.
Design methodology

Research results

 Finding results
1. Acceptance of Senge’s concepts was positively
correlated with employee job satisfaction in Division
123 in 2004. There was support for the idea that
acceptance of Senge’s concepts led to improved
employee job satisfaction in Division 123.
2. There was insufficient support for the premise that
the Senge LO intervention had more impact on
employee job satisfaction than not doing an
intervention.
Research results

Creating a compelling vision, empowering people,
mobilizing commitment, and institutionalizing
cultural change were four critical activities to
transform organizations into LO’s.
In the Senge LO intervention in Division 123, two of
these activities seemed to have been successful,
but mobilizing commitment and institutionalizing
cultural change were less successful.
Practical implications

 Organizations should mobilize commitment early
by improving participation in decision-making, and
making employees feel more respected.
 Training and development, which was done poorly
in Division 123, must be done more thoroughly by
other organizations.
 This also would have helped the division to
institutionalize the values established into its culture.

 Better mobilize commitment is to have the LO
intervention led by a cross-organizational team of
middle to upper level managers and employees
from all levels.
 Organization heads should not start nor be the
major advocate of the LO intervention. The more it
comes from the top, the more it seems like an order
which is contrary to the empowerment needed for
true learning.

 To concentrate on enhancing the culture of the
organization, with less emphasis on structural
changes. There is likely a more significant pay-off in
cultural activity in the intervention than in the other
more traditional change activities.
 The fact that Bank ABC led by its capable CEO
without a formal intervention strategy made more
improvement on acceptance of Senge’s concepts
and employee job satisfaction from 2000 to 2004
emphasizes the importance of a humanistic cultural
leadership style.

The end
Based paper :
P. Jay Kiedrowski, (2006) "Quantitative assessment of
a Senge learning organization intervention", Learning
Organization, The, Vol. 13 Iss: 4, pp.369 - 383

Senge LO intervention

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Senge LO intervention

Similar to Senge LO intervention (20)

Senge LO intervention