Florian Funel
Blood is one of the most important parts of the human body, but not everyone is sure of what it is or does, as is the case with the culture in an organisation: “Culture and its traditional use to learning are complex and difficult to define” (Sefton-Green, 1999). The learning culture is also an important element of any learning organisation and an integral part of organisational learning. In a symbolic logic, blood in the human body can be considered as the learning culture in organisation: it is the “glue” (Schein, 1985) that holds the body, comparable to the organisation. Blood is pumped by the heart through the circulatory system. It has two main functions: carrying oxygen to the body’s cells and taking away carbon dioxide waste. The vessels that carry oxygenated blood are arteries, while veins carry blood back to the heart and lungs to receive more oxygen (Medterms, 2011). Oxygen is essential to human, animal and plant life. Schein claims that culture is, especially important in the birth and early growth stage of a firm. During pregnancy, the fetus receives all the necessary nutrition, oxygen and life support from the mother through the blood vessels in the umbilical cord. When defining culture, Robinson (1999) considers that this mechanism, which allows organisations to be adaptable to their changing environment, gives their workforce the ability to adjust to bend and modify their knowledge and skills in response to demands.Through the circulatory system and the heart, the human body has also this ability to adjust the blood circulation to meet its oxygen’s needs in response to muscle demands for example.
A strong and healthy circulatory system has a positive impact on the body's performance and reduces the risks of cardiovascular diseases. Similarly, positive transformations in the way people perform and perceive their internal and external environments are projected to have a positive influence on organisational performance (Thompson and Kahnweiler, 2002). Several organisations have identified that building a strong learning culture is a strategy that can be used in order to be globally and economically competitive (Robinson, 1999; Harris & Volet, 1997). In the establishment of a learning culture, individuals are empowered and trusted, expertise is recognised through incentives and rewards, and they evolve in a positive climate. This increases performance by keeping teams emphasized towards the goals of the organisation (Senge, 1990).
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| Source: http://www.adrp.org/blog/article/world-blood-donor-day-human-blood-drop-photos/ |
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| Source: http://www.genetherapyreview.com/education/human-anatomy/blood-vessels |
Blood carries all the needed nutrients and oxygen throughout the body using arteries in a river like communication network. It also brings back some of the waste and carbon dioxide through the veins. Marsick and Watkins (1999) believe that learning organisations work by enabling similar communication within and among all the levels of the organisation. As a consequence, organisations with a developed learning culture are places where people continually increase their capacity to create the results they want, where new and extensive patterns of thinking are encouraged (Stinson, Pearson & Lucas, 2006) and where people are constantly learning how to learn together (Senge, 1990). Dialogue is then, an important component related to the development of a learning culture. Schein explains that dialogue becomes a central element of any model of organisational transformation (Schein, 1993). He also considers that dialogue is essential as an instrument for understanding cultures and subcultures in organisations, and that organisational learning will ultimately be contingent upon such cultural understanding. In dialogue, the entire group is the subject to learning, and the members share the interest of discovering together, the ideas that individually none of them may have ever considered (Schein, 1993).
