Published on December 06, 2022 Updated on 06 December 2022

"The illiterates of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." 

Edgar Morin

What is a learning organization?

"The illiterates of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." 

Edgar Morin
A learning organization places learning at the heart of its work processes in order to adapt more quickly to changing contexts. It observes its "organizational behaviors" and sets up feedback loops.
The need was first felt in military institutions that seek to understand how to win over the adversary and therefore feel the need to analyze their mistakes. In this respect, the feedback implemented within the Canadian Armed Forces has been inspiring. This desire to progress and to learn from one's mistakes is also identifiable in large expeditions, particularly polar ones (Lièvre et al 2005), and large companies have understood the need for learning to be at the center of their strategy, for example the Shell company led by Arie de Geus was a precursor.
Having an adaptable organizational model is one of the major interests, particularly in helping to overcome the limitations of Taylorism. The ambition to become a learning organization also makes it possible to measure the value of an organization or to maintain the reform movement in the public service (Aucoin, 2000). In the public sector, the learning organization makes it possible to define, outside of public policy, the criteria for the quality of their work, forcing them to use their intelligence massively to "manage in the shadows what the official organization does not take care of".
It is therefore an opportunity to release new creative energies at all levels. The learning organization also has the challenge of promoting other relationships to knowledge (Oudet 2010). Historically, the organization has been a trainer and has planned training courses, then it has sought to provide qualifications and has distributed recognition. Today, managers hope that the organization will learn in order to adapt, to emancipate individuals and groups and to offer them the best reasons to stay and flourish.
Learning organizations are both "ideal types" (Weber), they pose a descriptive and comprehensive vision of the organizational phenomena at work and also models of action with a prescriptive vision. Perhaps even a learning organization is transformed into an ecosystem favorable to the blossoming of homo sapiens retiolus (Heutte 2005), a worker whose level of information has significantly increased, leading to strong porosities between the inside and outside of the company.
90's
What emerges from the identification of research works on the learning organization in the 1990s is the focus of observations on the processes that give organizations competitive advantages, thanks to the best adjustments and regulation of human interactions.
Vertical coordination remains the reference, but it is complemented by collective, community and outward-looking dynamics. The power of connection and calculation is beginning to reveal itself in the service of organizational performance, and its effect is outlined by knowledge management practices and the growing use of databases.
The theme of the learning organization is part of the debate on the evolution of "production models", with the "exit from Taylorism". In this respect, it is possible to rely on the sociology of configurations, developed by Norbert Elias, who conceives the social whole as irreducible to individuals and at the same time constituted by their activities. The configurations engaged by a learning organization as a dynamic favors a shaping and a continuous learning process.
Year 2000
The search for the potential for human transformation, combined with the potential for transforming organizations, characterizes the practices valued from the 2000s onwards, including a quest for individual emancipation where the individual takes initiatives and no longer just waits to be coordinated with other work forces.
This combination is expressed through an investigation of horizontal practices, leaving wider margins of initiative to individuals and groups operating in networks, communities or in a variety of collective forms. The question of informal learning, of taking into account emotions and digital potential, suggests a search for new combinations of values combining emotional intelligence, collective intelligence and artificial intelligence. Digital networking allows for distributed intelligence and can give meaning and a sense of purpose to each employee.
In short, the learning organization aims to learn faster than its competitors, to adapt to changes, to make the best use of its internal resources, and to have virtuous organizational behaviors (organizational learning). There are several ways to progress in this approach.
It is possible to act on the organization of work to learn. For example, by encouraging exchanges or feedback periods. Quality approaches with feedback loops for learning and progress, and lean management are also well identified. There are in many ways to enter into a learning organization approach such as on-the-job training, the MoocThese include the development of learning teams, the training of trainers, the establishment of informal cross-functional networks, the creation of professional co-development sessions, and the encouragement of communities of interest.
It is probably Peter Senge's book "The 5th discipline" that will provide the most insights into the importance of learning at an organizational level. For him, this requires the mastery of five complementary disciplines:
The work of Peter Senge will be the basis of a focus for reflection, research and action on the learning organization represented by Sol International and Sol France.
Sol International, originated at MIT in Boston; it is the meeting of practitioners from companies, associations, administrations, researchers, consultants and students, working together to implement the practices of the learning organization. Within the Organizational Learning Center (OLC), Sol International aimed at stimulating exchanges of experience between large firms engaged in change and learning processes. Sol France  is a non-profit association created in January 1999 as a worldwide variation of Peter Senge's thinking.
The spin-off of Sol in France was achieved by futurists producing new concepts such as Alain de Vulpian with socio-perception (De Vulpian 2019) which describes the ability to perceive trends in social forms and to identify weak signals.
Exploration through learning expeditions has been an axis in the history of Sol to make the association a learning association. Thus, many trips have been organized to Finland to discover the team academy (Belet 2012), or to the Basque country to understand how the largest cooperative in the world, "Mondragon", had developed in collective intelligence.
These trips will inspire the larger companies that will actively promote the practices. Sol will appropriate and disseminate to its members multiple approaches human element , l'appreciative inquirys, the learning storieslearning communities and dialogue circles. A book by Sol France practitioners lists more than 100 inspired methods for promoting and creating the learning organization. There are more than 230 concepts that echo the 5 disciplines of Peter Senge
The association is active in intellectual production (Arnaud, 2019, Cristol 2021), for example in the translation of works, including of course the flagship book by Peter Senge "The 5th discipline"or "The dialogue - Moving towards collective intelligence "by David Bohm. The notebooks of Sol France are an aperiodic edition that is interested in identifying exemplary practices for the successful transformation of the living from the inside. Where, metaphorically said, if you pierce an egg from the outside the chick dies, if you incubate it it hatches. "What if we laid organizations?" could be the key question. A video channel promotes the dissemination of the whole 
The sol congresses are real crossroads of collective intelligence discoveries, bringing together members from dozens of countries to share and exchange collective intelligence practices that promote learning together. 
The collective researcher implemented during covid used Peter Senge's 5 disciplines to understand how learning organizations function. A sociological survey film tells the story of how a group of 32 participants joined forces to go out to 64 organizations to produce 6 research booklets and an online test to understand how they learn. During the research, the psychometric test "Cap en 5D" is produced.
Sol France is organized in 4 circles: organization, consultants, researchers, students, to carry out initiatives and share their monitoring. These circles support initiatives such as "into the tribes", travelling around the world to meet learning organizations, meeting sources of radical pedagogical training, inspiring research topics such as learning territories, coevolutionary leadership.
Sources
Blog Formation entreprise. The learning organization of very diverse practices
https://www.blog-formation-entreprise.fr/organisation-apprenante-pratiques-tres-diverses/ 
Lièvre, P., & Rix, G. (2005, June). Learning organization: the exemplary case of polar expeditions. In Colloque de Cerisy "Intelligence de la complexité: épistémologie et pragmatique", edited by Jean Louis Le Moigne, Edgar Morin (pp. 23-30).
Aucoin, P. (2000). The public service as a learning organization: sustaining the reform movement in the public service. Modernizing Governance, 155-195.
Felix, C., & Saujat, F. (2015). The teaching profession: an unthought in the role of the institution as a learning organization?
Heutte, J., de Pablo, E., & Maestre, A. (2005). Status of knowledge in learning organizations: an attempt to describe a favorable ecosystem for the development of the species Homo sapiens retiolus.
Oudet, S. F. (2010). Organizations for learning. An attempt to contribute to the idea of the "learning city". Specificites, (1), 19-38.
Morin, E. (2005). Cahiers de SoL.
Belet, D. (2012). Team academy. International journal of psychosociology and organizational behavior management, (46), 267-282.
Moretti, L. (2021). Science teaching, interdisciplinarity and learning territory: An action research on the Corsican island territory. Environmental education. Regards-Recherches-Réflexions, 16(2).
Vulbeau, A. (2011). Specificities No. 3. L'éducation tout au long de la ville. Champ social Editions.
https://www.decitre.fr/ebooks/specificites-n-3-9782353718672_9782353718672_2.html
de Vulpian, A., & Dupoux-Couturier, I. (2019). Homo sapiens in the age of artificial intelligence: the humanist metamorphosis. Editions Eyrolles.
https://www.decitre.fr/ebooks/homo-sapiens-a-l-heure-de-l-intelligence-artificielle-9782212720228_9782212720228_11.html
Arnaud, B., & Cahn, S. (2019). The toolbox of collective intelligence. Dunod.
https://www.decitre.fr/ebooks/la-boite-a-outils-de-l-intelligence-collective-2e-ed-9782100819201_9782100819201_9.html
Cristol, D., & Joly, C. (2021). Management et intelligence collective, 80 methods and exercises: Des pratiques pour apprendre ensemble. ESF Sciences Humaines.
https://www.decitre.fr/ebooks/management-et-intelligence-collective-80-methodes-et-exercices-9782710144090_9782710144090_1.html
Ground channel France https://youtube.com/channel/UCKetSlwRJO0_Fx2ezH9hl8A 
The collective researcher - Sol france https://4cristol.over-blog.com/2020/10/le-chercheur-collectif-de-sol-france.html 
Centreinffo. Sol France presents its method for helping organizations become learners
https://www.centre-inffo.fr/innovation-formation/articles/sol-france-presente-sa-methode-pour-aider-les-organisations-a-devenir-apprenantes 
Ota62. Learning organizations by Jacques Chaize, President of Sol France https://ota62.site.ac-lille.fr/courses/les-organisations-apprenantes/cours/les-organisations-apprenantes-par-jacques-chaize-president-de-sol-france/ 
Forma radio Sol France. Éric Mellet https://formaradio.fr/sol-france-lassociation-des-entreprises-apprenantes/  
Béatrice Dewandre. Human Element Day Sol France https://www.beatricedewandre.com/agenda/2022/11/29/journee-element-humain-solfrance 
Hbr France how to become a learning organization? https://www.hbrfrance.fr/chroniques-experts/2020/07/30667-comment-devenir-une-organisation-apprenante/     
Mooc learning organization https://www.saintrapt.com/mooc-les-organisations-apprenantes/ 
Hr today once upon a time there were learning organizations https://www.hrtoday.ch/fr/article/il-etait-une-fois-les-organisations-apprenantes- 
Echoes. The learning company seduces the bosses Https://www.lesechos.fr/1998/05/lentreprise-apprenante-seduit-les-patrons-1047406 
Linternome learning stories http://www.linternome.fr/2013/09/learning-stories-histoires-apprenantes/
SOL France https://www.solfrance.org/ 
Senge, P. M. (2006). The fifth discipline. A lever for learning organizations.
https://www.decitre.fr/ebooks/la-cinquieme-discipline-9782212312904_9782212312904_11.html
David Bohm - Dialogue - The path to collective intelligence
https://www.decitre.fr/livres/le-dialogue-9782416000195.html

Author Denis Cristol Contact the author

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