Developing Third-Generation Learning Organizations A Heuristic Discovery Process

The future belongs to organizations with active knowledge-creating, agile individuals and cultures. Research has shown that such cultures emerge when people are developing their skills and capabilities, and that the greatest catalyst for human development is the maturity level of the institutions of which they are part. At the same time, history has demonstrated that, to become such an organization, leaders need to first undergo their own personal transformation and embrace the ambiguity and uncertainty of the current and foreseeable business environment. They then need to support similar transformation across other levels of the organization.

This book offers both the theory and methodology needed to implement such development, along with case studies that highlight key steps in the process. Drawing on the theoretical and methodological work of Peter Senge, Michael Ray, Willis Harman, Michael Polanyi, Scott Peck, and others, it outlines a process for developing and maintaining an organization in which the development of people leads to enhanced profitability.