Adult learning concepts and applications

¶ … product of our environment. In a sense, this may be true. It is also true that anything learned can be unlearned. Just as families, churches, and various other groups have a certain culture, so do businesses. The culture within a particular business or organization is something that is learned and something many workers do not stray from. It is not always easy to change the things that we have learned or habits that we are used to. It takes some effort, but with persistence virtually anything is possible. It only takes one person to get the vision and be proactive enough to want to make a change. As a manager, it is important to know to the ins and outs of the organization in order to be an effective leader. They must learn how to make the shift from institutional learning which views concepts individually to systems learning which looks at the organization as a whole.

It can be argued that institutional learning has its merits. Most of us have been or are involved in this type of learning during some point in our lives. When we think of institutional learning, we naturally think of educational institutions and the valuable information that we can get. Institutional learning does serve a purpose and it is probably more theory driving than actual real world learning. This type of learning is useful, however because it uses research to show a company what has worked and what hasn't worked in the past. Organizations should know this type of information in order to know whether or not they should continue with the status quo or take another route.

Research in any field is important, especially within a business or organization. As such, managers can make use of the research gained in order to improve systems and processes. However, institutional learning alone will not ensure that a manager will improve or transform their organization into what it is envisioned to be. Institutional learning can be too rigid to the point that it does not encourage new and fresh ideas or thinking outside of the box. Institutional learning is more of learning through modeling which can serve the purpose of teaching theory through various models (Hammond, 2009).

System learning may seem too vague to some, especially if they are used to institutional learning. System learning considers all components of an organization as one instead of looking at each on an individual basis. Because departments are interrelated and each depends on the other for the success of an entire business, system learning should be encouraged. Managers must move away from the old and rigid ways of institutional thinking and think along the lines of proactivity. It is no longer acceptable to follow the status quo and hope for the best. Systems learning requires taking initiative and personal responsibility. By taking initiative and responsibility, we have the power to make a change (Covey, 2004). This is the path that managers and potential managers want to take. Moving from institutional learning to systems learning can bring fresh ideas to the table which is beneficial to all parties involved.