RaviChandra wrote:
[align=justify]Human beings, born with a drive to explore and experiment, thrive on learning. Unfortunately, corporations are oriented predominantly toward controlling employees, not fostering their learning. Ironically, this orientation creates the very conditions that predestine employees to mediocre performances. Over time, superior performance requires superior learning, because long-term corporate survival depends on continually exploring new business and organizational opportunities that can create new sources of growth.
To survive in the future, corporations must become “learning organizations,” enterprises that are constantly able to adapt and expand their capabilities. To accomplish this, corporations must change how they view employees. The traditional view that a single charismatic leader should set the corporation’s direction and make key decisions is rooted in an individualistic worldview. In an increasingly interdependent world, such a view is no longer viable. In learning organizations, thinking and acting are integrated at all job levels. Corporate leadership is shared, and leaders become designers, teachers, and stewards, roles requiring new skills: the ability to build shared vision, to reveal and challenge prevailing mental models, and to foster broader, more integrated patterns of thinking. In short, leaders in learning organizations are responsible for building organizations in which employees are continually learning new skills and expanding their capabilities to shape their future.
I start by taking notes on the reading and at the end I identify the main idea from the notes.
[*] Current business model focuses on control, but it's not adequate
[*] Another business model that focuses on learning, and democratic management
[*] Leaders of the future need to encourage learning and adaptability
[*] Main Idea: Criticize a traditional business model and introduce another business model.
Question 1 wants to find the option that a traditional corporate leader believe.
A, B, D, and E are something the learning model would encourage. Incorrect.
C is correct and a direct reference to the reading is "a single charismatic leader should set the corporation’s direction and make key decisions", and " corporations are oriented predominantly toward controlling employees".
Question 2 wants us to find the option that is encouraged within learning organizations.
A, B, C, and D all revolve around the traditional organization by following, or obeying the corporate order.
E is correct because it's allows a person to work independent from the corporate organization.
Question 3 requests that we identify what a corporate leader would do in an learning organization.
A is tempting, so we'll hold on to this one.
B is what a leader in a traditional model would do.
C still adheres to an individual mindset of the traditional model.
E enforces the traditional corporate structure.
D is the most correct, since it allows employees to be independent. Let's rule out A, it is still an order to follow the corporate leader, so that is out.
Question 4 wants to main idea, and/or purpose.
A is incorrect since the focus is the new learning model.
B is wrong since there is no criticize of the learning model.
C is out. There is no mention of a reconcile between the traditional and learning model in the reading.
D is not contrasting since there is not an equal weight placed on traditional and learning models.
E is correct, we see an alternative to the traditional model after giving criticize to the traditional model.