The Learning Organization and the Organization of Learning

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Abstract
The concept of a learning organization introduces a potentially radical strategic option to leaders of capitalist enterprises in the late 20th century. However the profound changes that it offers are seldom achieved in practice, primarily because of the reluctance! inability of leadership to confront the central issue of the transformation of power relations, and learning within their organizations. This article introduces radical humanism as an appropriate theory to guide leadership through the processes of strategic cultural action aimed at the creation of a learning organization. It argues that as such action will be initiated by those with executive power, its first phase should be oriented towards the attainment of an organizational culture which structurally endorses the vision of leadership and encourages collaborative learning and greater power sharing. The metaphor of `cognitive apprenticeship' is used to name such a `transitional' culture and, after describing the nature thereof, the article goes on to discuss the process through which the emerging learning organization develops into a mature team culture.