Learning Organization American Express

Question: Discuss about theLearning Organizationfor American Express. Answer: The Existing Barriers to the Organizational Learning On the basis of the given case analysis, it can be observed that there are numerous business barriers exist that were affecting the organizational learning of American Express (AXP) in a negative manner. For case, the major existing barrier to the organizational learning is that AXP do not have an effective knowledge management system to collect, share and use the knowledge and information in an effective and an appropriate manner. Knowledge management plays an important role in the growth and success of the organization. It is because of knowledge management involves the systems initiatives as well as strategies that play a significant role to espouse and expand the assessment, development, distribution and formation of knowledge in a proper manner. On the other hand, the other major battier is that American Express (AXP) is unable in order to hold on to the wealth of institutional knowledge at the workplace. Moreover, the retired employees of the AXP make a demand of incentives to infuse their knowledge for the company. The retiring employees believe that this process need a lot of time; so they are proficient to get extra incentives for this. This is also a major barrier in the learning system of the organization. Apart from this, the company only emphasizes its attention only on two business units: Technology and Finance. It is because of the management of the firm believed that technology is the easiest source to assess that what skills required to be passed on there. Moreover, the finance is the major area wherever the business has its most important client relationships. But, it should be noted down that, the firm should think about each and every area of the business to accomplish the desired outcomes in a specified time period. For that reason, it can be said that, there are the major barrier that were exist in the learning system of the organization. Theory that Can Be Helpful For the Organization On the basis of the above analysis, it is clear that AXP does not have an effective knowledge management system. The firm does not have any silver bullets to transfer knowledge in an appropriate way. In this situation, a suitable knowledge management system is essential for the growth and success of the organization. So, the recommended theory or model that may be beneficial for the organization is SECI theory/model. SECI is a well-known conceptual model that was first designed by Nonaka and Takeuchi. The model of KM is useful to portray that how knowledge is produced, rearranged, and recreated within the business organizations. What is more, Socialization, Externalization, Combination and Internalization are the four major elements of the SECI model. Socialization mainly emphasizes on tacit to tacit knowledge to collect and share knowledge in an appropriate way. It shares tacit knowledge in both internal as well as external mode. Along with this, socialization inspires the employees to be prepared to contribute to knowledge for the success of the business. For this reason, this will also be advantageous for the American Express. It is because of with the help of this, the firm would be able to transfer tacit knowledge from one individual to another. It does not need to pay extra incentives to the retired employees to infuse their knowledge to others. On the other hand, externalization element of SECI model gives emphasis to tacit to explicit knowledge. It creates and spreads new knowledge among the people or groups of the organization. Moreover, with the help of externalization, American Express would be able to deduce tacit knowledge of a person into explicit knowledge of another person. The employees of the organization can und erstand and share this type of knowledge in an easy way. In addition to this, with the help of combination element, American Express would be competent in order to accumulate and processes related internal and external knowledge effectively. The firm would also be proficient to make the knowledge more understandable and publicize for the people or groups that are related to business. Moreover, AXP would also be able to transfer the explicit knowledge among the people of the business all the way through e-mails, meetings, databases, documents, and so on. Apart from this, with the help of internalization, American Express would be able to create explicit knowledge and also share this knowledge within the organization. In this way, the SECI model of knowledge management would be beneficial for the organization in order to allocate experiences and knowledge among the groups or people of the organization. Also, with the help of this, American Express will actualize its gained experiences as well as knowledge in an effective and a significant ma nner. For this reason, it can be said that, AXP should adopt and implement the SECI model or theory of knowledge management in order to overcome all the existing barriers of organizational learning effectually. American Express can Learn to be Ethical On the basis of the above analysis, it may be observed that,American Express need to be ethical in its business aspects. The firm should focus on the ethical standards, morals, and values to be ethical in business. Moreover, American Express should create an environment of impartiality and fairness to motivate the employees; so they can work for the growth and success of the organization. Along with this, the organization should provide equal opportunities to all the employees; so they may work jointly for the success of the business. American Express should create an environment of mutual understanding. This would be beneficial for the organization. It is because of all the experienced employees will be ready to share their knowledge and experiences with the new employees of the organization. In addition to this, American Express should focus on the moral tactics to perform all the business activities in an ethical way. These all the things would be helpful to be ethical for the Ame rican Express. Consequently, the firm would be helpful to perform all its business and operational activities in an ethical way.