6.2 Group Learning Defined

An organization that will make a successful change from their current state to one focused on reliability and proactive maintenance needs to have group learning as one of its key elements of change.  

To get a better understanding of the concept of group leaning, we need to define this term. In addition, we need to break down the definition into its component parts and develop an equally deep understanding of each part.  

Definition: Group learning is the ability of individuals to acquire new knowledge (about new or existing things) and employ this knowledge in a group setting, leading to aligned alternative  courses of action or reinforcement that the current course of action is correct..   

Let us take a moment and break this down so that we can discuss the significant parts and gain a better understanding of what group learning for an organization is all about.

6.3 Levels of Learning and Alignment

Learning in our organizations take place at three levels: the organizational level, the work group level, and the individual level. Each of these is a subset of the prior group. The work group is a subset of the organization and the individual is a subset of the work group. These relationships are shown graphically in Figure 6-1.  

As you can see in the figure, individuals are part of work groups. Although we learn things at an individual level, the learning never really takes root unless the idea is embraced by the team of which we are a part. Later we shall learn how the culture of the organization and the working groups (sub-cultures) influence learning.  

The work group level is where learning can gain a foothold. However, this is not as simple as we often wish it would be. Work groups are dynamic. People learn things in different ways and draw conclusions that may be different from other members, even though they are presented with the same basic information.  

Suppose you attended a seminar where you learned about a new technique for aligning rotating equipment. From this experience, you recognized that this new procedure could significantly improve the effectiveness of the mechanics in your plant. However, when you introduced the concept to your work group, the idea was met by resistance by many of the members. Some felt that it would diminish their skills. Others felt that the new process could be handled by just a few experts and would ultimately cost them their jobs. Only a few liked the idea and could see the benefits.  

As you can see, a simple new idea that would improve how work gets done met with various reactions from the group—many against the idea. This misalignment of what people understand about the information that you provide can seriously derail even the best of ideas. It can be overcome by slowly introducing new ideas and handling them on a pilot basis. This gives everyone the ability to see the benefits and understand the impacts. Most often when this approach is taken, successful implementation of a new idea is made easier because people have time to accept it.  

If it is hard to achieve alignment in a group, just imagine how hard it will be to take learning from one group and apply it across an organization.