Dozens of updated and new case studies show the Systems Learning Organization model in action and illustrate how five distinct subsystems—learning, organization, people, knowledge, and technology—support each other to enhance the quality and impact of learning.
This was a required reading in one of the courses I took while obtaining my Master's degree. While I liked that it wanted to cover best practices in some of the most successful companies in the world, I think that it just plain dragged along and was incredibly dry and boring. It could have easily been gleaned down to fewer pages, and have been reorganized to read a little more interestingly. While I agree that every organization should strive toward being a more flexible, learning-based organization, I don't necessarily recommend reading this book because it is so uninteresting.
Long, attacking many things about many other things, this book feels like a never-ending journey.
I found it dry and lacking, especially in the how-to area. In a way, it is filled with how-to ideas, but as the book, they are quite dry.
There were also some good parts like: * The first chapter is a great introduction to how change affects us and why it is the number one reason for a learning organization * Each chapter has a great ending with the top 10 strategies from the chapter
I recommend reading chapter 1 and probably also 2 and then skipping to the end of each chapter.
An excellent read for organizational scholars, executives, HR personnel, theorists of andragogy, and systems thinkers! Dr. Marquardt wrote a brilliant text for integration of key aspects of adult learning with organizational objectives.