Applicability of the Learning Organization Concept

Universally, organizations facing uncertain contexts need to learn in an efficient and effective manner. In the absence of learning, organizations and individuals simply repeat old practices and improvements are either fortuitous or short-lived. The overall aim of this study is to ascertain the applicability of the Learning Organization (LO) concepts to the Palestinian Ministry of Health institutions in Gaza from the managers' perspectives. The design of this study is analytical cross-sectional one. Self-administered standardized questionnaire was completed by 662 managers with a response rate of 74.9%. The overall reliability coefficient was high (0.820). The study indicated that the overall revealed mean of the five LO disciplines was 5.7 (out of 10) with the highest mean for systems thinking discipline (6.1) and lowest mean for the personal mastery discipline. In addition, the dimensions of the LO revealed a total mean of 5.2 out of 10; with the individual learning being the highest (5.3) and the team learning and organizational learning being the lowest (5.1). The extracted findings reflect weak performance of the MOH as a LO from the perspectives of its managers.

Autorentext

Dr Bassam Abu Hamad is a Public Health Specialist, Human Resources Management Specialist, with over 27 years of work with Ministries, universities, NGOs focusing on developing management systems, human resource management, quality improvement, staff motivation and in particular, research and programs' monitoring and evaluation.