An attempt to Find Midway between Utopian Sunshine and Foucauldian Essay

An attempt to Find Midway between Utopian Sunshine and Foucauldian Gloom - Essay Example Among the two stream of thoughts, the first one is the group of optimistic people referred as Utopian sunshine, who see the concept as highly practicable. Driver says that the more optimistic side may be populated by practitioners and consultants who are looking to sell their advice to client organisations and therefore not interested in pursuing the more critical aspect of the learning organization (Denton, 1998 cited in Driver, 2002, p. 34). On the opponent’s side are the people called Faucauldian gloom, who find this concept as no better than a ‘psychic prison’. Explaining who all can be finding the concept as impracticable, Driver says that the more pessimistic side may be populated by academics looking for publish and therefore problematize an overly critical view of learning organization without any interest in the practicality of some of their suggestions (Denton, 1998 cited in Driver, 2002, p. 34). The difference of opinion among the two groups is on three organisational dimensions which are control, ideology and painful employee experience that they go through for giving the competitive edge to the organisation. Regarding the concept of the learning organisation, Driver comments that the lack of clarity with regard to the exact definition and theoretical conceptualization of a learning organization has been a common problem (Denton, 1998 cited in Driver, 2002, p. 36).... All these qualities claim to make the learning organisation an exceptional place. Needless to say, this is in stark contrast to the traditional bureaucratic organisations that believe in concentration of knowledge, power and decision-making. This does not mean that a learning organisation does not have any kind of control. Regarding the managerial control in a learning organisation, Driver says that while the learning organisation may have few traditional managerial controls, it is not completely free of managerial control (Starkey, 1998 cited in Driver, 2002, p. 39). In other words, the shared values in tightly knit ‘communities of learners’ (Edmondson, 1996 cited in Driver, 2002, p. 39) serve as internalized controls in which employees conform because they share the same views and values rather than they fear or respect external controls imposed on them by management (Mills and Friesen, 1992, Smith and Tosey, 1999, cited in Driver, 2002, p. 39). Building a learning org anisation requires change in the basic culture of an organisation; a transformation from traditional bureaucratic organisation that helps them imbibe the benefits mentioned in the concept of learning organisation. However, organisational culture does not develop in days, week or months. Hence such a dramatic change would also consume a lot of time. Also there will be managers who would have to share their knowledge to the employees. There is a famous saying that knowledge is power. Power or control is not something that a normal human being would like to lose so easily. Hence the top managers of the transforming organisation, who are to lose power, social stature and monetary