BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KINH TẾ TP. HỒ CHÍ MINH ----- oo0oo ----- ------------- VƯƠNG BẢO LONG BUILDING A LEARNING ORGANIZATION – THE CASE OF LOGIGEAR VIETNAM LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ KINH TẾ TP. HỒ CHÍ MINH – NĂM 2017 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KINH TẾ TP. HỒ CHÍ MINH ----- oo0oo ----- VƯƠNG BẢO LONG BUILDING A LEARNING ORGANIZATION - THE CASE OF LOGIGEAR VIETNAM Chuyên ngành: Quản trị kinh doanh (eMBA) Mã số: 60 34 01 02 LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ KINH TẾ Người hướng dẫn khoa học: TS.
Lý Thị Minh Châu TP. HỒ CHÍ MINH – NĂM 2017 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICATION I hereby declare that the work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original. The ideas and quotes taken from external sources are duly acknowledged in the text. The material, either in full or in part, has not been previously submitted to any other institution.
Ho Chi Minh City, March 31, 2017 (signed) Vuong Bao Long TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Table of Contents Secondary Cover Page Statement of Authentication Table of Content Table of Figures List of Tables Abstract. 11 Chapter II - LITERATURE REVIEW .1 What is “Learning”?.2 What is a “Learning Organization”? .3 Knowledge and Knowledge Management .4 Innovation and Innovation Competence. 25 Chapter III - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .2 Participants in Interviews - Key Stakeholder Groups. 41 Chapter IV - FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONS .7 Summary of Findings & Discussions.
63 Chapter V - CONCLUDING REMARKS. 74 References Appendices TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Table of Figures Figure 1.1- Scope of Research .2- Transforming to a Learning Organization .3- TestArchitect, the automation test tool of LogiGear .1- Single-Loop Learning and Double-Loop Learning .2- Triple-loop learning by Asian Development Bank .3- Kolb's Experiential Learning Style .4- Three-leg Model for Learning Organization .5- Overall model of a learning organization .6- A Framework for Understanding Tacit Knowing .1- Description of data collection and data analysis .2- Research Model: Elements That Construct Learning Organization .1- Sarder’s Principle: Two Percent of Revenue to Learning and Development 55 Figure124.2- Framework for Building “Learning Organization” for LogiGear VN. Chart of the "Learning Organization" Task Force .4- The Action Plan to Build A “Learning Organization”. 73 List of Tables Table11.1- Diagnosis Report of LogiGear’s Learning Culture .2- Ranges of Services by LogiGear VN .1- Five Disciplines by Peter Senge .2- Data Collection - Interview Coding & Demographics .3- Data Collection - Focus Group Coding & Demographics .1- Factors that construct Learning Organization in LogiGear .2- Qualtrics for Learning Organization.
71 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 1 BUILDING A LEARNING ORGANIZATION – THE CASE OF LOGIGEAR VIETNAM Abstract This research is to find the factors that contruct a “learning organization” for LogiGear Vietnam, an information technology company. In the backdrop of the Five-Discipline Model of “Learning Organization” by Perter Senge, the author employed a qualitative method to collect and analyze data from in-depth interviews and focus group with all three levels of staff in the company, being software engineers, middle layer managers, and top executives. The result revealed that Senge’s five disciplines (Personal Mastery, Mental Minsets, Shared Vision, Team Learning, Systems Thinking) do exist in LogiGear VN together with the 6th discipline, “Technology”, found as an emergent finding. The research is specific, designed and carried out in order to explore and suggest a model to build a “Learning Organization”, the case of LogiGear Vietnam.
Keywords: learning, knowledge, learning organization, innovation, information technology, LogiGear Vietnam. TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 2 “The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage. De Geus Head of Planning for the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies Chapter I - INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale LogiGear VN is an information technology company, specialized in software testing and software development. Doing business in a fast changing, fast developing industry where technological change takes place almost every minute, it has no other way than to become most adaptive to change and most innovative in providing solutions and services to customers in order to succeed.
Learning from success stories from tech giants Apple, Google, Amazon, Netflix, etc. the board of management of LogiGear VN found out that innovation is the key. And, innovation should not be expected from a single genius, happening over night, or appreaing in an “aha!” moment, but it’s “a result from hard and focused work” (Drucker, 2015). Nowadays, “innovation discipline is still in its infancy, but competencies that increase chances of innovation can now be learned.
LogiGear VN is not an exception and cannot be staying out of the circle of influence, when it is an IT/software company with goal to be leading in its industry, software testing and development. In order to pursue the vision and achieve its strategic goal to become a transformational organization, LogiGear VN needs to be innovative first hand and deep down it must become a “learning organization”. TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 3 In a seminar on innovation leadership in Ho Chi Minh City in 2013, Prof. Tony Wagner of Harvard Business School articulated that if labor was a commodity in the industrial age and knowledge was a valuable asset, it is now innovation that creates quantum added value that ensures competitive advantage for sustainable growth and development.
He said, the imperative was true not only at corporate level like the cases of IBM, Intel, Apple, Google, etc., but also at state level such as Israel, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, USA, Japan, etc. Not long ago, World Bank and Ministry of Planning & Investment of Vietnam have stressed that “boosting the learning and innovation in order to maintain a high and sustainable growth needs a radical reform program. For firms, innovation competence increases their competitive advantage (Tidd & Bessant, 2015). Nguyen Van Dung and colleagues (2016) emphasize the importance of innovation in a knowledge economy.
They examine the role of different components of knowledge economy in economic growth and other factors such as innovation, education, etc. that simultaneously affect economic growth of 37 countries in Asia during 1990 – 2014. The research confirms that “there exists a positive association between economic growth and four components of the knowledge economy framework”, which are innovation, education, ICT infrastructure, and natural resources intensity. Nadeshwar and Jayasimha (2010, p.
182) wrote “while all people have the capacity to learn, the structures in which they have to function are often not conducive to reflection and engagement. Furthermore, people may lack the tools and guiding ideas to make sense of the situations they face”. As to Senge, for a learning organization, ‘adaptive learning’ must be joined by ‘generative learning’ and double-loop learning that enhances our capacity to create. 13-14) TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 4 Indeed, to compete and win in the context of increasing globalization, integration, and rapidly evolving technologies, individuals and organizations have no way other than building their ability to learn – the cornerstone for continuous improvement, operational excellence, and innovation.
Hess agreed that “companies that learn fastest and adapt well to changing environments perform the best over time.” (Hess, 2014) Bersin (2012) quoted in his article “5 Keys to Building a Learning Organization” that the worldwide corporate training industry valued at 135 billion US dollars, but “companies now realize that they simply cannot find the skills they need in the workforce and have to reinvest heavily in corporate training… Should companies go back to the 1980s and build a corporate university again? The answer is no. Today the world of corporate training has been revolutionized.” (Bersin, 2012) He suggested 5 keys to build a learning organization, which are: (1) corporate learning is "informal" and HR doesn't own it, (2) Promote and reward expertise, (3) Unleash the power of experts, (4) Demonstrate the value of formal training, and (5) Allow people to make mistakes. He believed “The best organizational learning (and individual learning) occurs right after you make a huge mistake.” And most interestingly was his recent assertion on Forbes.com March 09, 2017 of AI1 and cognitive computing that change the way corporate people learn: “Thirty-eight percent of companies in our new research (10,400 respondents from 140 countries) believe that robotics and automation will be "fully implemented" in their company within five years” (Bersin, 2017). Although there would be a long way for robotics to fully replace men in learning, the possibility it comes true is not petite.
Innovative organization should start from being a learning organization. This means a simultaneous visionary transformation and involves all levels of resources (individual, team, and organization itself) along the process of the organization’s development. (Senge, 1990) 1 AI – Artificial Intelligence TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 5 As an information technology company, LogiGear’s workforce comprises of 99% knowledge workers who are software engineers, a kind of “knowledge workers” whose main capital is knowledge and whose job is to "think for a living" (Davenport, 2005). Crabtree et al.
(1997) reveals that knowledge workers spend 38% of their time searching for information. Loo (2017) suggests a definition of creative knowledge work from four specific roles: copywriting, creative directing, software programming, and systems programme managing in advertising and IT software. He finds out “Creative knowledge workers use a combination of creative applications to perform their functions/roles in the knowledge economy including anticipatory imagination, problem solving, problem seeking, and generating ideas and aesthetic sensibilities” (Loo, 2017, p. LogiGear VN values continual learning and endlessly encourages employees to learn for good, individually and collectively.
Down to earth, in the kick-off meeting in early January 2017, the CEO of LogiGear VN restated and committed to make LogiGear VN “a transformation through innovation”. Knowing that in order to reach the fame of innovation, which is believed the concrete foundation for shifting it to new heights, LogiGear VN has to first of all be a learning organization. A great advantage for LogiGear VN is that their top executive leaders strongly support learning. They are typical examples of people who regard on-going learning and researching as a lifetime aspiration.
They are frequent speakers in seminars, conferences, forums of information technology around the world. They are authors/editors who have books published internationally, some of which are best- selling books in their field. LogiGear VN sets to gain an organizational transformation in 2018. A transformation that best satisfies its customers, creates an innovative/self-driven workforce, and accommodates for a sustainable business development.
In order to ensure the success of such a transformational shift, the company acknowledges it TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 6 has a multiple agenda to proceed. This research focuses on the block of “learning organization” (Fig. Process - Personal mastery - Customers’ satisfaction - Mental models - Innovative, self-driven - Shared vision Learning workforce Innovation Transformation - Team learning Organization - Sustainable business - Systems thinking growth Knowledge Management Figure 1.1- Scope of Research Source: Adapted from Tidd and Bessant (2015), Rothwell (1992), Senge (1990, 2006), Schumpeter (1934, 1939, 1942) 1.2 Problem Statement Since 2015, triggered by market demands (agile deliverables, more cost effective, better quality), technologies (shorter product life-cycles, new framework and methodologies, etc), and internal dynamics such as optimizing workforce, business re-model, corporate portfolio shift (Worley & Cummings, 2009), LogiGear VN has been facing the demand for a transformational change. Although LogiGear VN sets and carries out its mission “to provide leading-edge software testing technologies and expertise to customers” (LogiGearVN, 2016), it could hardly compete with other rivals in the industry.
The number of sales closed has dropped significantly in recent years; customers have been lately leaving for other providers who could offer more advanced technological solutions (faster speed, higher performance, lower price). The new capabilities of workforce are not improved up to the speed of new changes in technology and customers’ demands.