ABSTRACT

Since the 1970s and 1980s, learning organizations have attracted the attention of academic circles and became one of the popular themes of academic research. Based on the theoretical perspective of the Peter M. Senge’s five disciplines models, this paper conducts research on an enterprise with Jatco (Guangzhou), which has a unique talent management system and successfully generates a learning organization. This study analyzes the mystery of the successful construction of learning organizations from the five Disciplines of Personal Mastery, Improving Mental Models, Building Shared Vision, Team Learning, and Systems Thinking. We aim to explore the management method of learning organizations by using the classical learning organization theory with the enterprise case practice, and provide some reference and guidance for the enterprise practice of learning organizations.

Keywords:

Learning Organization, The Fifth Discipline, Organizational Learning

1. Introduction

A survey by Shell Oil in 1983 found that one-third of companies ranked in Fortune’s Top 500 Companies list in 1970 had disappeared. According to Shell’s estimates, the average life expectancy of large companies is less than 40 years, about 50% of human life [1] . Think further, how many of these big companies left in the 1990s and today? Why did the big companies that were famous at the time disappear now? Practice has proved that learning, continuous learning, and continuous organizational learning are the fundamental ways for enterprises to remain competitive. As Fortune magazine points out: “The companies that succeed in the future will be those based on learning organizations.”

From a global perspective, “just as total quality management was the trend of the 1980s, business process reengineering was the trend of the early 1990s, and learning organizations have become a new trend since the mid-1990s” [2] . When companies that are deeply involved in the mud are aware of the importance of learning, they have joined the learning of learning organization theories and the constructing of learning organizations. Global enterprises are forming a society of mutual learning. The situation of monopolization in all walks of life has ceased to exist, especially in the manufacturing industry, where there are more and more examples of the growth of emerging companies. In today’s globalized world, Chinese domestic enterprises want to be invincible in the fierce competition, must follow the trend, and have the ability to learn better and faster than their competitors.

Chinese companies such as Lenovo Group, Qingdao Haier and Baosteel Corporation have taken the lead in building the learning organization as a strategic goal, carrying out continuous organizational learning and forming a series of implementation systems, which greatly enhanced their own competitiveness. At present, the academic research on learning organizations mainly focuses on the exploration of the concept of learning organization, the characteristics of learning organization, the model of learning organization, and so on. However, there is a lack of in-depth analysis of the theory combined with concrete practice. In view of the above background and research status, this paper attempts to build on the perspective of Peter M. Senge’s five disciplines models, combined with the practice of specific case companies. Focusing on Personal Mastery, Improving Mental Models, and Building Shared Vision, Team Learning, and Systems Thinking to analyzing the mystery of the learning organization. The value of this paper lies in two aspects. On the one hand, it is theoretical. On the basis of many viewpoints of the academic community, this paper has summarized and defined the definitions and characteristics of learning organizations. In addition, based on the five disciplines, the organizational structure, organizational culture and other situations were considered, and an in-depth analysis was carried out in combination with practical cases. On the other hand, it is practical. This article guides the enterprises in practice to examine themselves from the perspective of five disciplines, correctly position themselves, and achieve better organizational learning.

The article is organized as follows. First, a review of the literature is carried out to summarize the definitions, characteristics and models of the learning organization. Second, introduce the research design, including research methods and case selection. Then, the analysis of case enterprise learning organization practice makes a concrete analysis from five aspects: shared vision, personal mastery, mental models, Team learning and system thinking. Finally, the discussion and conclusions summarize the practice of the case enterprise learning organization and get a model that cycles from individual to group to organizational level.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Definition of Learning Organization

For the Learning Organization, the academic community has not formed a unified and clear definition. Therefore, scholars at home and abroad have defined the concept of learning organizations based on different angles.

Scholars at home and abroad define learning organizations from several basic perspectives. Because there is a cross between the views of scholars, this paper summarizes 4 perspectives according to the different elements of scholars, they are competence perspective, learning perspective, knowledge perspective and cultural perspective. The representative scholar in the perspective of competence is Senge, who defines the learning organization as a flat, horizontal network management organization system based on a shared vision and characterized by group learning [1] . It focuses on enhancing the learning ability of the organization. By improving the group’s IQ, the employees’ talents can be fully utilized to make employees live the meaning of life. He also pointed out that “learning organization is a place that encourages people to constantly discover how they are causing the current situation and how they can be changed.” Similar to Senge’s point of view, Shengxiong Zhang believes that the learning organization is an organization in which all members are fully engaged and create a continuous growth in learning ability [3] . It enables all members to live the meaning of life, to realize themselves through learning, and to expand the energy of creating the future. In terms of learning perspective, Pedler represents the learning organization as an organization that helps members to learn and constantly change the organization itself [4] . Kui Feng believes that learning organization is an organization that gives full play to the creativity of each employee and strives to form a learning atmosphere that permeates groups and organizations [5] . In terms of knowledge perspective, Garvin is a representative of a learning organization that refers to organizations that improve organizational behavior and innovation efficiency by acquiring and absorbing new knowledge and skills, and integrating and innovating [6] . Guoquan Chen believes that learning organizations are organizations that respond to challenges and sustain development by changing or redesigning themselves to adapt to changing internal and external environments through the development and application of knowledge [7] . From a cultural perspective, Bennet and O’Brien believe that learning organizations are organizations that can deepen the ability to learn, adapt, and transform into organizational culture. Their organizational culture is stimulating and supports organizational members’ learning [8] .

Further extracting the main points of other viewpoints and combining with the definition analysis of representative scholars, it is found that although the time and perspective of the definitions of different scholars are different, considering the composition of each definition, the following common points are basically met: 1) all members have a common vision. 2) have a strong learning atmosphere, members continue to learn, improve their own learning, and then play to create value together. 3) based on a flexible organizational structure. 4) pursuing the sustainable development of the organization. Therefore, this paper defines a learning organization is a flexible organization that have a strong and equal learning atmosphere, all members build on shared visions to learn and use their knowledge to improve and develop their learning and creativity skills, then improving organizational performance and organizational competitiveness to achieve organizational sustainability.

2.2. Characteristics of Learning Organizations

On the basis of discussing the definition of learning organization, this paper understands that different scholars hold different opinions on the characteristics of learning organizations. Classical views at home and abroad are:

Foreign scholar Robbins believes that the characteristics of learning organizations have the following five aspects: 1) have a common endorsement concept, 2) abandon old thinking and routine procedures when solving problems, 3) the members of the organization think about the relationship among the environment, process, activity and function of the organization, 4) frank communication between members of the organization (breaking vertical and horizontal restrictions), 5) individuals abandoning departmental interests and personal interests, working to achieve the organization’s common vision [2] . Watkins, Maisick uses “7C” to summarize the seven characteristics of a learning organization: 1) continuous learning (Continuous), 2) collaborative (Collaborative), 3) establish a network of connected (Connected), 4) collective sharing concept (Collective), 5) the spirit of innovation (Creative), 6) system access methods (Captured and Codified), 7) the purpose of building capacity (Capacity) [9] .

Domestic scholar Defu Zhou proposes that learning organizations have 8 characteristics: 1) organizational members have a common vision, 2) organizations are composed of several creative groups, 3) be good at continuous learning, 4) flat structures, 5) self-management, 6) organizational boundaries are redefined, 7) balance between employees’ families and careers, 8) new roles for leaders [10] . Combining with China’s specific reality, Shengxiong Zhang believes that the learning organization has the following 6 elements: 1) has the concept and mechanism of lifelong learning, 2) has a multi-reward and open learning system, uses various methods to introduce knowledge, 3) forms learning sharing and interaction Organizational atmosphere, 4) has a growing learning ability to achieve a common vision, 5) the learning work makes members live the meaning of life, 6) the learning work makes anization continue to innovate and develop [11] .

There are still many viewpoints on the study of learning organization characteristics. Most of them are the inheritance, expansion or refinement of classical viewpoints. Combining the interpretations of various viewpoints, it is found that although the perspectives or dimensions of different scholars are different, they are basically all around this clues: learning subjects―organizational structure―learning objectives―learning process―learning outcomes. Its characteristics are presented as clues: learning subjects (all members)―organizational structure (flattening)―learning objectives (common vision)―learning process (sustainable learning and innovation)―learning outcomes (achieving employee meaning and organization value).

2.3. Model of Learning Organization

Further research on learning organizations is embodied in the construction of learning organization models, which is a highly refined and sublimated learning organization theory. In the model study of many genres, Bauer Werner’s five-stage model and John Reid’s model highly recognized by the academic community [12] [13] . Domestic research, scholar Guoquan Chen’s “6P-1B” model has a strong representation [7] . The most classic and the most widely spread is the “five disciplines” models of Peter. M. Senge [1] . From the content of each representative model, Bauer’s five-stage model, John Reid’s model, and Guoquan Chen’s “6P-1B” are process models for the division of learning organization. The model of Senge is aimed at creating an organization in which people constantly improve their abilities, create the results they really desire, cultivate new modes of thinking, freedom of collective aspirations, and people continue to learn, laid the foundation for the study of other models [14] .

From the perspective of systematics, Peter Senge’s Five Disciplines Models (1990) believes that in the field of learning organizations, five new technologies are gradually gathering to make learning organizations become an innovation. As shown in Figure 1, are five disciplines: Personal Mastery, Improving Mental Models, Building Shared Vision, Team Learning, and Systems Thinking. In this model, the five disciplines play the roles of “spiritual foundation”, “psychological foundation”, “guiding principle”, “cohesion power” and “soul”.

Personal Mastery. Here, “personal mastery” refers to self-realization that breaks through the limits, or skillfulness. The discipline is to learn to clarify and deepen the individual’s true desire, to concentrate, to cultivate patience, and to observe the reality objectively. People who are highly self-transcending will never stop learning. “Only through individual learning, organizations can learn. Although personal learning does not guarantee that the entire organization is also learning, but there is no individual learning, organizational learning can not begin.” In traditional hierarchical organizations, the need to provide employees with self-esteem and self-realization is generally not considered, and modern organizations must begin to care about the needs of all employees, not just the “employment relationship”, self-development and financial success is equally important.

Improve mental models. The “mental model” is a set of assumptions, stereotypes, or even images or impression that are deeply rooted in the mind,

affecting how we understand the world and how to act. Turning the mirror to yourself is the beginning of the cultivation of mental models. By this, we learn to explore the images of the inner world, make them appear on the surface, and examine them.

Establish a shared vision. If there is any leadership philosophy that has been inspiring in organizations for thousands of years, it has the ability to converge and adhere to a shared vision. An organization that lacks the shared goals, values, and missions can not be strong.

Team learning. The collective intelligence of the group is higher than the personal wisdom, and the group has the overall ability to act. When the group is really learning, not only does the group produce excellent results overall, but individual members grow faster than other methods of learning. In modern organizations, the basic unit of learning should be an organization, not an individual.

System thinking. Systematic thinking is the theory and practice of integrating other cultivation into one. Without system thinking, it is impossible to explore how each disciplines interacts. System thinking strengthens every other disciplines, and the integration of the whole can get more than the sum of the parts.

Through the above review of the relevant literature of the learning organization, we find that, on the one hand, because the definition and characteristics of the learning organization in the academic world are not clearly defined, it is very likely that the organization may misunderstand, then learning organizations cannot be correctly implemented in practice. Therefore, we have summarized and defined the definitions and characteristics of learning organizations. On the other hand, the model theory of learning organization provides enlightenment for organizational learning, but because of its high degree of theoretical abstraction, it is objectively separated from organizational structure, organizational culture and other situations. So, it needs to be deeply analyzed in combination with organizational practice. Therefore, in this study, we will deeply analyze the learning organization of case enterprises from the perspective of Peter Senge’s Five Disciplines Models.

3. Research Design

3.1. Research Method

This article uses a single case study to conduct research.

The case study method is a research method that describes the phenomenon of the thing (case) in detail, analyzes why, and discovers or explores the general law and particularity of the thing, and derives the research conclusion or the new research proposition. It is considered to be one of the most important methods for conducting academic research in business administration disciplines in various countries [15] . First of all, because the advantage of the case study method that it can be used for the construction and correction of the theory, the data collected is highly accurate, and the subject of this paper involves complex and numerous organizational factors, which are of exploratory nature, so the single case is adopted. Second, the case study method follows the process of “theoretical review―case study design―data collection―data analysis―case study report writing” [16] . This article will carry out case study work according to this process, as follows: First, through the retrieval of literature, access to network materials, review and comb the basic theory, carry out preliminary research ideas and design. Second, according to the research theme select the case enterprises that meet the requirements and match the characteristics of the case enterprises with the theory. In order to ensure the authenticity and accuracy of the case enterprise and the matching with the research theme, the research team specially went to the case enterprises to conduct preliminary research and finally determine the case enterprises. Third, collecting and analyzing the development course, the background and the culture of the case enterprise, to make fully preparation for the research theme. Finally, based on the perspective of five disciplines to make an in-depth analysis of the case enterprise’s learning organization, and explore the case’s unique organizational learning, thinking, management methods.

3.2. Case Introduction

3.2.1. Case Company Introduction

JATCO Co., Ltd., is one of the few companies in the world dedicated to manufacturing automatic transmissions (AT/CVT) and one of the world’s largest manufacturers of automatic transmissions. Jatco (Guangzhou) Automatic Transmission Co., Ltd. is the 100% sole proprietorship of JATCO in China. Jatco (Guangzhou) Automatic Transmission Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Jatco Guangzhou), was established in April 2007 and officially put into operation in September 2009. The main product is the Continuous Automatic Transmission (CVT), The CVT adopts lightweight and compact design, and has excellent carrying performance, providing high-quality automotive automatic transmission and accessory products for domestic automobile manufacturers. In order to meet the sharp increase in demand for CVT in the Chinese market, the capacity of Jatco Guangzhou has increased from the initial 144,000 units/year to the current 1 million units/year. As of March 2017, the cumulative production of CVT exceeded 4 million units.

The organizational structure of Jatco Guangzhou is flexible as a whole. It’s an effective learning organization. The organization has formed a charming corporate culture, creating a strong atmosphere of continuous learning. As a Japanese company, Jatco Guangzhou pursues the localization of technology, “human wealth” (Jatco’s internal terminology, emphasizing talents as a wealth of value creation), and, management. It’s the most localized overseas base of Jatco Global Company. Jatco Guangzhou has made talent as a key element and formed a series of characteristic strategies around the elements of human resources. As of April 2018, Jatco Guangzhou had more than 2000 employees, high employee stability and the dimission rate only 0.9%. Throughout the organization, employees have a common vision of “creating world-class products with world-class work”, full of passion, truly integrating learning and work, realizing the meaning of personal life, and contributing to their creativity. They have created organizational value together and are known as the “The Best Learning Organization”.

3.2.2. Case Selection Conditions

In this paper, we consider the following 3 aspects to select Jatco Guangzhou as the case enterprise.

The typicality of the case. On the one hand, Jatco Guangzhou is a mature learning organization, not only staying on the surface, but a substantial learning organization. It stands out as the second place in the domestic learning organization and is known as “the best learning organization”. On the other hand, Jatco Guangzhou’s ten years of history has experienced the entire process of learning organization growth, and has achieved success, with good development trends and bright prospects.

The uniqueness of the case. In addition to the typical commonality of the learning organization, Jatco Guangzhou also has micro level differences. On the one hand, in the practice of many learning organizations, the implementation of Jatco Guangzhou is very effective, especially its charm culture, its development of the talent system, training system, promotion system, and its specific implementation methods are highly targeted and unique. On the other hand, as a Japanese enterprise, Jatco Guangzhou can successfully achieve the “localization” of corporate management and corporate culture in China, and is the best representative of the localization practice of learning organizations.

Information admissibility. This study uses Jatco Guangzhou as a case enterprise. It not only has abundant second-hand information, but also is easy to obtain for first-hand information, so it is a very suitable choice.

3.3. Data Collection and Processing

In order to ensure the reliability of the data, data collection should adopt a multi-data collection method. The data in this article comes from two methods: first-hand data and second-hand data.

First-hand information is mainly obtained through interviews, field participation and observation. Interview is a way to collect data through purposeful and directed conversations, that is, the process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through conversations. It is one of the most commonly used data collection methods in case studies [16] . First of all, because this study uses the case study method, if you only stay in the collection and analysis of second-hand data, it is far from the requirements of the construction theory. And through in-depth interviews can not only add rich first-hand information for research, but also directly understand deep content of thoughts, psychology, concepts, etc. of interviewees [17] . The specific data are shown in Table 1. Therefore, this study makes full use of in-depth interviews to lay a solid foundation for research. Second, this study uses semi-structured interviews and informal interviews to conduct interviews with managers and employees at all levels of the case enterprises around the core issue of “learning organizations”.

The collection of second-hand materials includes: 1) internal information: Jatco’s internal publications, promotional materials, conference materials, speech records, archives, etc. 2) External information: Jatco Global and Jatco Guangzhou official website, news, external evaluation and other network materials. The specific data sources are shown in Table 2.

After the data collection, first of all, the research set up a data processing group to record and interpret the interview materials, and summarize the second-hand materials. Secondly, on the basis of careful analysis of interview materials, observation materials and text materials, the group refines the case enterprises involved in the key constructs of the five disciplines of the learning organization and encodes the data. Then, the coding results are analyzed, and effective case fragments are extracted to support the viewpoint of this paper. Finally, the group headquarters discussed the results of the analysis and reached a consensus.

4. Jatco Guangzhou’s Learning Organization Practice

4.1. Shared Vision

Jatco have its own unique “TEAM” corporate values, namely T (Team leadership by everybody), E (External mindset), A (Aspiration to win), M (Monozukuri excellence). Here, employees have a strong sense of identity with Jatco’s cultural philosophy, so TEAM’s values are not only at the organizational vision level, but also permeate the daily work of each employee. Production Department employee F said: “M provides an excellent method of product manufacturing, which is a basis for us. In my opinion, TEAM itself is very beneficial to the action and thinking of all things.” Jatco shares the organization’s future organizational

plan with staff, such as the five-year plan and the ten-year plan, to help employees understand the shared vision, and give ritual sense of work, condensing all employees. A shared vision will evoke hopes, especially endogenous shared visions [1] . The consistent values of Jatco are the key prerequisites for the success of learning organization.

4.2. Personal Mastery

Improving Personal Mastery is to achieve individual-level learning. Jatco Guangzhou fully gives employees an atmosphere of personal growth and learning, which enables employees to develop a habit of continuous learning. First, Jatco Guangzhou used the word “Haman wealth” to give more meaning to talents and expressed the concept of “talent is wealth”. Wealth is created by people. Only by paying attention to talents can we Enterprises create wealth. Jatco Guangzhou has always placed the cultivation of human resources in the most important strategic position, and the cultivation of human resources is brilliant. It focuses on the goal of “building a charming enterprise”, through the establishment of a diverse pool of potential talents, designing a personalized career development path, building a comprehensive training system that covers all employees’ needs at all levels and positions, and cultivating excellent Training management team and enterprise internal trainer team to realize the development and cultivation of excellent talents. Second, Jatco can create a good atmosphere for the growth of employees from the organizational level - the charming culture, that is, “home culture”, and carry out a series of employee care activities, such as: employee travel season, art season, sports season, family open day , Rainbow Plan, etc., and the senior executives participate in all activities with all employees. When asked why a employees are willing to work in Jatco for many years, the employee A said: “Maybe because the company culture is so good!” B employee said: “I am very fortunate to be able to come to Jatco. The rules and culture are very good. They not only focus on training personal skills, but also give us a lot of performance opportunities.” In this cultural atmosphere, on the one hand, each employee has his own professional career channel, has a strong sense of security for his career development path, can clearly perceive his develop direction and approach, having the motivation to learning and creating. On the other hand, breaking the contractual relationship between employers and employees, bringing people closer to the psychological distance between organization and employees, employees and teams, employees and employees, is conducive to improving the ability of self-learning and self-transcendence.

4.3. Mental Model

First, Jatco Guangzhou is committed to the transformation of working methods, “simplification (simplification)―utilization (saving time)―satisfaction (improving QoL)―continuous (mechanism)”, proactively reviewing and changing working methods, After the transforming, the day-to-day work began to simplify, the efficiency continues to increase. Employee C said: “Improvement has gradually become a habit of workplace behavior.” Second, Jatco Guangzhou advocates not only “doing” but also precipitating its own methodology. Both organizations and employees have developed the principle-“5w1h”. The principle of self-examination make people explore the root cause of problems and solves problems at the root. Then, Jatco build a special “talent training system”, covering all kinds of employees, such as direct personnel, indirect personnel, production indirect personnel, and developers. There are more than 100 training courses, and the internal training course reaches 80, and has successfully trained 112 lecturers. Among the lecturers, 51 of them reached the first level. Employee D said: “When I first came here, I was a blank sheet of paper, Jatco made me grow up from ignorant students step by step.” Employee E said: “...not only has professional skills strengthened here, but also my Japanese and the English level has been significantly improved, and the company’s perfect education system has benefited me a lot”. It can be seen that Jatco Guangzhou is quite attractive in the overall working methods and in the all-round training of employees. This enables employees to achieve a virtuous circle of learning.

4.4. Team Learning

Jatco Guangzhou’s learning is not only at the individual level, but also its unique “subject mechanism”. Each employee needs to conduct research on the subject of work while completing the duties of the post, and set up a project to solve the difficulties in the work. And the results of the defense of the topic as an important basis for promotion. This mechanism not only does not bring pressure and burden to the employees, but solves most of the work difficulties, really improves the efficiency of each position. It also makes employees full of motivation, then promotes cross-sectoral communication. The employee G said, “My achievements are the result of cross-departmental communication, and we are constantly growing and progressing in cross-departmental communication.” This makes the learning spirit spread and develop in teamwork and team discussions, which is a very effective way of team learning.

4.5. System Thinking

Jatco Guangzhou aims to realize the localization of talents, management and technology, and regards human resources strategy as a key strategy. From a strategic perspective, it is intimately linked to reality. In this strategy, the key position succession planning, the career development planning, the development of high-potential human resources and the localization of human resources have formed a complete system of talent development. From the construction period to the development period, to the maturity period, Jatco Guangzhou constantly explore and change, and promote the interlocking of management mechanisms. From individual to the team, to the organization, Jatco have developed into a mature learning organization.

5. Discussion and Conclusions

Through the analysis of Jatco Guangzhou’s Shared Vision, Personal Mastery, Mental Model, Team Learning and System Thinking, we can see that Jatco Guangzhou has a strong and equal learning atmosphere, and all members are based on a shared vision. They through continuous learning to absorb and use knowledge, then improve and develop their own learning ability and creative ability to improve organizational performance and organizational competitiveness, finally achieving organizational sustainable development. However, in addition to meeting the basic characteristics of the above-mentioned learning organization, Jatco Guangzhou also has a set of characteristics of “localization”. As a Japanese enterprise, it achieved localization of human resources, technology and management and forming its own unique culture and management methods is also worth learning from many foreign-funded enterprises.

At the same time, Jatco is a process of obeying the laws of nature in the path of building a learning organization. As shown in Figure 2, we can analyze from three levels: individual, group, and organization. From the individual level, employees absorb knowledge through continuous systematic training of the organization and mobilize knowledge to solve problems in the work. Reforming the way of working, promoting the efficiency of work, realizing the development of the profession and self-worth. And then starting new learning according to the needs of the work, so reciprocating all the time, solidified the learning habits of employees finally. From the team level, employees conduct team discussions and cooperation on the basis of self-learning, and can stimulate group learning within the team in reciprocating communication and reciprocating thinking collision. From the organizational level, through the systematic drive of training, promotion, assessment and other mechanisms, the learning atmosphere within the organization will be formed. Once this atmosphere is formed, it will fully affect every employee, whether it is a new employee or an old employee. They are all able to find their value and achievements in organization, and learning and growing sustainably. In addition, in the learning process of individuals, teams, and organizations, the influence of the “culture field” is crucial. It is imperceptible, a culture of mutual recognition, and a culture of happiness for employees. Then, such a learning organization is a truly organization that “control by doing nothing”.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that Jatco Guangzhou’s learning organization model is a model that continuously learning, and is a model that can be

replicated and can be used for reference. Therefore, Jatco Guangzhou intends to establish an internal “Jatco University” to deepen the patterns and mechanisms, from the individual to the team, from group deepening to organization. Further, Jatco will be able to refine the practice into a theory by summarizing practical experience, and provide guidance and assistance to more companies that want to be invincible in the competition. The author is participating in it and hopes that the future will make more contributions to the practice and theory of learning organization.

6. Research Contribution and Outlook

The research contributions of this research are mainly as follows: First, the definition of learning organization in academic circles has not been unified. Based on the views of scholars at home and abroad, this paper summarizes the definition of learning organization, and summarizes the five Characteristics of learning organization, they are: learnng subject, organizational structure, learning objectives, learning process and learning outcomes. The above is not only the inheritance of domestic and foreign viewpoints, but also the integration and re-digestion of theories. Second, combine with the theory from the perspective of the case to analyze the learning organization, is a study of Peter Senge’s classical theory practice.

At the same time, this study uses Jatco Guangzhou’s management method to analyze Jatco Guangzhou’s organizational learning methods: establish a common vision, achieve personal mastery, change mental models, team learning, system thinking. From individual to team, from team to the organization, forme a spontaneous learning cycle and create charming culture. To a certain extent, the article provides practical guidance and reference for enterprises and organizations that are committed to building a learning organization.

Of course, this research also has many shortcomings. First, the content of this study focuses on the analysis of the learning, thinking, and management methods of the learning organization, but does not emphasize the analysis of the process and stage of the learning organization. The future research can be vertical analyze the case and get the specific relationship between the dynamic process and mechanism generated by the learning organization and between the elements. Second, the research method of this paper is a case study method. There are certain restrictions on the actual situation of specific industries and specific enterprises. Future research can use qualitative research methods to deeply analyze the formation process of learning organizations.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

Cite this paper

Liu, H.F. (2018) A Brief Analysis of Learning Organization Practice from the Perspective of the Fifth Discipline Model Theories―A Case Study of Jatco (Guangzhou). American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 8, 2143-2157. https://doi.org/10.4236/ajibm.2018.811142

References