Learning and change are very important to the dynamic global environment we live in. If we look internationally, we can see that companies set in their old ways, refusing to change and learn failed.
“In 1989, Encyclopedia Britannica sold over one hundred thousand copies of its multi-volume encyclopedia and set a sales record of $627 million. Only five years later, sales had plummeted 53 percent.”(Russo & Schoemaker, 2002) Unfortunately the leadership of Britannica was blind to the global technological revolution. That resulted in it’s unwillingness to change and learn new ways bringing them to a point of fall Britannica was not able to recover from.
“In global organizations learning can occur in many ways, but social learning is one way that occurs in all cultures across the globe, as it is a basic part of being human” (Redmond, 2016). This makes social learning a bridge that connects all societies. Bandura(1986) developed a social learning model that is especially noticed in young children. Children tend to take a behavior they see and adapt it to their own. Bandura outlines four main steps: Attention, retention, reproduction and motivation. Social learning is imperative for growth and development of all ages. This makes the old adage leading by example ever more imperative as our peers and subordinates unwittingly emulate us for better or worse.
On a bigger scale we have organizational change. Shein(1980) created a planned change theory that describes steps involved in the process of change in organizations. While many models exist, this one has a lot of supporting research that shows it’s effectiveness. Shein states that unfreezing, changing, and refreezing steps are imperative to effective and permanent change, but behind any change there is a motivation stemming from belief that the change in behavior is necessary and will lead to beneficial outcome.
In Britannica’s example the leadership failed to perceive the need to change. They saw themselves as book publishers first, which limited their view. If they were willing to change their organization from book publisher to a firm that specializes in global knowledge distribution they would be more willing to see the importance of restructuring the company in favor of new technological advancement and would develop planned change, they would learn from their global peers that perceived the importance of technology and thus managed to corner new market insuring their success.
Times are changing and demanding new ways. By applying principles of Bandura’s social learning and Schein’s planned change today we can be better prepared for tomorrow.
References:
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought & action: A social cognitive theory. Upper Saddle River, : Prentice Hall.
Image retrieved on 21 September, 2016 from http://www.managers.org.uk/~/media/Images/Insights/ChangeManagement.jpg
Redmond, B. (2016).The Pennsylvania State University World Campus, (2016). Lesson 4: Introduction to Culture. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1802572/modules/items/21179083
Russo, J. & Schoemaker, P. (2002). Winning decisions. New York: Currency.
Schein, E. H. (1980). Organizational psychology. Englewood Cliffs, : Prentice Hall.
Joey Hong Nguyen says
Using Britannica’s encyclopedia is a great example. I have a memory when we were introduced how to find information using the encyclopedias as well as using “yahoo” to do research. I didn’t realize it at the time but that was definitely a transitional period where information could be found much quicker and mass distributed without the cost of shipping. It’s definitely important for companies to do a forecast of their future to take into account upcoming changes in the world. On a similar note, I feel that technology has grown at an exponential rate.
I’d also like to add onto your use of the quote about how social learning is global. No matter what cultural background we come from, we learn from those around us. So to start a movement for a change, it’d be quite difficult to do so without seeing our peers change their behavior as well. Great post and citations!
aek5366 says
Indeed, in Britannica’s case social learning theory by Bandura was imperative, yet unnoticed. While looking at the competitors and non competitors in international arena adopting methods of technological boom presented by CD-ROMs Britannica was overconfident and did not do it’s research on time. The Schein’s 3-step model did not even get to see light in the company that failed to see the need for change. Thank you. Awesome reply.
jmr6242 says
Like many ’80s/’90s kids, I vaguely remember the awkward Encyclopedia Britannica ads; the things were pervasive on the television, or it least it seemed that way at the time. But then one day, they just stopped. I never actually thought about it until reading your blog post, but it’s true nonetheless. I find it interesting that organizational change, or the lack thereof, can take place in a very loud and obnoxious way as easily as it can go silent and unnoticed; if anything, the latter is preferable in most cases. If things get loud, oftentimes failure is already present.
WHat’s interesting about that (jumping a bit deeper into Schein’s 3-step model) is the fact that the unfreezing step can’t begin until the same requirement that has reached meme-level status has been met: recognizing that there is a problem at all. Equally important is recognizing the problem as such within the necessary amount of time, before too much damage is done. Without that, unfreezing will never occur, and the behaviors (and associated outcomes), like the case of the Encyclopedia Britannica, will lead to obsolescence for an organization, which is essentially corporate death in the business world of the 21st century.
Additionally, the first part of Bandura’s social Learning Theory that you point out, attention, bears facets of the same issue; while not precisely the same, by noticing someone who one considers worth emulating, it is implied that to not do so would be potentially problematic, thereby again allowing for the 3 step process of unfreezing, changing, and refreezing to begin. Awesome post.