INTRODUCTION The concept of knowledge as the founding block for attaining competitive advantage has become quite prevalent

in management studies. All knowledge should begin of information. For the conversion of information into knowledge there is a critical aspect to be noted. This is related to the timing of retrieval of information. Virtual organization (VO) examines that the concepts, technologies and issues surrounding virtual organization (VO) from a knowledge management perspective. It identifies foundational concepts, surveys Km technologies that support VOs and looks at case studies of VOs in the private and public sector. A learning organization is one that seeks to create its own future; that assumes learning is an ongoing and creative process for its members; and one that develops, adapts, and transforms itself in response to the needs and aspirations of people, both inside and outside itself.

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DEFINITION OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT Knowledge management is a systematic, explicit and deliberate building, renewal and application of knowledge to maximize an enterprise knowledge-related effectiveness and returns from its knowledge assets. Knowledge management is the formalization of an access to experience, knowledge and expertise that create new capabilities, enable superior performance, encourage innovation and enhance the customer value.

Strategies and processes designed to identify, capture, structure, value, leverage, and share an organization's intellectual assets to enhance its performance and competitiveness. It is based on two critical activities: (1) capture and documentation of individual explicit and tacit knowledge, and (2) its dissemination within the organization. Knowledge Management, (KM) is a concept and a term that arose approximately two decades ago, roughly in 1990. Quite simply one might say that it means organizing an organization's information and knowledge holistically, but that sounds a bit wooly, and surprisingly enough, even though it sounds overbroad, it is not the whole picture. Very early on in the KM movement, Davenport (1994) offered the still widely quoted definition: "Knowledge management is the process of capturing, distributing, and effectively using knowledge."

KNOWLEDGE CONVERSION At its core are conversion processes between tacit and explicit knowledge that result in a cycle of knowledge creation. Conversion involves four processes:
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Socialization Externalization Combination Internalization

Figure: Knowledge Conversion All of which convert between tacit and/or explicit knowledge. Socialization is the process by which synthesized knowledge is created through the sharing of experiences between people as they develop shared mental models and technical skills. Since it is fundamentally experiential, it connects people through their tacit knowledges. Externalizations come next, as tacit knowledge is made explicit. Here, the creation of conceptual knowledge occurs through knowledge articulation in a communication process that uses language in dialogue and collective reflection. The use of expressions of communication is often inadequate, inconsistent, and insufficient. The next process is combination, where explicit knowledge is transformed through its integration by adding, combining and categorizing knowledge. This integration of knowledge is also seen as a systemizing process. Finally, in the next process explicit knowledge is made tacit by its internalization. This is a learning process, which occurs through the behavioral development of operational knowledge. It uses explicit knowledge, like manuals or storytelling, where appropriate. CURRENT KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT DEFICITS Highly paid workers spend much of their time looking for needed information- This ubiquitous fact is in stark contrast with the considerable effort which has been made in
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enhancing productivity of lower paid production workers by placing every tool and part they need within the reach of their hand. Even though it may be doubted that work processes which require knowledge and creativity can be rationalized to the same extent, it is more than obvious that a huge potential for improvement exists. Essential know-how is available only in the heads of a few employees- This lack of documentation is becoming even more serious with changing work habits which reduce the availability of individual know-how and impede communication between employees. Valuable information is buried in piles of documents and data- Even when relevant knowledge is explicitly documental, its identification is becoming more and more difficult due to the continuously growing flood of most irrelevant information. Costly error due to discard of previous experiences- This is mostly a direct consequence of the fore-mentioned deficits. It is mentioned here explicitly since it highlights the costs of insufficient knowledge management and offers a tangible goal for improvements. Delays and sub-optical quality product results from insufficient flow of informationThis is how lack of knowledge management shoes at the bottom line since the rapid development of new products with high quality and low costs is becoming more and more essential for a companys successful competition in the global market place.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROCESS

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Knowledge management is considered an important part of the strategy to use expertise to create a sustainable competitive advantage in tomorrows business environment. Back mans has proposed a comprehensive eighth stage process for knowledge management Identify Collect Select Store Share Apply Create Sell.

2.1 Identify The identify determines which competences are critical to success. For example, every organization needs robust knowledge about its customer needs and expectation, products and services, finances, processes, management, employees, and other organization and environmental aspects. 2.2 Collect The collect stage deals with acquiring existing knowledge, skills, theories and experience needed to create the selected core competences and knowledge domains. In order to be useful, knowledge, expertise and experience must be formalized by making it explicit. In order to acquire expertise, valid knowledge sources should be identified.

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For example, employee suggestion programmers, domain experts and best practices database might provide a valuable source of knowledge. 2.3 Select The select stage takes the continuous stream of collected and formalized knowledge and assesses its value. Is their insight within the acquired information? Is this piece of knowledge already in the organizational memory? Is the acquired knowledge a new plausible domain theory that needs to be added to the knowledge repository? 2.4 Store The store stage takes the nuggets of knowledge and classifies them and adds them to the organizational memory. This corporate memory resides in different forms in human minds, on paper and electronically. Knowledge in human minds needs to be made explicit and formalized in order to be useful.
2.5 Share

The share stage retrieves knowledge from the corporate memory and makes it accessible to uses. The workforce makes their needs and personal interest known to the corporate memory which then automatically distributes any incoming new knowledge to its subscribers either electronically or on paper. In addition, individuals, groups and departments often share ideas, opinions, gossip, knowledge and expertise in meeting. 2.6 Apply The apply stage retrieves and uses the needed knowledge in performing tasks, solving problems, making decisions, researching ideas and learning. In order to easily access, retrieve and apply the right pieces of knowledge at the right time in the right from, more than a query language is needed. 2.7 Create The create stage uncovers new knowledge through many rescues. Such as observing customers, customers feedback and analysis, casual analysis bench marking and best practices, lessons learnt from business re inquiring and process improvement projects, research, experimentation, creative thinking and automated knowledge discovery. 2.8 Sell Which new products and services are crafted from the intellectual capital that can be marketed external to the enterprise. Before this stage is possible considerable maturity should be attained in the other seven stages. There appears to be two paradigms for knowledge management.

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DEFINITION OF VIRTUAL ORGANIZATION Virtual Teams Virtual Leaders Virtual Learning Challenges

Virtual organizations can be defined as groups of geographically and/or organizationally distributed participants who collaborate towards a shared goal using a combination of information and communication technologies to accomplish a task posit that the ultimate end of effective virtual organizations is the satisfactory accomplishment of the stated-objective or task wherein (a) each member feels they made a significant contribution and (b) that contribution is satisfactorily recognized and appreciated by each of the other members.

The term virtual organization is used to describe a network of independent firms that join together, often temporarily, to produce a service or product. Virtual organization is often associated with such terms as virtual office, virtual teams, and virtual leadership. The ultimate goal of the virtual organization is to provide innovative, high-quality products or services instantaneously in response to customer demands.

Virtual Teams Virtual teams are often the group structure used in virtual organizations. Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps define virtual teams as "a group of people who interact through
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interdependent tasks guided by a common purpose." Unlike conventional teams, a virtual team performs work across space, time, and organizational boundaries connected by interactive communication technologies. Virtual teams may include employees, management, customers, suppliers, and government working together to achieve common goals. Virtual Leaders Greiner and Metes discuss the new leadership skills required to lead in the virtual environment, including the ability to manage a network of interdependent firms, to design virtual operations, to create and sustain virtual relationships with internal as well as external constituents, to support virtual teams, and to keep virtual teams focused. The leader of a virtual organization demands a new set of skills unlike the skills required in a traditional hierarchy. Virtual Learning Another critical element to the success of the virtual organization is the ability of the organization to create world-class learning systems. These learning systems help leaders sustain or create world-class competencies. Effective learning systems can create pathways throughout the organization, in network fashion, enhancing the innovative capabilities of the organizational members. Challenges Virtual organizations can be very complex and problematic; they fail as often as they succeed. Among the many challenges of the virtual organization are strategic planning dilemmas, boundary blurring, a loss of control, and a need for new managerial skills. Strategic planning poses new challenges as virtual firms determine effective combinations of core competencies. Common vision among partners is quintessential to cooperating firms.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF VIRTUAL ORGANIZATION Power flexibility Informal Communication Dynamics Homework Customer orientation Organizational Boundaries are vague Sharing of Information

3.1 Power flexibility Literature on new workplace concepts in support of flexible working highlights a number of recurring driving forces for change, which commonly include both employee-centered and organization-focused drivers. In these texts, flexible working is seen to serve "as a response to employee demands", and also, "to reduce (the) cost base" for the Organization as a means "to adjust (workplace strategies) to the continuously changing demands of workers", whilst seeking "cost reduction" for the organization to promote "increases (in) employee morale", whilst "the main benefit is that it reduces operating costs. 3.2 Informal Communication Informal communication is characterized by being spontaneous, interactive and rich, and hence differs greatly from other forms of office communication, such as phone or e-mail conversations. Informal conversations generally only last a few minutes and, as the purpose is seldom achieved in one interchange, occur over intermittent episodes, with participants on average interacting with each other 2.5 times per day. The importance of informal communication for the success of distributed teamwork was demonstrated by Kraut et al. 3.3 Dynamics The world continues to be driven by the rapid development of information technology and globalization. Not surprisingly, the working environments that have been projected to grow the fastest are all related to the usage of computers, the Internet, and information systems. With globalization, many multinational corporations are increasingly employing virtual teams. It was reported that 137 million workers worldwide are involved in some form of remote electronic work in this article; we present the issues and challenges that are encountered by in the same organization. 3.4 Homework

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Partners in virtual organizations share risks, costs, and rewards in pursuit of a global market. The common characteristics of these organizations include a purpose that is motivated by specific market opportunities, world-class core competence, information networks, interdependent relationships, and permeable boundaries. Virtual organizations represent structures that are motivated by specific market opportunities. Once the alliance has been formed and the opportunity has been exploited, partners may move on to new partnerships and alliances. 3.6 Customer orientation Members of the virtual organization, in turn, create a network of interdependent relationships. These relationships require firms to be much more dependent on one another than they have been in the past, demanding unprecedented levels of trust. Strong interdependencies cause organizations' boundaries to be blurred as competitors, suppliers, and customers enter into cooperative agreements. These new relationships among firms obligate organizations to use innovative management practices. 4.7 Organizational Boundaries are vague Communicate primarily via computer-mediated communication (CMC) without any geographical boundaries, and the composition of the team members consists of people from different cultural backgrounds: for example, people from Motorola in Malaysia collaborating on a 12-week project with people from Japan and in the U.S. In essence, the project involves team members from three different countries. 4.8 Sharing of Information As organizations create these new linkages, advanced information technology becomes an important element, and key to the success of a virtual organization. Computerized information systems allow employees from geographically dispersed locations to link up with one another. The virtual office may use desktop videoconferencing, collaborative software, and intranet systems to enhance the flow of information among team members.

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FEATURES OF VIRTUAL ORGANIZATION Without information and knowledge, workers in virtual workplaces become emasculated and ineffective. Fortunately technology and enlightened management practices can ensure that this does not happen. Technology E-mail integration Office systems integration Voice mail alert Mobile data

4.1 Technology New technology has transformed the traditional ways of working. In particular the worlds of computing and telephony are coming together to open up a whole new range of possibilities. Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) will bring a new revolution to the desktop.CTI has traditionally been used in all call centre applications. 4.2 E-mail integration Integrating SMS (Short Message Service) into the existing e-mail infrastructure allows the whole organization to take advantage of SMS products such as Express Way. 4.3 Office systems integration SMS technology can greatly enhance the existing or new office Systems, phone messages can be sent via SMS rather than returning it in a message book. 4.4 Voice mail alert SMS technology added to the existing voice mail system builds an effective method of receiving voice mail alerts. 4.5 Mobile data This enables a laptop to retrieve information anywhere through the mobile phone network. Mobile data communications revolutionize where and how work is done. In the past corporate information has been inaccessible from many places where it is needed.

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TYPES OF VIRTUAL ORGANIZATION There are three types of virtual organization characterized by varying degrees of vitality. Telecommunication Companies Outsourcing Companies Company without Walls

5.1 Telecommunication Companies The Telecommunication companies are at one extreme where the employees work from their homes. They interact with the workplace via personal computer connected with a modem to the phone lines. Examples of companies using some form of telecommuting are Dow Chemical, Xerox, Coherent Technologies Inc. 5.2 Outsourcing Companies The second type represents those that are characterized by the outsourcing of most/all core competences. Outsourced areas include marketing and sales, human resources, finance, research and development, engineering, manufacturing, information systems etc. Virtual Corporation does one or two tings but them extremely well. Nike considers product design and marketing to be its core competences. 5.3 Company without Walls The third types are completely virtual. It has metaphorically been described as a company without walls that is tightly linked to a large network of suppliers, distributions, retailers and customers as well as to strategic and joint venture partners. Examples of completely virtual organizations are the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) in 1996 and arguable the development effort of the PC by IBM. Spectrum of Virtuality Types Telecommuters Least virtual Core Corp with virtual Most virtual Completely virtual
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Employees With virtual office

outsourcing Combination of employees Virtual employees, outsourcing, (Virtual office, virtual, production)

Virtual employees and/or Participants in a completely virtual organization

ADVANTAGE OF VIRTUAL ORGANIZATION Increased productivity Extended market opportunity Knowledge transfer

Increased productivity Virtual organization often sees an increase in productivity because more personal flexibility is achieved, commute time is reduced, and work is not limited by the traditional 9-5 work day schedule. In turn, the company never sees an off hour. The on the other side of the globe simply picks up where the prior team left off. This approach is commonly referred to as Follow the Sun Approach. Extended market opportunity This is a major benefit of geographically dispersed due to direct access to different market opportunities. With work virtual organization located in different parts of the globe, organizations are able to establish their presence with customers worldwide. This also gives small business owners the ability to compete on a global scale as well without being limited to a particular customer base. Knowledge transfer This is one of the most important benefits of a virtual organization utilizing people with different types of knowledge spread out across the globe can be very beneficial to any organization. Online meetings, remote computer access, wireless technology, and conferencing systems offer a way for participants to join a complex discussion from anywhere in the world. This benefit can enable most companies to compete on a global scale. DISVANTAGE OF VIRTUAL ORGANIZATIN Communication deficiency Poor leadership and management
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Incompetent organization members

Communication deficiency The biggest disadvantage that any virtual organization can suffer from is the lack of efficiency in communication, partly due to constraints in virtual communication mediums. This is also primarily due to the fact that humans communicate better when they are able to communicate with their body language. Inevitably, virtual organization may face obstacles due to restrictions of the Internet which in turn may lead to incorrect assumptions if a message is not laid out clearly. Failure to properly communicate and clearly address messages or emails could to lead to frustration and eventually failure. Poor leadership and management Poor leadership can result in the failure of any organization whether virtual or not; however, it becomes a much more prominent problem in virtual organization. Messages must be sent across accurately and clearly. Inability to effectively communicate to members of the team can all greatly affect a project. Incompetent organization members Virtual organization should only consist of competent and experienced team members due to the distance factor which can overtly affect the timing and completion date of a project. Projects are more likely to fail if the organization consists of individuals who are lazy or lack sufficient knowledge to complete their assigned tasks. It only takes one incompetent organization member to have a negative effect on the rest of the organization.

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ADVANTAGE OF VIRTUAL TEAMS Cost savings Leverage Global Talent Increased Productivity & Higher Profits

Cost savings The biggest advantage of virtual team enjoyed by an organization is the associated cost savings. The organization can do away with huge expenses on real estate, office spaces, utilities bills such as gas, electricity, water etc. and executives travel. Many organizations outsource their operations to the low-cost regions. Thus production cost also decreases with the reduced raw material cost, operational costs and lower wages of the employees in these geographic locations. Leverage Global Talent Virtual Teams allows organizations to look for talent beyond their country of origin. This brings together the experts and specialists from across the globe to work together on the project. Increased knowledge sharing and greater innovation happens as organizations human capital share their understanding of global and local markets as well as best business practices. Increased Productivity & Higher Profits Members of virtual teams tend to have higher focus on the task at hand. As a practice virtual team supports flatter organization structure. The members do not have to deal with unnecessary bureaucracy which slows down the decision making. This enhances the productivity which shows as higher profits. Reduced Time to Market
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Since the members span the time zones, there could be different team working on the same project 24*7, so when one member sleeps there will be another one somewhere else who would start work where the former had left. This shortens the product development time as well as faster response time to demands in both global and local markets.

Newer Opportunities If we see at larger societal level, virtual teams have created newer opportunities for people who are less mobile and hesitant to relocate due to either family requirement or physical challenge. Now any task that does not require the physical presence of a person and which can be supported by communication technology throws an opportunity for many deserving candidates. DISADVANTAGE OF VIRTUAL TEAMS Cost of Technology Conflicts, Lack of Trust & Collaboration Social Isolation

Cost of Technology The successful working of virtual team is supported by the efficient use of multiple communication technologies such as instant messaging, emails and video-conferencing, among others. No one tool can provide the complete support. The cost associated with these installation and maintenance tools is little on the higher side. Conflicts, Lack of Trust & Collaboration The cultural differences between the members of virtual teams give rise to number of conflicts. For example, while an American would write a straightforward email describing a bad situation, this would be perceived as impolite by a South Asian (say Japanese) member of the team. This would lead to conflicts, mistrust and difficulties in fruitful collaboration which is so vital for the success of virtual team functioning. These challenges are also precipitated by the absence of non-verbal cues so intrinsic to face-to-face interactions. Social Isolation
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Many members of virtual teams are adversely affected by the lack of physical interactions. Most of the communications in virtual environment is task-oriented. In todays society where job is an important social force for most of us because many of our workplace colleagues also constitute our close friends, this gives a not-so-good feeling of social isolation. This in turn counter-effects productivity as well as leads to stress.

EMERGING HR ISSUES IN VIRTUAL ORGANIZATION

The HR issues such as recruitment, development and socialization processes are forms of managerial control. These inputs control and regulate the antecedent conditions of performance, ensuring that the employee skills, knowledge, attitudes, values and interest match those of the employing organization. At the organizational level of analysis the virtual organization is a loose web of individuals, capital and technologies which many operate in amalgamation as a flexible organization form. It involves project focused collaborative network uninhibited by time and space. Driven by the necessities of globalization and knowledge based competition, it is staffed by knowledge workers brought together under short term market relationships. It operates without apparent structure in terms of power and resource control), has ever-changing boundaries and dissolves as soon as a project is completed. In a virtual organization there are loose connections of highly proficient people who are left to do their own thing in order to produce world beating product or services. The shift towards virtual organization is associated with a fundamental re-alignment and reordering of jobs. Knowledge-based jobs are assumed to require greater skills, have greater variety and offer more potential for a high quality of working life. The positive side is that there is greater job autonomy and more financial stability because of the reduced commuting, lunches and clothing costs. This is backed by increased working hours a perceived increase in performance less work-related stress and change social relationships as barriers between the home work interface dissolve.

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DEFINITION OF LEARNING ORGANIZATION

Systems Thinking Learning Perspective] Integrative Perspective A learning organization can be defined as an organization that practices organizational learning. Conversely organizational leaning is the distinctive organizational behavior that is practiced in a learning organization. Thus the two terms are effectively synonymous but there are differences in the nuance that should be pointed out. Learning organizational is an entity while organizational learning is a process, a set of actions. Organizational learning is something the organizations do, a learning organization is something the organization itself. In 1998 Denton John developed a model of the creation of a learning organization. The first is an effective organization design that is aligned with and supports these building blocks. The other consists of the appropriate employee skills and competencies needed for the tasks and roles described in these strategic building blocks. The strategic perspective of the learning organization posits that certain managerial practices or strategic building blocks are prerequisites for becoming a learning organization. These strategic building blocks can serve as practical guidelines for operational and managerial practice, and along with the two supporting foundations they can also provide advice for management and 6.1 Systems Thinking Senge (1990) defines the learning organization as an organization that possesses not only an adaptive capacity but also generativelythat is, the ability to create alternative futures. Senge identifies the five disciplines that a learning organization should possess: team learning emphasis on the learning activities of the group rather than on the development of team process; shared visionsability to unearth shared pictures of the future that foster genuine commitment and enrollment rather than compliance; mental modelsdeeply held internal images of how the world works; personal masterycontinually clarifying and deepening

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personal vision, focusing energies, developing patience, and seeing reality objectively; and system thinkingability to see interrelationships rather than linear cause effect chains. 6.2 Learning Perspective Pedler, Burgoyne, and Boydell (1991) define the learning organization as an organization that facilitates the learning of all of its members and continuously transforms itself in order to meet its strategic goals (p. 1). They identified eleven areas through which this occurs: a learning approach to strategy, participative policymaking, informating, formative accounting and control, internal exchange, reward flexibility, enabling structures, boundary workers as environmental scanners, intercompany learning, learning climate, and self-development for everyone. Goh (1998) contends that learning organizations have five core strategic building blocks: clarity and support for mission and vision, shared leadership and involvement, a culture that encourages experimentation, the ability to transfer knowledge across organizational boundaries, and teamwork and cooperation. 6.3 Integrative Perspective Watkins and Marsick (1993, 1996) provide an integrative model of a learning organization. They originally defined the concept of the learning organization as one that learns continuously and transforms itself. Learning is a continuous, strategically used process integrated with and running parallel to work (1996, p. 4). In their more recent book, Marsick and Watkins (1999) state, We originally defined the learning organization as one that is characterized by continuous learning for continuous improvement, and by the capacity to transform itself (Watkins & Marsick, 1993, 1996). This definition captures a principle, but in and of it, is not operational. What does it look like when learning becomes an intentional part of the business strategy? People are aligned around a common vision. They sense and interpret their changing environment. They generate new knowledge which they use, in turn, to create innovative products and services to meet customer needs.

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FACTORS OF LEARNING ORGANIZATION Personal Mastery Mental Models Shared Vision Team Learning Systems Thinking

Figure: The five Factors of learning organization 7.1 Personal Mastery Personal mastery is what Peter Senge describes as one of the core disciplines needed to build a learning organization. Personal mastery applies to individual learning, and Senge says that organizations cannot learn until their members begin to learn. Personal Mastery has two components. First, one must define what one is trying to achieve (a goal). Second, one must have a true measure of how close one is to the goal. Individuals who practice personal mastery experience other changes in their thinking. They learn to use both reason and intuition to create. 7.2 Mental Models
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A mental model is one's way of looking at the world. It involves each individual reflecting upon, continually clarifying, and improving his or her internal pictures of the world, and seeing how they shape personal actions and decisions. It is a framework for the cognitive processes of our mind.

7.3 Shared Vision What does it mean to have a shared vision? A shared vision begins with the individual, and an individual vision is something that one person holds as a truth. It means individuals building a sense of commitment within particular workgroups, developing shared images of common and desirable futures, and the principles and guiding practices to support the journey to such futures. The shared vision of an organization must be built of the individual visions of its members. What this means for the leader in the Learning Organization is that the organizational vision must not be created by the leader, rather, the vision must be created through interaction with the individuals in the organization. 7.4 Team Learning This involves relevant thinking skills that enable groups of people to develop intelligence and an ability that is greater than the sum of individual members' talents. It is a discipline that starts with "dialogue," the capacity of members of a team to suspend assumptions and enter into a genuine "thinking together." Team learning is vital because teams, not individuals, are the fundamental learning unit in modern organizations. 7.5 Systems Thinking This involves a way of thinking about, and a language for describing and understanding forces and interrelationships that shape the behavior of systems. It is a paradigm premised upon the primacy of the whole --the antithesis of the traditional evolution of the concept of learning in western cultures. This discipline helps managers and employees alike to see how to change systems more effectively, and to act more in tune with the larger processes of the natural and economic world.

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SIX ANTECEDENTS OF ORGANIZATION LEARNINGS Senge (1990) argues that organizations must learn (which he defines as finding ways to expand employees capacity to create and produce results) if they want to succeed in the 1990s and beyond. He goes on to outline the model used by most organizations are flawed and thus, why they must become learning organizations? He states that the old bureaucratic command and control model will not be good enough for the challenges ahead. IT will have to be enough to meet the new product development time of foreign competitors or to spot new market opportunities. It will not be wise enough to deliver the high levels of service the customers will increasingly demand. It will not be smart enough to manage a diverse work force or to motivate its smartest Employees. These three challenges touch a number of antecedents of the organizational learning, but amore close look at the literature and careful attention to managers views have led to additional factors being identified. In total six main antecedents of organizational learning have been identified. They are: The shift in the relative importance of factors of production away from capital towards labour, particularly intellectual labour. The increasing acceptance of knowledge as prime sources of competitive advantage. The increasingly rapid pace of change in the business environment. Increasing dissatisfaction among managers and employees with the traditional command and control management paradigms. The increasingly competitive nature of the global business environment. The greater demand being placed on all business by their customers.

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These six antecedents are powerful driving force, which, when together, have led to the increased prominence and importance of organizational learning. Learning organizations, thus results from a confluence of circumstance, from the interaction of all the above antecedents. It is easy to see that the antecedents are related in a number of ways.

LEADERSHIP AND LARNING ORGANIZATIONS The role of a leader in a learning organization is very important. The leader who wishes to create a learning organization will need to adopt an approach of change. This will allow him/her to cultivate an environment of constant questioning and risk-taking and frequent re of business practices and products. Senge(1990) gives three leadership rules that are critical for building of learning organizations. They are the leader as designer, the leader as steward and the leader as teacher. Marquardt (1996) suggests six new leadership roles required of managers in a learning organization. The six roles are as instructor, coach, mentor knowledge manager, co-learner and model for learning: architect and designer, coordinator and advocate and champions for learning process and projects. He sees the role of instructor, coach and mentor as three distinct aspects oil the leaders job. This is an acknowledgement of the fact that different learning situation and different learners require different styles of help from the teacher. (a) People feel that they are doing something that matters to them properly and to society at large (b) Every individual in the organization is instantly learning and stretching himself/herself, thereby enhancing his/her capacity to create. (c) People are more intelligent together in a group rather than they are alone; they believe in synergy. (d) Ongoing activities in the organization are shared hit)) the employees, so that they can understand how their actions influence others, transparency is extremely important. (e) People feel free to enquire about each crier and their feelings. (f) People treat each other as colleagues. There is a mutual trust and respect in the way they talk to each other and work together, no matter what their positions may he.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF LEARNING ORGANIZATIN In this thesis, the new suggestion for structuring the characteristics of a learning organization is introduced. The new set of characteristics synthesizes existing theories but also integrates some new emphasis in order to provide a better way to profile an organizations learning capability. The proposed set of eleven characteristics, fostering organizational learning and its outcomes, is as follows: Learning approach to strategy Supportive leadership and participative policy-making Shared vision and values Free vertical and horizontal flow of information Supportive organization structure Supportive corporate learning culture Teamwork and team learning as the critical Experimenting and risk taking Learning reward system Environmental scanning System thinking

8.1 Learning approach to strategy enables that formation; implementation and improvement of company strategy are consciously structured as a learning process instead of implementing set solutions. In 2000 Holmberg writes that learning strategy is an appropriate alternative to the programmatic strategies (like, for example, is TQM) what are characterized by imitation, imported methods, top-down decision-making and limited focus.
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8.2 Supportive leadership and participative policy-making ensure that all members of the company have a chance to take part, to discuss and contribute to major policy decisions. Supportive leadership means showing concern for everybodys needs and problems. 8.3 Shared vision and values that unify individual efforts to achieve both personal and organizational goals and guide people. According to Senge shared vision is vital for the learning organization because it provides the focus and energy for learning. While adaptive learning is possible without vision, generative learning occurs only when people are striving to accomplish something that matters deeply to them. 8.4 Free vertical and horizontal flow of information enables a continuous information exchange, needed for organizational learning and empowering people. Free flow of information and knowledge inside an organization is an important prerequisite to encourage new ideas and innovation. 8.5 Supportive organization structure that enables flexibility and speed in organizational learning and implementing its outcomes. The organization's structure is based on the need to learn. As tasks, needs, and people change, the structure changes so that customers and employees like face minimal inconveniences .Supportive organizational structure means decentralized hierarchies, loosely formal job roles and existence of internal customers and suppliers. 8.6 Supportive corporate learning culture facilitates and fosters efficient organizational learning. It includes opportunities for education, training and development of the whole workforce at all levels. In 1993 Garvin suggests starting to build a learning organization from fostering an environment that is conducive to learning.. 8.7 Teamwork and team learning as the critical link between the learning individual and the learning organization. With continuous learning and an ongoing reflection on results, a team can shift its orientation from knowing to learning, thereby increasing its ability to produce the desired business results. In 1991 Huber formulates the outcome of team learning as a change in the range of the teams potential behaviors. 8.8 Experimenting and risk taking is activity that involves the systematic searching for and testing of new knowledge. In 1993 Garvin suggests that experimentation must be motivated by opportunity and expanding horizons, not by current difficulties. To encourage experimentation, fear of failure must be eliminated and management must be committed to continuous experimentation as a means of institutionalizing learning.

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8.9 Learning reward system that keeps organizational learning a systematic process that recognizes and reinforces learning. Intellectual diversity and dissents are not only accepted but also encouraged in order to improve experience. 8.10 Environmental scanning to observe changes and trends in external environment, learning from best practices of other companies (including competitors) in the same and also other industries. Customers and suppliers are engaged in learning activities. 8.11 System thinking is a tool to guarantee systematical approach and seeing existing processes, activities and functions in mutual interactions. It enables to see the structures that underlie complex situations. In 1997 Roos also warn that managers should learn not to concentrate too much on the visible aspects of the company, just because they are easily recognizable.

Group Studies

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Library

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CONCLUSION At the end we can say that the era of human resources management is very important for us. It helps us to know about the human resource management. By this we are able to know about knowledge management, everything about knowledge management. It also helped us about virtual organization. The characteristic, the types, the advantages and disadvantages of virtual management and virtual teams all of them wean learn from the era. It also describe about learning an organization.

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Reference:
Knowledge Creation and Management (Reference Book) KM - David Skyrme Associates

www.google.bd/knowledge management http://www.google.com.bd/#sclient=psy-ab&q=knowledge+management+process Human Resources Management (A South-Asian Perspective) (Scott Snell, George Bohlander & Veena Vohra) Organizational behavior (Steven L. Mcshane & Mary Ann Von Glinow) Principal of Organization Behavior (Robin Fincham & Peter Rhodes) Organization Behavior (Steven L. Mcshane & Mary Ann Von Glinow)

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