Testing a Measure of Organizational Learning Capacity and Readiness for Transformational Change in Human Services

Abstract

Transformative organizational change requires organizational learning capacity, which we define in terms of (1) internal and (2) external organizational systems alignment, and promoting a culture of learning, including (3) an emphasis on exploration and information, (4) open communication, (5) staff empowerment, and (6) support for professional development. We shortened and adapted Watkins and Marsick's Dimensions of Learning Organizations Questionnaire into a new 16-item Organizational Learning Capacity Scale (OLCS) geared more toward nonprofit organizations. The OLCS and its subscales measuring each of the above 6 dimensions are unusually reliable for their brevity. ANOVAs for the OLCS and subscales clearly and consistently confirmed extensive participant observations and other qualitative data from four nonprofit human service organizations and one local human service funding organization.

KEYWORDS:

• DLOQ
• empowerment
• learning organizations
• nonprofits
• organizational culture
• planned transformational change
• second-order change

Acknowledgments

We thank Isaac Prilleltensky, Scot Evans, the other members of the NewSPECs research team, and especially our organizational partners and respondents for their participation in this project.

Notes

*n = 119; all correlations are significant at the 2-tailed level of p < .001.

*Response options ranged from −3 to +3 on each item, scale, and subscale.

We use pseudonyms for each organization throughout this article.

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