Individuals learn, but can organisations do the same? What would make the Ministry of Defence a learning organisation? A case study analysis can help us deal with the question. I attended the Beating Retreat ceremony held in Delhi at Vijay Chowk.

The invitation from the Ministry of Defence requested me and my wife to occupy ‘B’ enclosure. There was a car park label and a helpful map showing us where to park. There was also a sheet that described various rules including 41 items that would not be allowed. After we alighted from the car, the confusion began.

Checks and more checks

Where was ‘B’ enclosure? We had to resort to asking everyone in sight wearing a police uniform and some helpfully sent us in the right direction while several shrugged their shoulders and looked lost. Along the way, we had to pass through five security checks (yes, five). Moreover, we had to show the invitation card to be matched against a government issued identity card. Unfortunately, men and women were segregated in separate security lines and there is only one invitation naming me and my wife! So the person holding the invitation, after clearance, had to wait for the other to reach the security point.

Since there were several hundred people in a similar situation, you can imagine how slow the lines were moving and how many people were bunched at security gates waiting for the other. And this happened five times.

At the first gate, my pen and pencil were confiscated. At the last gate, three pieces of wrapped toffee in my pocket were confiscated. I could not find a reason why this would be in the banned list. Perhaps it falls under the ‘etc.’ at the end of the list, or the security guard was hungry.

The railings through which now the hundreds were trying to stream through were giving way and conditions were ripe for a stampede. By divine grace, we finally managed to get into the enclosure ‘B’ which probably meant ‘basement’ since we were all on flat ground, could not see any of the events, and had to turn our chairs to watch the big video screen display.

I have visited army establishments and know that they do an amazing job of organising and managing their establishments. Perhaps they have not had the opportunity to communicate some of their expertise to the ministry. The ministry has been conducting this event for several decades. How can they learn from their experience?

They could have a meeting after the conclusion of the Republic Day and Beating Retreat to de-brief all those involved in the arrangements to learn from the mistakes of the past. They could reach out to guests for feedback. Such learning failures are not unique to bureaucracies. Many efficient private corporations miss various chances to learn organisationally.

Several employees are sent out to short-term training programmes. These executives should be asked to conduct sessions for their peers and subordinates to convey key features of what they learned and how to incorporate the lessons in their personal and organisational behaviour. Various parts of an organisation are constantly involved in interesting and challenging problem solving activities. These could be captured in an internal database that others could search when they need help.

The writer is a professor at Jindal Global Business School, Delhi NCR and at Suffolk University, Boston

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