| With the current and ever present pressure on health care delivery in British Columbia and more specifically, the Northern Interior Health Region, there is increasing interest in innovative, sustainable leadership in organizations. The focus of management work seems to be that of crisis intervention and putting out fires. There is significant need to analyze how we do business, to seek improved problem solving techniques in order to achieve successful, efficient results that will enable quality patient care, while at the same time, develop and encourage the people who work in the organization.; This major project explores the characteristics of a learning organization and demonstrates the potential for the Northern Interior Health Region to achieve a vision of a learning organization. It provides the opportunity to define and accomplish a vision of a learning organization that will be created by, and with those in the Northern Interior Health Region.; The methodology used in this major project is action-based research requiring participation and involvement of the senior and middle management personnel of the Northern Interior Health Region. Quantitative and qualitative data is gathered by use of a survey, distributed across the entire region and inclusive of forty-nine managers. Their responses are analyzed and demonstrate various degrees of understanding about the learning organization and its characteristics while their participation indicates a strong desire to achieve the creativity and learning potential evident in a learning organization.; The conclusions reached indicate an opportunity to capture the energy and intensity of desire to achieve a learning organization. There is no doubt, the Northern Interior Health Region is on the leading edge of its potential, and with a renewed breath of life, can attain its vision. |
