Learning Organisations: A Suitable Model for Improving Mental Health Services?
- 1 April 1998
- journal article
- review article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
- Vol. 32 (2), 214-222
- https://doi.org/10.3109/00048679809062731
Abstract
Objective: The aim of this paper was to describe an organisational model that has created interest in recent business management literature as supporting learning, adaptation and continuous improvement.Method: Some key features of the literature on learning organisations are outlined, including the values and processes involved, together with a structural and cultural template that has been applied to a community child and adolescent mental health service. Some blocks to learning and the leadership skills required to develop adaptive services are described.Results: The experience of applying the model has led to a change in mental health service organisational structure and culture towards greater support for research, quality improvement, experimentation and adaptation.Conclusions: The learning organisation model offers a more comprehensive framework for designing adaptive mental health services and supporting quality management practices than any other recent organisational form.Keywords
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