The World Health Organization as a Continuous Learning Organization
April Hord Yovhane Metcalfe
Amanda ParksVirginia Commonwealth University
Objectives
Summarize organizational structure and recent history
Compare organizational learning cycle during smallpox effort with that of today
Examine WHO’s contemporary infrastructure
Apply learning exercise
A global organization
Our Health, Our FutureOur Health, Our Future
© Copyright World Health Organization (WHO), 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Organizational learning
‘the intentional use of learning processes at the individual, group and system level to continuously transform the organization in a direction that is increasingly satisfying to its stakeholders”
(Dixon, 1999)© Copyright World Health Organization (WHO), 2009. All Rights Reserved
Global organization structure
Constitution objective: The attainment by all peoples of the highest
possible level of health Health – state of complete physical, mental
and social well-being; not simply absence of disease or infirmity
The World Health Assembly Governing body with delegate representatives
from 193 member states meets annually each May in Geneva
Work Force 8,000 health experts & support staff serve fixed-
term appointments Staff spread across Headquarters + six regional
offices + 193 countries
WHO since 1999
The WHO Learning The WHO Learning CycleCycle20092009
© Copyright World Health Organization (WHO), 2009. All Rights Reserved
I. Widespread Generation of Information- Internal
Documentation – After Action Reviews of projects, initiatives, efforts are catalogued and recorded
Translucency - Regional offices integrate open reporting to be analyzed, shared & linked to resources used
Daily Emergency Situation Report via the HAC website www.who.int/disasters
I. Widespread Generation of Information - External Regular multidisciplinary
teleconferences for:research labs governmental
organizationsfield offices WHO
headquarters Global distribution and execution of
2006-2015 World Health Plan strategic plan
August 2009 – H1N1 global monitoring and advising notices
Operations
Strategic Operations CenterStrategic Operations Center
© Copyright World Health Organization (WHO/PAHO), 2009. All Rights Reserved.
II. Integrate new & local information into organizational context2009 H1N1 pandemic response October 2009 – assistance response to
Western Pacific Region natural disasters HAC Program Global/regional ALERT distribution Blue Trunk program Proclaim as a Knowledge Management (KM)
Strategy: Strengthen organizational capacity Advocate adoption of KM in the field of public health Improve capacity implementing KM at country level
III. Collectively interpret information
Involve all WHO and local stakeholders: contingency building events external training programs/seminars
Knowledge Management Strategy goal: to bridge the “know-do gap” in global health by fostering an environment that encourages the creation, sharing, and effective application of knowledge to improve health
Identification of Effective Employee Behaviors:
to ensure that knowledge and learning is shared across the organization and that staff learn from each other
IV. Authority to act on interpreted meaning Proclaim as a Knowledge Management
Strategy: Translating knowledge into policy & action
Six regional offices with separate governance structure to react to regional level issues
Pan American Health Organization covers 35 countries www.paho.org 2002 PAHO implemented annual vaccination week
HAC Program – Geneva enables regional offices to be self-sufficient providing all necessary resources
communications equipment operational budget to be utilized at regional, sub-regional and/or country levels
Infrastructure for Organizational Learning
Integrate
Collectively Interpret
Authorization to Act
• Publication of global Publication of global Weekly Weekly Epidemiological RecordEpidemiological Record
• Regular multidisciplinary Regular multidisciplinary teleconferences for labs, gov’t teleconferences for labs, gov’t organizations, field offices and organizations, field offices and WHO HQWHO HQ
• Knowledge Management Strategy emphasises “know-do” gap
•Differentiated approach towards the HIV/AIDS effort enable
• Different regions able to address local cultural differences in HIV/AIDS incidence
• Differentiated approach towards the HIV/AIDS effort enable regional accountability
• Management competency requirement to ensure effective use
Global Competency Model for
employment evaluations
Widespread Generation of Information
Application & Debate
Form in groups of three Review WHO’s five strategic
direction printouts Prioritize in order of significance to
WHO’s learning capacity Be prepared to justify ranking
Dixon, N. (1999) Dixon, N. (1999) The Organization Learning Cycle: How We Can Learn Collectively.The Organization Learning Cycle: How We Can Learn Collectively.
Hampshire, England: Gower Publishing Limited. Hampshire, England: Gower Publishing Limited.
World Health Organization. (n.d.) WHO Competency Model. Retrieved from World Health Organization. (n.d.) WHO Competency Model. Retrieved from
http://www.who.int/employment/competencies/WHO_competencies_EN.pdfhttp://www.who.int/employment/competencies/WHO_competencies_EN.pdf
World Health Organization. (2003) World Health Organization. (2003) Health Action in Crises. Health Action in Crises. Retrieved from Retrieved from
http://www.who.int/hac/about/en/11990.pdf
World Health Organization. (2005) World Health Organization. (2005) Knowledge Management Strategy, 1Knowledge Management Strategy, 1. Retrieved . Retrieved
from from http://www.who.int/kms/about/strategy/kms_strategy.pdf
World Health Organization. (2007) World Health Organization. (2007) Working for health: an introduction to the World Working for health: an introduction to the World
Health Organization. Health Organization. Retrieved from Retrieved from http://www.who.int/about/brochure_en.pdf.http://www.who.int/about/brochure_en.pdf.
ReferencesReferences