The success of an organization depends on the culture within it. Many companies are finding success in developing learning organizations. Some organizations face difficulties in creating a learning organization, which often leads to company failure. Two common obstacles in developing a learning organization are leadership support and lack of a learning structure. Learning organizations succeed in all aspects of business. A learning organization offers staff the opportunity to acquire knowledge, accelerates learning curves and adopts new technologies more quickly. By creating a learning environment, employees become more empowered, which leads to innovation. Innovation is what drives the company to remain competitive. Leadership Support A common challenge in developing a learning organization is leadership support. . It is nearly impossible to implement a successful learning organization when there is a lack of management support. If an organization doesn't have leadership buy-in, it sends a message to the rest of the organization. The example in The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of WonderTech's Learning Organization is a great example of a lack of leadership support (Senge, 2006). One member of the leadership team was trying to implement a learning organization, but the rest of the leadership team did not support the effort. Lack of leadership participation prevents organizations from implementing core principles. Creating a learning organization requires an investment of time and money. If the leadership team does not have support, funding will be rejected. Furthermore, if the organization's vision is not shared and is not authentic, the chances of successfully implementing...... middle of paper...... s the unit is responsible for its own finances; therefore, it will not collaborate with other business units. Competition between business units leads them to develop competitive products. This leads to duplication of ideas and work. Becoming a learning organization is a difficult task. Becoming a learning organization requires commitment from the entire organization, from leadership to those leading the way. Having a learning structure as part of the culture, enables the organization to overcome challenges that the company may encounter for the survival of the company. Learning organization is the way of the future. Works CitedBiech, E. (ed.). (2008). ASTD Handbook for Workplace Learning Professionals. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press.Senge, PM (2006). The fifth discipline: the art and practice of the learning organization (4). London; Sydney: Random House.