Argyris on organizational change
CHALLENGES TO ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE & DOUBLE-LOOP LEARNING
Chris Argyris has compiled research and developed theories pertaining to leadership and learning. Argyris states, “Leaders can foster a learning culture by envisioning it and communicating the vision, by rewarding those pockets in an organization that represent the desired assumption” (p. 5). Argyris (1999) examines organizational learning and suggests three challenges:
1) There are those that who argue that the very idea of organizational learning is contradictory, paradoxical, or quite simple devoid of meaning.
2) A second challenge to the idea of organizational learning accepts it as a meaningful notion. What it denies is that organizational learning is always or ever beneficent.
3) A third kind of skepticism about organizational learning questions whether real-world organizations do learn productively, and whether, in principle and in
actuality, they are capable of coming to do so. (p. 7)
The ability of leadership and the organization to overcome the challenges described by Argyris will determine the success of organizational learning and the impact knowledge has on the organization.
Argyris also suggests two forms of learning: single-loop learning is rooted in problem solving in a linear fashion, whereas double-loop learning aims toward fixing the root cause of the problem by tackling the underlying assumptions. By focusing on double-loop learning, Argyris believes organizations are better equipped to handle complex and unknown problems and use knowledge differently to resolve those problems.
Argyris C. (1999). “On Organizational Learning” Blackwell Publishers Inc., p. 2-20
Chris Argyris has compiled research and developed theories pertaining to leadership and learning. Argyris states, “Leaders can foster a learning culture by envisioning it and communicating the vision, by rewarding those pockets in an organization that represent the desired assumption” (p. 5). Argyris (1999) examines organizational learning and suggests three challenges:
1) There are those that who argue that the very idea of organizational learning is contradictory, paradoxical, or quite simple devoid of meaning.
2) A second challenge to the idea of organizational learning accepts it as a meaningful notion. What it denies is that organizational learning is always or ever beneficent.
3) A third kind of skepticism about organizational learning questions whether real-world organizations do learn productively, and whether, in principle and in
actuality, they are capable of coming to do so. (p. 7)
The ability of leadership and the organization to overcome the challenges described by Argyris will determine the success of organizational learning and the impact knowledge has on the organization.
Argyris also suggests two forms of learning: single-loop learning is rooted in problem solving in a linear fashion, whereas double-loop learning aims toward fixing the root cause of the problem by tackling the underlying assumptions. By focusing on double-loop learning, Argyris believes organizations are better equipped to handle complex and unknown problems and use knowledge differently to resolve those problems.
Argyris C. (1999). “On Organizational Learning” Blackwell Publishers Inc., p. 2-20