What is an Organization that it May Learn

1. What is an Organization that it May Learn? Renea La Hart PA302 March 27, 2006 Chris Argyris � Donald Alan SchonChris Argyris � Donald Alan Schon

2. How do individuals learn? Ways that we have learned Through History Great Depression - Cold War Civil Rights - 911 Vietnam - Katrina Through Trial and Error Through experience of others

3. Individual Learning Human Learning can be said to exists with the construction, testing and restructuring of an certain kind of knowledge

4. Paradox Organizations are not merely collections of individuals, yet there is no organization without such collections. Organizational learning is not merely individual learning, yet organizations learn only through the experience and actions of individuals. Organizational learning is not the same thing as individual learning

5. When is an Organization an Organization? An organization is an organization when: Making decisions in the name of collectivity Delegating to individuals the authority to act for the collectivity Setting boundaries between the collectivity and the rest of the world

6. Quotes from Schon � �There is no stable state. Our organizations live in economic, political, and technological environments which are predictably unstable� �The requirement for organizational learning is not an occasional, sporadic phenomenon, but is a continuous and endemic to our society�.

7. How Organizations learn Single Loop Learning Double Loop Learning Deutero-Learning (Second-Order Learning)

8. Process begins with Mental Maps Starting point was that people have mental maps with regard to how to act in situations. This involves they way they plan, implement and review their actions. These maps guides people�s actions rather than theories that they espouse. As a result, there is a split between theory and action.

9. Theories of Action Espoused theory Is the theory one gives allegiance to and communicates to others The words we use to convey what we, do or what we would like others to think we do Theory-In-Use Is what is actually performed Theories in what we do as practitioners and managers

10. Model for Theory-In-Use Govern Variables Action Strategies Consequences

11. Theory in Use Governing variables are those dimensions that people are trying to keep within acceptable limits Action Strategies are the moves and plans people used by people to keep their governing values within acceptable range. Consequences is what happens as a result of an action.

12. Single-Loop learning Single-Loop Learning - involves the detection and correction of error - strategy is to look for another operation that will address and work within the governing variables - given, or chosen goals, values, plans, and rules are operationalized rather than questioned

13. Single-Loop Learning Single loop learning appears to be present when goals, values, frameworks, and to a significant extent, strategies are taken for granted. The emphasis is on �techniques and making techniques more efficient�. (any reflection is directed toward making the strategy more effective)

14. Double-Loop Learning Double-Loop Learning when one questions the governing variables and subject them to critical scrutiny Such learning may then lead to an alteration in the govern variables Shift in the way in which strategies and consequences are framed

15. Double-Loop Learning Double Loop learning, in contrast to single loop learning involves the questioning the role of the framing and learning systems which underlie actual goals and strategies.

16. Analogy for Single-Double Loop When the error detected and corrected permits the organization to carry on its present policies or achieve its presents objectives, then that error-and-corrections process is single-loop learning. Single-loop learning is like a thermostat that learns when it is too hot or too cold and turns the heat on or off. The thermostat can perform this task because it can receive information (the temperature of the room) and take corrective action. Double-loop learning occurs when error is detected and corrected in ways that involve the modification of an organization�s underlying norms, policies and objectives. The upgrade of a thermostat with programmable settings.

17. Caveats with regards to the distinction between single- and double � loop learning If is often impossible in the real world context of organizational life to find inquiry cleanly separated from the uses of power Quality of inquiry may learn more or less well, yet their inquires may still qualify as learning of the single or double kind Distinction between single and double loop learning is less a binary one. Organizational theories-in-use are systemic structures composed of many interconnected parts In judging whether learning is single or double, it is important to notice where inquiry goes as well as where it begins.

18. Deutero Learning Organizations that can restructure itself at regular intervals so as to exploit new technologies generated by research and development They reflect on and inquiry into previous contexts for learning They reflect on and inquire into previous episodes of organizational learning, or failure to learn Organizational learning curve

19. Duetero-Learning Model They discover what they did that facilitated or inhibited learning, They invent new strategies for learning They produce these new strategies They evaluate and generalize what they have produced The results come encoded in individual images and maps are reflected in organizational learning practice. Reflect on and inquire into previous contexts for learning