Double loop learning in organizations

1. Double loop learning in organizations Based on the article By Chris Argyris Harvard Business Review, Sep-Oct 1977.

2. Introduction Organizational learning is a process of detecting and correcting error and improving the way things are done. When a process enables the organization to implement its present policies/ objectives efficiently, it can be called single loop learning. When a process begins to question the underlying organizational policies and objectives, it becomes double loop learning. Organizations are often good at single loop learning but are usually bad at double loop learning.

3. What inhibits double loop learning? Various factors inhibit double loop learning. Few people are aware that they do not use the theories they explicitly espouse and few are aware of those they do use. Schon and Angyris have developed two models of behaviour, Model I & Model II.

4. Model 1 People who operate according to Model I define in their own terms the purpose of the situation in which they find themselves, to win, to suppress their own and others� feelings and to emphasise the intellectual and deemphasise the emotional aspects of problems. They use unilateral behavioral strategies such as advocating a position and simultaneously controlling others in order to win that position. They control the tasks to be done and secretly decide how much to tell people and how much is to be distorted, usually to save somebody�s face.

5. Model 1 (Cont..) In one company, line managers were concerned that the finance people were getting close to the CEO and increasing their power. When the two sides met to discuss the problem, they brought up only superficial issues. For example, the line managers focused on the frustrations connected with filling out so many forms, the inability to get financial results quickly enough and being loaded with information that they did not need. The finance people responded that the forms were complex because the banks demanded the information. They also mentioned that they would try to speed them up. In short, the parties withheld information that was potentially threatening to themselves or to others.

6. Model II Model II helps people to produce valid information, make informed choices and develop an internal commitment to those choices. The assumption here is that power for double loop learning comes from having reliable information, from being competent, from taking on personal responsibilities and from monitoring continually the effectiveness of one�s decisions. A key result of using Model II is the ability to combine the skills of advocacy with those of encouraging inquiry and confrontation, of whatever is being advocated.

7. Model II (Cont..) Model II emphasises the building of trust and risk taking. When the right ambience for learning exists, people advocate their views in such a way that they invite confrontation. Positions are stated that can be challenged and testing done publicly. The emphasis is on double loop learning. So underlying assumptions, norms and objectives are open to confrontation. Incongruities between what an organization openly espouses as its objectives/policies and what its policies and practices actually are, can also be challenged.

8. Skills needed for double loop learning The older and more successful a system is, the more likely it is that participants will find themselves dealing with dilemmas and paradoxes that have been brushed aside during the early development of the system. The skills needed for double loop learning are: - being strong, yet admitting the existence of dilemmas - behaving openly, yet not be controlling - advocating and still encouraging confrontation of their views - responding effectively to uncertainties - managing fear and yet helping people to overcome their fears

9. Conclusion If organizations do not become good at double loop learning they will get into trouble. The capacity for double loop learning does not inhibit single loop learning. The best way to generate double loop learning is for the top management to lead the way.