Argyris take on Organizational Learning

Been reading some on Organizational learning lately for an essay I’m writing. Very interesting to read about and makes you think a lot. Argyris is one of the main persons behind the concept and writes brilliantly on it. Sharing two great paragraphs with you from the book titled ”On organizational learning”.

”Learning is defined as occurring under two conditions. First, learning occurs when an organization achieves what it intended; that is, there is a match between its design for action and the actuality or outcome. Second, learning occurs when a mismatch between intentions and outcomes is identified and it is corrected; that is, a mismatch is turned into a match.
Organizations do not perform the actions that produce the learning. It is individuals acting as agents of organizations who produce the behavior that leads to learning. Organizations can create conditions that may significantly influence what individuals frame as the problem, design as a solution, and produce as action to solve a problem. Individuals, on the other hand, may also bring biases and constraints to the learning situation that are relatively independent of the organization’s requirements. An example of constraint is the human mind’s limited capability for information processing. An example of bias is the theories of action with which people are socialized and which they necessarily bring to the organization. These theories significantly influence how individuals and groups solve problems and make choices.”

(photo cred: Chicagogeek, cc-by-nd)