Chris Argyris
Title: Professor Emeritus Chris Argyris
Birthdate: July 16, 1923
Birthplace: Newark, New Jersey, USA
Date of Death: November 16, 2013
Occupation: Academic, Author, and Management Theorist
Profile: Professor Emeritus at Harvard Business School.
Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Argyris
Number of Quotes: 11
Human beings hold two types of theories of action. There is the one that they espouse, which is usually expressed in the form of stated beliefs and
values. Then there is the theory that they actually use; this can only be inferred from observing their actions, that is, their actual behavior.
In fact, people themselves are responsible for making the status quo so resistant to change. We are trapped by our own behavior.
Individual learning is a necessary but insufficient condition for organizational learning.
Leadership is the day to day communications about the real issues.
Learning can be defined as occurring under two conditions. First, learning occurs when an organisation achieves what it intended; that is, there
is a match between its design for action and the actual outcome. Second, learning occurs when a mismatch between intention and outcome is identified
and corrected; that is, a mismatch is turned into a match.... Single-loop learning occurs when matches are created, or when mismatches are corrected by
changing actions. Double-loop learning occurs when mismatches are corrected by first examining and altering the governing variables and then the actions.
Managers who are skilled communicators may also be good at covering up real problems.
Most people define learning too narrowly as mere problem-solving, so they focus on identifying and correcting errors in the external environment.
One must treat theory-in-use as both a psychological certainty and an intellectual hypothesis.
People get trapped by using patterns of behavior to protect themselves against threats to their self-esteem and
confidence and to protect groups, intergroups, and organizations to which they belong against fundamental, disruptive change.
Smart people don't learn... because they have too much invested in proving what they know and avoiding being seen as not knowing.
Success in the marketplace increasingly depends on learning. Yet most people don't know how to learn.