Double-Loop Learning In Organizations A Theory Of Action Perspective

Abstract

Abstract I began my work on organizational behavior by observing several puzzles. The Worst was that human beings created policies and practices that inhibited the electiveness of their organizations. Why did human beings create and maintain these policies and practices that they judged to be counterproductive? The second puzzle, human beings reported a sense of helplessness about changing these policies and activities because they were the victims of organizational pressures not to change them? How did human beings create organizational pressures that inhibited them from changing the phenomena they saw as counterproductive? Is it possible to help individuals and organizations to free themselves from this apparent self imposed enslavement? I begin my inquiry with an examination of how action is produced be it productive or counterproductive.