组织去学习（Organizational Unlearning）概述

Book Review: Review of the Theory of Communicative Action, Volume One: Reason and the Rationalization of SocietyReview of The Theory of Communicative Action, Volume One: Reason and the Rationalization of Society, HabermasJurgen, Beacon Press, 1984, 465pp, $15.95

With the advent of the single European market and rapidly increasing international competition there has never been a more pressing time in the history of British manufacturing industry for managers to sharpen their skills. The author recently visited the GEC Management College, Dunchurch, to see how one of Britain's leading engineering companies tackles the task of initially educating and then reskilling their own and other companies' engineering managers. >

Developing effective managers

Purpose




Organizational learning and unlearning are often viewed as different and distinct concepts in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the unlearning concept and reassess its position vis-a-vis learning, in particular second-order and double-loop learning.




Design/methodology/approach




The paper entails a conceptual analysis.




Findings




It is found that there are two conceptual problems with unlearning, and that it is best embedded in the dynamics of the learning process, where it appears to fit well in the “interruption” phase.




Research limitations/implications




The research scope of the paper is limited to a theoretical analysis of organizational learning and unlearning. Implications for theory reside in the importance of unlearning and its relation to learning in current organizations.




Practical implications




The paper has practical implications for organizations wishing to become more adept at learning and unlearning.




Originality/value




The paper is among the first organizational papers to analyze unlearning in direct relation to different phases in the learning dynamics.

Learning and unlearning: a conceptual note

A framework for understanding the role of unlearning in onboarding

This article explores the idea of unlearning on the basis of empirical data drawn from 73 social workers’ accounts of addressing their problems and challenges in critical action learning sets. To address intractable or wicked problems, characterized by having multiple stakeholders with competing perspectives and by an absence of obvious solution, it may be necessary first to unlearn existing responses and to ask fresh questions to illuminate what is as yet unknown. Action learning privileges questions over solutions in seeking learning from action on organizational challenges, whilst critical action learning is a variety that employs insights from critical social theory to promote critical reflection and unlearning in this process. The article breaks new ground in claiming: first, that unlearning in the context of the wicked problems of social work is characterized less by the discarding of outmoded knowledge and routines and more by a critical unlearning that opens up new possibilities of not knowing and non-action; and second, that critical unlearning is much more likely to take place when supported by a deliberated and social process such as that provided by critical action learning.

/pdf/on-stopping-doing-those-things-that-are-not-getting-us-to-42z0rocv2m.pdf

Michael John Pedler

Papers

On stopping doing those things that are not getting us to where we want to be: Unlearning, wicked problems and critical action learning