The Culture of Learning Organizations: Understanding Argyris' Theory through a Socio-Cognitive Systems Learning Model

Why do silos exist within and between teams? Why are a number of employees only minimally engaged, despite organizations efforts to launch engagement programs? Why do employees avoid speaking up? Why are organizations stuck doing things the way they ve always been done? We live in an era requiring complex change. Technological advancements have revolutionized the ways people communicate and the value they place on knowledge and innovation. In response, organization learning has been included in the strategic plans of countless organizations. Yet most organizations fail to learn and change. Consistent with the American culture, typical organizations are entrenched in a system that revolves around control, self-protection, and social rules that prevent dialogue. This system perpetuates the status quo and obstructs change. The Culture of Learning Organizations is centered upon a Socio-Cognitive Systems Learning Model that was created to explain and build upon the work of Chris Argyris. This model is designed to help people at the individual, team, and organizational levels first, by generating awareness of the anti-learning system that is prevalent in the American culture. Second, the model provides an alternative approach : the learning organization s cultural system of values, behaviors, and outcomes that honor the humanity of employees and resolve problems through productive learning. This system the culture of learning organizations serves as a vehicle for complex change.