I read "On Organizational Learning" based on a good reference from another author that I did like, James Tingstad in "Good Technical Management Practices". However, Mr. Tingstad led me astray. This book is tough and generally uninformative reading. There are 27 chapters in "On Organizational Learning", and I read eight that I thought would be most useful to me - based on my rankings, there was one 3-star chapter, two 2-star chapters, and five 1-star chapters. It does not get much worse than that. Into the circular file it goes.

The reason I found the book is so poor is that I felt no connection to the material - the writing lacked creativity and expressiveness. The book needed a better editor. Therefore, never use this book as either a general organizational learning book or, for goodness sakes, a textbook.

A collection of essays, articles, and chapter length contributions to other books. Readers new to Argyris might wish to start with "Knowledge for Action: A Guide for Overcoming Barriers to Organizational Change". "On Organizational Learning" expands and deepens what you will learn in "Knowledge for Action". The bottom line is that Argyris's work is as highly respected as the name is hard to spell. I give this book a 9 instead of a 10 only because of the academic style of the writing, the content is outstanding. - Cortlandt Wilson, Software Consultan

Chris Argyris is Professor of Education and Organizational Behavior at Harvard University. He has written numerous books and articles, and in 1994 he was the recipient of the Academy of Management's Award for Lifetime Contributions to the Discipline of Management. This Harvard Business Review-article was published in July-August 1994.

Twenty-first-century corporations will not survive unless they get better work from their employees. This does not mean just worker harder, but it means that employees need to take active responsibility for their own behavior and make proper use of empowerment to solve fundamental problems. According to Argyris "the key to better performance is better communication", but he argues that current techniques (focus groups, organizational surveys, management-by-walking-around, and others) "will actually inhibit the learning and communication that twenty-first-century corporations will require". He explains in great detail what is wrong with the current tools used in management and concludes that "managers need employees who think constantly and creatively about the needs of the organization." And the way to do this is to improve corporate communications, demanding more of everyone involved. This should eventually result in a new level of selfawareness, candor, and responsibility.

Chris Argyris always challenges his readers and it is no different in this article. His arguments are as usual very strong, but this time he is short on advice on how to improve matters. My main criticism on this article is that it is too academical and romantic. Yes, he uses practical examples but there is too little guidance on improvement. The article is written in somewhat difficult business US-English.