I must confess I do not have psychological background. From my humble point of view, all books like this, look at "the good and rational background" of people. They have the premise that all the staff is doing their best but "strange forces" makes them not to get the optimum for the organization. So, the goal is overcoming those refraining forces. I do believe that behavior of people is headed for their own rational interest which is not always the best for the company. In adition, we are looking for rationality in behavior which is only part of the truth. Is not envy, jealousy, narrow-minded, stuborness and so on, part of human being behavior?. without them, we only have part of the great picture and so, remedies will not work properly. Apart from that, the book is well organized and explains clearly the models the author is working with and the methodology used. Premises are strong and goals interested which lead to good results (provided human being were not as they are).

Argyris cuts to the heart of why organizations go wrong with a combination of passion and precision. Several authors who have written about effective teams and organizations such as Peter Senge and Gerald (Jerry) Weinberg regard Argyris's work quite highly, and rightly so. While other authors talk about and round the problems and issues, Argyris creates models which show not just what people do, but how they think. Other books in the field of Organizational Design that I have looked at appear dry as dust next to Argris. Readers should be cautioned, however, that Argyris is a academic and researcher -- reading his books requires work, but work well worth the effort. - Cortlandt Wilson, Software Consultan

Chris Argyris presents a classic in organizational learning. Some of the concepts explored and researched here form the basis for some of the priciples of the Learning Organization. Argyris discussion of theories-in-use, social virtues and skilled incompetence is a fascinating and eye-opening exercise.

However, the book is written by an academician largely for academicians. If you want 'easy' reading this is not the book for you. If you are, on the other hand, serious about organizational learning, change and human performance, then this book should definitely be on your book-shelf.

The Book is organized into 9 chapters:
1. Puzzles.
2. Human Theories of Control: Skilled Incompetence.
3. Organizational Defensive Routines.
4. Fancy Footwork and Malaise.
5. Sound Advice: It Compounds the Problem.
6. reducing the Organizational Defense Pattern.
7. Making the New Theory of Managing Human Performance Come True.
8. Getting from Here to There.
9. Upping the Ante.

Chris Argyris' work is essential reading for the executive who truly wants to leverage his/her organization's culture and workforce capability into the ultimate long-term competitive advantage.

Like it or not, unsticking "stuck" cultures is what stands between executives who ultimately deliver versus those who merely ride the gravy-train for the first 2 years of a 5 year contract before getting fired. So listen up: with Knowledge Workers the "soft stuff" IS the meat & potatoes!

Also, Argyris is also essential reading for anyone who is considering the use of the 360-Feedback tool. In my book, 360 is a powerful tool that is *dangerous* in the wrong hands; particularly if it's used in an unhealthy culture. The effective manager for the Information Age has to have atleast "some" competence in organizational psychology --in addition to having an external O.D. (Org Development) professional on retainer to get the org initially "unstuck" and keep it that way until things are back on track.

Argyris is an Industrial / Organizational Psychologist (I/O P) and OD guru with heavily sociological and cognitive psychology leanings. Argyris is the "OD person's OD person"; his career goes back to the 1950's. Argyris has devoted his life to these 2 key goals: (1)understanding what is required to integrate the individual into the collective (highly relevant in the era of the Knowledge Worker) and (2)how to monitor & measure progress in this regard in a way that produces "ACTIONABLE knowledge" for continuously improving this integration process. With Argyris -- the rubber meets the road and traction is imminent.

Argyris' later work can be grouped into a "quartet" of books. However the reader should be cautioned because Argyris writes under 2 potentially frustrating assumptions: (1)that the reader is atleast a Master's Degree level person in I/O P; (2)that the reader has read his previous books and is thus ready to tackle the new material at hand. However, I'm delighted to point out that -- with the proper reading approach -- a non-OD everyday-manager-type can read and understand The Argyris Way without too much difficulty. The secret is to read atleast 2 of Argyris' books in the proper order. I prescribe 2 approaches to tackling Argyris: 1 for non-OD people (managers & executives) and 1 for OD people (the propeller-heads who actually know this stuff). Here they are:

(BOOK 1) Argyris "Overcoming Organizational Defenses" c1990. This is a McDonald's drive thru version of the much more involved 1985 release cited as book # 4 below. This is the starting point for everyday managers & executives who are thinking about engaging an OD person for their organizations but do not plan on being I/O P people themselves. The price to understand the Argyris way will be paid here -- and it is a price very much worth paying. If you're new to I/O P, plan on 5 full evenings of reading to get thru this 1st book -- and in the process you will have read the book thru twice. Don't have that kind of time you say? Either MAKE the time or The Law of Darwin will soon be awarding your job to someone else!

(BOOK 2) Martin Seligman's "Learned Optimism 2ed" c1998. Get a high-level understanding of the difference between cognitive versus behavioral psychology. Otherwise, to not read this book in tandem with the Argyris work will leave the reader open to error by assuming outdated behaviorist psychology norms (which is the error that presently pervades Human Resources' thinking in the areas of performance management and compensation). This book can be read in 2 nights.

(BOOK 3) Argyris "Knowledge for Action" c1993. This takes the reader through a complete, comprehensive real-life diagnosis and intervention process using the tenets presented in book #1 above. This book can be read in a couple of afternoons assuming that the price has already been paid by reading book #1. Non-OD people can stop their reading here.

(BOOK 4) Argyris "Action Science" c1985. This is the full scholar's version of his I/O P approach and will take 2 weeks of evenings to get through. For an OD, I recommend reading this 1st before Argyris "Overcoming".

(BOOK 5) Argyris "On Organizational Learning, 2ed" c1998. Note that this is a different book from "On Org Learning 2: Theory, Method & Practice" c1995. Strictly for OD people, this is a comprehensive survey & critique of present literature and approaches in the OD field. Of particular value is his treatise of Edgar Schein's work and re-emphasizing the value of sociology in the science of psychology.

I'll close by paraphrasing the Argyris model here as a teaser. There are 2 states of Human reasoning:
Model 1 = intra-personal BEFORE inter-personal (defensive / independent)
Model 2 = intra-personal .AND. inter-personal (productive / synergistic)

I'll also add in a 3rd state as my own corollary:
Model 3 = intra-personal AFTER inter-personal ( "Divine" )

Model 3 is beyond man's capability, Model 2 would be Stephen Covey's 7 Habits in action at rung 6 on the effectiveness ladder, and Model 1 is the actual/default "selfish" pattern of most people today -- thanks to the psychological conditioning of countless centuries prior to the Information Age.

Borrowing from Seligman, the younger Baby-Boomers and later generations are the 1st in the history of the world to "have the choice" to be knowledge workers. This throws people together into complex social systems that require a new level of communication ability that's new to man as a species and is currently not taught in schools. As a survival mechanism, mankind's default behavior is Model 1 -- even though he will verbally claim Model 2 or even Model 3. Overcoming defensive Model 1 behavior is an effort that requires years of committed work -- BUT IS THE VERY GATEWAY to functioning in the more mature organizational structures that lay beyond command-and-control (such as empowered workgroups); and that offer so much promise to knowledge-intense organizations.

A final caution: moving the organization from Model 1 to Model 2 is a project that should be treated with the seriousness of any other project -- as a set of value-based deliverables that are defined ahead of time and whose ultimate realization is preceeded by the conscientious commitment of resources. And because of the emotional aspects of the project early-on -- for the 1st 1 to 2 years the OD interventionist should be a person completely external to the organization -- or else the project is guaranteed to fail. Executive sponsorship alone will not be enough.

The title is very interesting and so is the article. The article walks through the reason why smart people can't (won't) learn and describes an approach for breaking through this mode of thinking.

The basic premise is that people with high levels of education have learned to play the learning game. They can't or won't admit they don't know something because in essence they would have to admit failure. They often become defensive in the face of failure and displace (rationalize) the blame for failure rather then looking for the root cause and examining their own involvement in the failure.

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.