Organizational Learning II: Theory, Method, and Practice by Chris Argyris; Donald A.

Schon
Review by: Davydd J. Greenwood
Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 50, No. 4 (Jul., 1997), pp. 701-702
Published by: Cornell University, School of Industrial & Labor Relations
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 BOOK REVIEWS
trenids(including those among Asian and His-
panic women) and internationalcomparisons.
The authors assert that "the theme of this
book [is] the balancing act women strike in
negotiating their roles as mothers,wives, and
breadwinners" (193). While this is a common
thread throughout,it is the focus only of the
final chapter, and thiscriticalchapter is, in my
view,too short. Although the firstsix chapters
contain much importantand interestinginfor-
mation, I would have preferredan expanded
discussion of women's ability to balance the
competing demands on their time. For ex-
ample, a section on the effortsof employersto
make employees' work lives more flexible-
including such "familyfriendly"policies as flex
time,telecommuting,jobsharing,and parental
leave benefitsprotectedbytheFamilyand Medi-
cal Leave Act-would have been a welcome
addition.
For social scientistswishingto studythe top-
ics outlined above, the wealth of statisticsand
the bibliographyofrelated literaturecontained
in the book provide a good startingpoint. In
addition, the text'sorganization,succinctchap-
tersummaries,and accessiblewritingstylewould
lend it well to use in an undergraduate course.
DeborahAnderson
Ph.D.Candidate
NewYorkStateSchoolof
Inidustrialand Labor Relations
Cornell Uiliversity
Human Resources, Personnel,
and Organizational Behavior
Organizational Learning II: Theory,Method,
and Practice. By Chris Argyris and Donald
A. Sch6n. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley,
1996. 330 pp. ISBN 0-201-62983-6, $29.00.
The appearance of OrganizationalLearningII
is a genuinelywelcome event. Greatlyadvanc-
ing the authors' importantargumentsin their
earlier work, OrganizationalLearning(1978), it
offersnew theoretical and practical perspec-
tiveson a vitaltopic. While manyargumentsare
familiar,this is a new book and deserves to be
read even by those familiar with the earlier
book.
Each of the authors is well knownin his own
right,Argyrisfor his work on action science
(notably Argyris,Putnam, and Smith, Action
Science,1985) and Sch6n forhis workon reflec-
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701
tivepractice and framingtheory(The Reflective
Practitioner,1983; EducatingtheReflectivePracti-
tioner,1987; The ReflectiveTurn, 1991; Frame
Reflection,1994 [withMartinRein]). Their col-
laborativeworkhas produced a productivesyn-
ergy,as theyofferdifferentand yetcompatible
perspectivesand strengthson the issues of orga-
nizational learning. Their blend of action sci-
ence and reflectivepractice gives this work a
breadth of viewand ambition that goes beyond
most of the literatureon organizational learn-
ing. Only perhaps Flood and Romm's Diversity
Management(1996) shares thisepistemological,
methodological, and practical ambition.
Argyrisand Sch6n's firstbook on organiza-
tional learningcontained manyof the elements
presentin thisone. The earlier bookwas impor-
tant in establishing the concept of organiza-
tional learning itselfand providinga structure
for thinkingabout it. It had some important
limitations,however.The basic conceptual struc-
turewas presentand clear, but the case material
was patched everywherein littlesnippets,most
too short for readers to relate to. The basic
behavioral perspective focused so heavily on
defensive activitiesthat all other obstacles to
learning seemed in danger of disappearing.
The book was nearly blind to the workingsof
power in organizations. The new book corrects
manyof these defects.
OrganizationalLearningII provides an excel-
lent,criticaloverviewoftheorganizationallearn-
ing literature.The authorsthen offertheirown
well-grounded and nuanced view of organiza-
tional learning, followed by an extended and
clear presentation of the basic single loop,
double loop, and Model I and II schemes,famil-
iar fromtheirearlierwork. But theydo not limit
the discussion of organizational behavior as
narrowlyas in the earlier work. They striveto
get beyond dyadic relationshipsin which group
power relations are not an issue, they discuss
organizational politics,and theyshowan aware-
ness of the complexities engendered by the
symbolic cultural life of organizations. They
also succeed in making inquiry-enhancingin-
terventiona much clearer concept and process
than before.
The authors present these perspectivesboth
analyticallyand through well-developed case
chapters,givingthe reader a sense of how orga-
nizational learning occurs in a particularorga-
nizational setting. The volume closes with a
chapter by Wim Overseer focused on practice
issues.
Their "Afterword" contains a robustcritique
of academic practice, arguing that academics
702 INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS REVIEW
are unlikely ever to confront theory/practice
relationships (pp. 281-86). This persuasive
argument implies that universitiesare particu-
larlyunlikelyto ever become "learning organi-
zations" in any meaningfulsense, a sad irony.
The book's meritsfaroutweighitsflaws,and
I am impressedbythe authors' carefulattention
to criticismof their earlier perspectives. They
are clearly aware of the need to speak to the
issues of "organizationalculture"thatnecessar-
ilyinhere in organizational learning,an aware-
ness notvisiblein the earlierwork(forexample,
p. 14 on collectivities,p. 29 on "organizational
worlds,"p. 72 on multipleand conflictingorga-
nizational norms). Nevertheless, this dimen-
sion stillneeds more attention,as the treatment
of organizational culture remains rather lim-
ited and mechanistic,in contrastto the authors'
dynamic and more differentiatedbehavioral
perspectives. The cultural dynamicsof organi-
zational contexts and processes still require
greater analyticaldevelopment.
Argyrisand Sch6n make a number of at-
temptsto move beyond a viewof organizations
as collectivitiesof individuals strugglingwith
each other dyadically,and they clearly aim at
developing a more truly "social" concept of
organizational structure. This is an important
endeavor, but it remains incomplete. For ex-
ample, the authors' treatment of individuals
and higher level organizational entities an-
nounces the problem rather than resolves it.
The reader still does not know if the authors
think there are basic differencesbetween dy-
adic relationships and larger organizational
structures(pp. 190-93).
The authors show their awareness of criti-
cisms thattheirperspectiveseither are blind to
power relations or actually reinforce certain
kinds of hierarchies in organizations. Never-
theless, the fact that Model I behavior is the
"default" for people in organizations is still
treated prettymuch as a "law of nature" rather
than as a possible product of particularsystems
of political economy. (The distinctionbetween
Model I and Model II behavior is central to the
authors' approach. Model I behavior builds
strategiesof action withoutinquiring into the
values thatunderlie those actions. In Model I,
organizations respond to problems by repro-
ducing more of the behavior that created the
problems. Model II behavior centerson under-
standing the underlying causes of problems.
Actions in Model II flow from changes in the
values and behaviors that created the original
problems. In otherwords,Model II solvesprob-
lems by linked value and organizational trans-
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formations.) Whether or not systemsof politi-
cal economy are relevant,the sources of Model
I and Model II behavior need to be explained
more carefully. Not explaining the ultimate
sources of Model I behavior leaves us also with-
out an explanation of whycertain individuals
(in this case, the authors) are capable of tran-
scending these ordinaryhuman limitsand then
leading others to do the same. This opens up
questions about legitimationsof authorityand
expertise thatdeserve more open inquiry. The
failure to explain Model I behavior also ulti-
mately leaves us with no explanation of the
political economy that makes so-called centers
of learning (universities)into somethingother
than learning organizations.
The authors do take on some of the issues of
the normative and ethical ends of organiza-
tional learning and make some moves in the
direction of organizational openness and "de-
mocracy." Still,these moves remain secondary
to the main thrustof theirmodels forinterven-
tion and are onlyslightlydeveloped in the book.
Given the abuse of the concepts of organiza-
tional learning and organizational culture al-
ready evident in the corporate world,these are
issues that remain quite important.
These hopes for an Organizational Learning
III aside, this is a superb book that richlyre-
wards the reader's attention and will set the
tone fordiscussion of thissubject forsome time
to come.
Davyddj. Greenwood
GoldwinSmithProfessorof
Anthropology
Cornell University
Organizations in America: Analyzing Their
Structuresand Human ResourcePractices. By
Arne L. Kalleberg, David Knoke, Peter
Marsden, andJoe L. Spaeth. Newbury Park,
Calif.: Sage, 1996. 382 pp. ISBN 0-8039-
5815-3, $58.00 (cloth); 0-8039-5816-1,
$27.95 (paper).
Organizationsin America,a collection of 16
papers by the four lead authors and seven
associates, presents results from the 1991
National Organizations Study. Versions of
many of these chapters were published in a
special issue of The AmericanBehavioralScien-
tist or in leading sociology journals. The
book addresses a set of fundamental ques-
tions about the employment relationship. At