Argyris’ theories of action, double-loop learning and organizational learning definitely challenged my assumptions about my own learning and interaction with people in both professional and personal life.

It seems simple in hindsight to assume that my impression of the world is completely formed around my own assumptions. However that wasn’t as clearly obvious as it should have been. I am a TED talk (www.ted.com) addict and always find myself watching talks based on education or organisational behaviour, so Argyris’ theories sparked a natural interest for me. I enjoy the concept of organisations functioning with a healthy double-loop approach to thinking.

Argyris states that “human reasoning, not just behaviour, can become the basis for diagnosis and action” and I am becoming increasingly aware of how reasoning and behaviour are rarely both considered when reacting to actions. It was also interesting to me that Argyris defined supervision’s role as straddling the gap between theory-in-use and espoused theory amongst employees. It was a very succinct definition and reframed my impression of the role of the supervisor.

…