Re: The Learning Organization Structure

Ragnvald Sannes (IRS@HHS.SE)
Mon, 14 Nov 1994 16:34:07 +0100

Mike Gurstein seem to make a couple of assumptions in his latest posting
that I would like to comment on. First, the purpose of my comment was to
point at the similarity between the model in Keith Cowan's posting and the
Lewin-Schein model of organizational change (as several others have). I did
not say whether I find the Lewin-Schein model useful or not in addressing
organizational learning. However, in my readings I have found that the
three subprocesses Unfreezing, Changing and Reefreezing often are addressed
in or implied by models of organizational change or organizational
learning.

The second assumption I think Gurstein made is that a concept of three
subprocesses implies that is easy to make a change. Neither Lewin or Schein
believe that. Furthermore, the arguments that Gurstein included in his
posting are well in line with Schein's thinking about organizational
change. Schein discusses the relationships between organizational learning
and the model of organizational change in:

Schein, E. H. (1993). How can organizations learn faster? The challenge of
entering the green room. Sloan Management Review(Winter), 85-92.

Ragnvald Sannes
Dept. of Information Management, Institute for Management of
Stockholm School of Economics, Innovation and Technology (IMIT)
Box 6501, S-113 83 Stockholm Box 6501, S-113 83 Stockholm
SWEDEN SWEDEN
Internet: irs@ci1.hhs.se Tel.: +46 8736 9451 Fax: +46 8 30 47 62