IN LO9411 Phillip Capper wrote with respect to Unlearning
>I'm not at all sure that I find the use of the term 'unlearning' useful.
>It seems to me that it confuses the debate by using a word to mean the
>opposite of what it seeks to describe.
Phillip, at the risk of sounding "unlearned," I ask you to take another
look at what I.F.Price was saying. I have personally had multiple
opportunities over the last eight years to orchestrate detailed
"unlearning" strategies before any effective deployment of LO tenets or
other positive aspects of organizational development were possible. I have
experienced that each individual within an organization behaves generally
according to the imperatives of their personal journey, what they have
learned along the way. I believe that was your point when you said:
>My working definition of learning is that it concerns the processing of
> information about the environment or context to produce useful knowledge
> which assists us to be more effecively instrumental in the environment
> in order to satisfy needs. For learning to occur the first requirement
> is that there be a needs state.
In many cases, the many individuals comprising an organization do not see a
need in common. The state of need exists, they may even sense it dimly,
but the things they "know" prevent them from seeing it clearly enough to
change their behavior. That is why a strategy of unlearning becomes
necessary, to help people realize that the things they "know" must be
reassessed in the light of a new set of circumstances. However, even these
cultural transformation imperatives are frequently not enough if certain
organizational patterns of behavior have existed for too very long. This
understanding can become very important when one is developing an LO
deployment strategy. We are always asked to justify the cost of LO
deployment options, especially during times of organizational crisis
(typically financial). One of the costs I ask senior management to
consider is how long we can "afford" to let the organization "learn"
inefficient/ineffective behaviors before something serious is done about
it. The cost is always considered in terms of what it will take to
"unlearn" these behaviors, carefully and deliberately, before we can
continue the journey along the correct pathway. IMHO "unlearning" is a
valid and necessary concept in this wonderful ongoing LO experience.
William
William O. Welsh III
Systems Integration Synergist
Cubic Applications, Inc
wilycat@infi.net
welshw@jwfc.army.mil
--"William Welsh" <wilycat@infi.net>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>