Leadership development in small- and medium-sized enterprises: the case for action learning

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Notes

The concept of double loop learning, is associated with the work of Chris Argyris and Donald Schön, but others notably Yrjö Engeström, and Gregory Bateson have identified very similar patterns and drawn very similar conclusions. Their work suggests that it is important for managers to know when to change their mode of operation from one that might be characterised as applying routine recipes to ‘correct errors’ in a system or operation to one where basic assumptions are questioned on which decisions are based. Such questioning these writers suggest, often leads to challenges to assumptions made when framing problems. Such learning is far more creative and reflective and has been shown to help mangers reassess their organisational systems and strategic goals. Engeström refers to this process as expansive learning and Bateson refers to it as deuterolearning, a term coined as long ago as the 1940s which essentially relates to the organization of learning. All four writers view the ability for mangers to develop learning to learn skills as an extremely important one.