Double-loop learning: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:01, 26 May 2025

Revision as of 22:34, 12 August 2025

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''[[A Behavioral Theory of the Firm]]'' (1963) describes how organizations learn, using (what would now be described as) double-loop learning:

{{Blockquote|text=An organization ... changes its behavior in response to short-run feedback from the environment according to some fairly well-defined rules. It changes rules in response to longer-run feedback according to more general rules, and so on.|author=[[Richard Cyert]] and [[James G. March]]| source=''A Behavioural Theory of the Firm''<ref>{{cite book |author1=Cyert R.M. |author2=March J.G. |title=''A Behavioral Theory of the Firm |year=1963 |publisher=Prentice-Hall |___location=New Jersey |pages=101–102|title-link=A Behavioral Theory of the Firm }}</ref><ref>Quote taken from p. 9 of ''The Blackwell Handbook of Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management'' (2003) which describes this quote as "an early version of the distinction between single and double-loop learning" and refers to the 1963 edition.</ref>}}

In a 2019 article, Geoffrey Sloan said that the double-loop learning framework can be used to understand how the [[Western Approaches Tactical Unit]] (WATU) of the Royal Navy during [[World War II|WW2]] solved a critical tactical problem by changing the organization's basic standards, policies, and goals.<ref name=Sloan2019/> WATU was able to develop and update anti-submarine tactical doctrine between 1942 and 1945 as new technology and assets became available, enabling the Royal Navy to "replicate a learning organization that successfully could challenge existing norms, objectives, and policies pertaining to trade defense even when applied to geographically diverse theaters of operation".<ref name=Sloan2019>{{cite journal |last=Sloan |first=Geoffrey |date=Autumn 2019 |title=The Royal Navy and organizational learning—the Western Approaches Tactical Unit and the Battle of the Atlantic |journal=[[Naval War College Review]] |volume=72 |issue=4 |pages=9:1–25 |jstor=26775522 |url=https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol72/iss4/9}}</ref>