Tuesday 1 May 2007

Is Ignorance Bliss? 7 On Organisational Learning

What might this mean for managers in general?

Returning to my comment at the beginning of this paper, we ‘know’ when things go well and not so well at work, and by thinking about what happens, how it happens and by coming by with explanations for why they happen we give ourselves the opportunity to move ‘away’ from the situations we don’t want ‘towards’ the situations that we do want. At first glance this seems eminently sensible, and that it is in the interest of everyone for the organisation to become more successful, and adept at communicating the signals for and the content of change through learning.

Surely nobody deliberately wants the organisation to fail. Improving unintentional ignorance looks like a rational and laudable aim however…

A second glance will reveal the complications that arise concerning who it is that actually decides what the organisation should ‘move away’ from and ‘move towards’, how it should be done, and whose say so actually counts? In this situation we are dealing with the effects of power, authority, the use of deliberate ignorance, and the conflict this creates.


I also recommend that you visit workplace survival for some intersting views and opinions on the themes discussed in Is Ignorance Bliss?

Workplace Survival

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