A contextual theory of learning and the learning organization

Knowledge and Process ManagementFigure 1Figure 2Figure 3Single-loop learningDouble-loop learningTriple-loop learninglearning includes the kind of learning where normsand routines are changed, where the valuesguiding the existing context and strategies arequestioned and assumptions are under consideration(illustrated by the double feedback loop inFigure 2). In situations where double-loop learningtakes place (going from single-loop learning) thereis an adoption of the results of the actions that stemsfrom the new activity, which can be calculatedahead and that, in fact, becomes the new activity.In situations where triple-loop learning takesplace an entirely new activity that cannot be precalculatedhas to be formulated and achieved. Itis, of course, a contradiction to do or to plan anactivity that is not known. Thus the new activityis achieved as a result of the contradictionsbetween the activity, on the one hand, which couldbe calculated to be the answers to the newdemands from the environments (double-loopfeedback) and a feasible new context selectedfrom among those which seem to be at hand and,on the other hand, the unknown and unpredictablefuture. This means that the context which, in fact,becomes the result of the ‘breaking out’ will be differentfrom the one predicted, because the newRESEARCH ARTICLEactivities lead to results other than those beingcalculated. This is so even though these activitiesare available or are seen as a possibility from thevantage-point of the existing context. In this waythese activities expand, transform and even breakthe frameworks of the calculated new contextand develop into something even more distantand uncontrollable. That is why the new contextnever is, and never can be, qualitatively thesame as planned in advance from the old context(Engeström, 1987, p. 184f.).These kinds of new activities are different fromthe adjustment of organizations by the changingof routines. They are the creation of new activitiesthat lead to new contexts. Changes in the formattingcontext represent a parallel to double-looplearning. Double-loop learning is a process thatquestions the formatting context that, in turn, givesmeaning to the routines guiding single-loop learning.So if double-loop learning in itself is a routine(as Nelson and Winter (1982, p. 16f.) regard it tobe), it has to be of a different kind than those routinesguiding single-loop learning. And even so, itwill be impossible to treat triple-loop learning asroutine, because triple-loop learning cannot be calculatedin advance, and thus is not consistentenough or predictable enough to become a routine(Ciborra and Schneider, 1992, p. 273). Triple-looplearning is not something that happens automaticallyleading to new, more appropriate behaviour.On the contrary, resistance towards changes canlead to ignoring facts or the suppression of events,abnormalities and disturbances under the name of‘leadership’ (Ciborra and Schneider, 1992, p. 272).Triple-loop learning also involves recognizing thedifference between espoused theories and theoryin-use,which is often a painful process.Let us see how such learning processes can beillustrated. In the example above where a studentin economics had to answer a question in descriptiveeconomics about employment/unemployment,a student who is well trained in theapplication of descriptive statistics will have littledifficulty in finding the appropriate statisticssources and extracting the appropriate data fromthem. The more the student uses these kinds ofstatistics, the better (and faster) he will be at collectingthe appropriate data. Single-loop learning hasoccurred, i.e. the student uses his ‘action programme’(see Figure 1), which in this situation‘tells’ him what kind of descriptive statistics hecan use in order to fulfil the ‘production process’,i.e. to answer the question by giving an appropriateestimate over a period in which both employmentand unemployment have grown for the samepopulation.A Contextual Theory of Learning 57