Chris Argyris Quotes

Smart people don't learn... because they have too much invested in proving what they know and avoiding being seen as not knowing.

In fact, people themselves are responsible for making the status quo so resistant to change. We are trapped by our own behavior.

Most people define learning too narrowly as mere 'problem-solving', so they focus on identifying and correcting errors in the external environment. Solving problems is important. But if learning is to persist, managers and employees must also look inward. The need to reflect critically on their own behaviour, identify the ways they often inadvertently contribute to the organisation’s problems, and then change how they act.

Individual learning is a necessary but insufficient condition for organizational learning.

Managers who are skilled communicators may also be good at covering up real problems.

Success in the marketplace increasingly depends on learning. Yet most people don't know how to learn.

One must treat theory-in-use as both a psychological certainty and an intellectual hypothesis.