Chris Argyris Quotes

Greece, Businessman
July 16, 1923 – November, 16, 2013.

Chris Argyris was a Greek business theorist, Professor Emeritus at Harvard Business School, and held the position of "Thought Leader" at Monitor Group. Argyris is next to[further explanation needed] Richard Beckhard, Edgar Schein and Warren Bennis known as co-founder of organization development, and known for seminal work of learning organizations.

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

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

Chris Argyris

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.

Chris Argyris
- People
- Important
- Problem
Managers who are skilled communicators may also be good at covering up real problems.

Chris Argyris
- Real
- May
- Problem
One must treat theory-in-use as both a psychological certainty and an intellectual hypothesis.

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

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

Chris Argyris