single-loop learning

Concept introduced in the 1970s by US academics Chris Argyris and Donald Schon to describe the attitude towards learning held by a particular type of organization, referred to as a Model 1 organization. These organizations are characterized by managers who concentrate on establishing individual goals, who wish to order the world according to their own aspirations and goals, and who, although willing to inflict change on others, are unwilling to reappraise their own working or thinking practices. Any learning in this type of organization will only be in reference to those practices and policies already in place, hence single-loop learning, rather than re-evaluating those policies, known as double loop learning.