Organizational Forgetting/Unlearning: The Dark Side of the Absorptive Capacity

Fernández, Vicenç; Sallán, José M.; Simó, Pep; Enache, Mihaela

doi:10.5772/33850

Cited by 14 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…Many prior studies on organizational unlearning have assumed that the term unlearning refers to a process of clearing out old routines and beliefs that no longer meet current challenges (Cegarra-Navarro, Eldridge, & Wensley, 2014;Tsang & Zahra, 2008). The idea behind unlearning is that the inability to dispose of outdated knowledge may become a major hindrance to learning or innovation (Easterby-Smith et al, 2004;Fernandez et al, 2012). That is, discarding obsolete knowledge is critical for gaining new knowledge; thus, the inefficiency with which many organizations promote unlearning is evidence of a crucial weakness (Hedberg, 1981).…”

Section: Unlearningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Goal orientation, critical reflection, and unlearning: An individual‐level study

Matsuo

2017

Human Resource Dev Quarterly

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Although individual unlearning is significant for personal growth and development, few studies have investigated this process quantitatively. The main goal of this study was to examine the antecedents of individual unlearning in terms of goal orientations and reflective activities using survey data from 271 employees of Japanese organizations (including municipal government employees, human resource development [HRD] trainers from a consulting firm, and hospital nurses). The results indicated that learning goal orientation had an indirect effect on unlearning through reflection and critical reflection as well as through critical reflection only. Performance goal orientation also had an indirect effect on unlearning through reflection and, subsequently, through critical reflection. The findings suggest that critical reflection plays a key role in linking goal orientations with individual unlearning. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

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Section: Unlearningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Goal orientation, critical reflection, and unlearning: An individual‐level study

Matsuo

2017

Human Resource Dev Quarterly

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“…Hedberg () argued that discarding obsolete knowledge is critical for gaining new knowledge, and the lack of ability to engage in unlearning is a crucial weakness of many organizations. The idea behind unlearning is that the inability to forget may become a major hindrance to further learning or innovation (Easterby‐Smith et al ., ; Fernandez et al ., ). According to Akgun et al .…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…To survive in an increasingly turbulent environment, organizations need to ‘unlearn’, or discard old knowledge or routines to make way for new ones in certain industries (Hedberg, ; Tsang, ). Thus, unlearning or forgetting is an important step for enhancing generative learning and innovation (Fernandez et al ., ). It should be noted, however, that individual unlearning is necessary for unlearning at the organizational level, because organizations ultimately learn via their members (Kim, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The Unlearning of Managerial Skills: A Qualitative Study of Executive Officers

Matsuo

2017

European Management Review

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Although the abilities of executive officers to unlearn may have a significant impact on organizational unlearning, few studies have investigated the individual unlearning transition. The goal of this study was to examine the managerial unlearning process upon promotion from senior manager to executive officer, based on the upper echelons perspective and leadership pipeline model. Analyses of interview data with 46 executive officers at medium and large-sized Japanese firms indicated that they unlearned and learned their managerial skills in relation to 'decision making', 'delegation and motivation', and 'collecting information', and that the unlearning process was discontinuous. Specifically, decision making skills were switched from 'short-term, analytic, and partial' to 'longterm, intuitive, and holistic'. Skills in delegation and motivation were transformed from 'directive' to 'dedicated and entrusting'. Skills in collecting information were switched from 'direct collection' to 'network-based collection'. This study contributes to the literature on managerial skills by showing empirically the discontinuous nature of management transitions with regard to an unlearning perspective.

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“…Specifically, to promote deep learning, habitual patterns need to be changed by means of disrupting automaticity, mitigating egocentric biases and learning to unlearn (Chang, 2017). Based on organizational research (Hedberg, 1981), individual unlearning, or abandoning obsolete beliefs, values, knowledge and routines (Akgün et al ., 2006; Becker, 2005; Hislop et al ., 2014), is considered an important step in generative learning and exploration (Fernandez et al ., 2012).…”

Section: Limitations Of Kolb’s 1984 Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

A revised model of experiential learning with a debriefing checklist

Matsuo¹,

Nakagawa²

2020

Int J Training Development

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Although Kolb's experiential learning model has been widely used and remains among the most influential frameworks in the fields of human resource development, management education and higher education, it has been criticized for failing to propose a second-order learning process. The purpose of this study was to revise Kolb's model by addressing its limitations. The revised model consists of (1) expected and unexpected experiences, (2) the management of emotions, (3) reflective analysis, (4) abstract conceptualization, (5) unlearning, and (6) active experimentation. Developed from the revised model, we created a checklist for debriefing experience-based training programs. The contribution of this study is its development of a framework and a checklist for deep experiential learning. ❒ Makoto Matsuo, Professor of Management,

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Organizational Forgetting/Unlearning: The Dark Side of the Absorptive Capacity

Cited by 14 publications

References 82 publications

Goal orientation, critical reflection, and unlearning: An individual‐level study

Goal orientation, critical reflection, and unlearning: An individual‐level study

The Unlearning of Managerial Skills: A Qualitative Study of Executive Officers

A revised model of experiential learning with a debriefing checklist

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