Knowledge Management

Defensive Unwillingness

Having been involved in developing the subject for more than 20 years, I would suggest an even broader societal reason that is buried in Alan Kantrow’s cited explanation for institutional forgetfulness: an underlying reluctance to be objectively dispassionate about one’s performance. There is a substantial body of academic research that confirms the unwillingness of Western companies and their managers to examine objectively their decisions, especially their mistakes. Harvard Professor Chris Argyris explains that whenever a manager’s performance comes under scrutiny, the individual begins to feel embarrassed, threatened, and because they are so well paid, guilty:

Far from being a catalyst for real change, such feelings ...