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By Argyris, Chris, Harvard Business Review, Sep/Oct86, Vol. 64 Issue 5, p74-79 .bq
Most managers see civility as an asset. Many top executives pride themselves on their skill in avoiding conflict. The rationale is it's best not to upset others. So with the best of intentions, managers try not to hurt the feelings of others. What happens, though, is that this civilized asset turns into a real liability. When managers neither speak candidly nor put important facts on the table - including suspicions about others' motivations - they don't make effective decisions. If suspicions fester, if candor is lost, communication suffers, and so does the company. Skilled incompetence is a condition in which people are very good at doing things that have unhappy consequences, even though they seem like the right thing to do. "Skilled" because, like riding a bicycle or playing tennis, people do it without thinking. "Incompetence" because it creates results that aren't intended, like falling off a bike. To avoid the disastrous organizational consequences that this special kind of incompetence produces, it helps to understand and recognize how deeply ingrained one's incompetences can be and how to unlearn them. Argyris recommends a special application of the case method as a first step in recognizing and unlearning what's wrong.
Double loop learning in organizations
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