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Unlearning established organizational routines – Part II

C. Marlena Fiol (Business School, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA)
Edward J. O’Connor (Business School, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado, USA)

The Learning Organization

ISSN: 0969-6474

Article publication date: 6 February 2017

1353

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of Part II of this two-part paper is to uncover important differences in the nature of the three unlearning subprocesses, which call for different leadership interventions to motivate people to move through them.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on research in behavioral medicine and psychology to demonstrate that initial destabilizing of old patterns and the subsequent behavioral processes of discarding the old and experimenting with the new are qualitatively different.

Findings

Leadership interventions must fit the unique requirements of each unlearning subprocess. Discarding old routines requires continued focus on the costs of not doing so, as well as a progressive refocus on positive possibilities and engaging people in activities to explore them. When aspects of the old routine resurface, the costs of relapse must again become salient, leading to further discarding-from-use, followed by further positive experimentation. Finally, maintaining long-term release of an embedded routine requires recognition of the emerging new patterns and a shift from future-oriented visioning of possibilities to current satisfaction with the new.

Originality/value

All empirical studies of organizational unlearning imply some form of destabilization of old learning as an antecedent to unlearning, and many of them discuss subsequent behavioral and cognitive displacement. However, they have not clearly distinguished between these subprocesses to fine-tune how to motivate people to move through them. This paper addresses that gap.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Mike Pratt and Vinit Desai for their assistance on the earliest drafts of this paper.

Citation

Fiol, C.M. and O’Connor, E.J. (2017), "Unlearning established organizational routines – Part II", The Learning Organization, Vol. 24 No. 2, pp. 82-92. https://doi.org/10.1108/TLO-09-2016-0063

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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