Erring and learning: An organizational analysis

Organizations learn through their members. But members' learning is bounded by their organizational role. This contention and its implications for intervention is explored through the concept of error. Errors are "recognized", interpreted; not detected as such. But members' interpretation of data is directed by organizational premises and their structural manifestations. Hence learning from error is restricted to learning within a given set of premises. To make premises themselves subject to continuous examination and change, intervention at the individual level will not suffice.