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Learning from Errors: The Role of After-Event Reviews

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Human Fallibility

Part of the book series: Professional and Practice-based Learning ((PPBL,volume 6))

Abstract

An after-event review (AER) is a learning from experience procedure that gives learners (individuals, teams or larger organizational units) an opportunity to systematically analyze the various actions that they selected to perform or not to perform in carrying out a particular task or responding to a particular event, to determine which of them was wrong or not necessary, which was missing, which needed to be corrected, and which needed to be reinforced. AERs enable individuals and groups to reflect on their performance and to understand why interim objectives were not accomplished, to know what lessons can be drawn from their past experience, and to evaluate how these lessons can be quickly internalized to improve performance. The chapter has four sections. In the first section, I define and describe the concept of AER and its actual and potential applications. The second section is devoted to the influence AERs have on the cognitive processes of learning from experience: intensifying self-explanation, advancing data verification, providing process feedback, and enhancing self-efficacy. In the third section, I discuss the motivational impact of failures or errors on learning from experience, and in the last section, I summarize the theoretical framework and open new directions to research and applications of after-event reviews in organizations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Management, The Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Shmuel Ellis Ph.D.

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  1. Shmuel Ellis Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Shmuel Ellis Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. TUM School of Education, Technische Universität München, Schellingstraße 33, Munich, 80799, Germany

    Johannes Bauer

  2. Fakultät für Kulturwissenschaften, Universität Paderborn, Warburger Straße 100, Paderborn, 33098, Germany

    Christian Harteis

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Ellis, S. (2012). Learning from Errors: The Role of After-Event Reviews. In: Bauer, J., Harteis, C. (eds) Human Fallibility. Professional and Practice-based Learning, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3941-5_13

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