Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
SpringerLink
Log in

Knowledge Management and Unlearning/Forgetting

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Handbook of Knowledge Management

Abstract

The concept of unlearning emerged in response to recognition that individuals and organisations are not ‘blank slates’ and that existence of prior knowledge may hinder efforts to learn or acquire new knowledge. Knowledge management relies on the acquisition and sharing of knowledge by both individuals and organisations, and learning is an important part of this process. However, being willing and able to unlearn is proving to be just as important. Unlearning involves questioning existing knowledge and, in many cases, relinquishing what was previously thought to be ‘true’. The focus of this chapter on unlearning argues that releasing prior knowledge, or at least acknowledging its presence and shortcomings, may hold the key to successful knowledge management, for both individuals and collectives. The chapter provides an overview of unlearning and the key theories and models. It also provides examples of unlearning in practice and identifies tangible ways to facilitate unlearning in the workplace.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Akgun, A. E., Byrne, J. C., Lynn, G. S., & Keskin, H. (2007). Organizational unlearning as changes in beliefs and routines in organizations. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 20(6), 794–812.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alvesson, M. (2004). Knowledge work and knowledge-intensive firms (Vol. vi). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Argyris, C., & Schon, D. A. (1978). Organizational learning: A theory of action perspective. Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Balogun, J., & Jenkins, M. (2003). Re-conceiving change management: A knowledge-based perspective. European Management Journal, 21(2), 247–257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett, F. J., Thoman, G. F., & Hocevar, S. P. (1995). The central role of discourse in large-scale change: A social construction perspective. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 31(3), 352–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bateson, G. (1972). Steps to an ecology of mind. London: Intertext Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baxter, P. (2000). Mediational learning: Empowering individuals and enterprises to take control of change and continuous innovation. STAC Unit, DETIR. Retrieved December 11, 2003, from http://www.det.qld.gov.au/skillsmed/

  • Baxter, P., Lyndon, H., Dole, S., Cooper, T., Battistutta, D., & Blakeley, J. (1997). Skill correction and accelerated learning in the workplace: An experimental field trial of the conceptual mediation program and old way/new way (Report on Australian national training authority research advisory council grant No. 95026).

    Google Scholar 

  • Beasley, R. (2016). Dissonance and decision-making mistakes in the age of risk. Journal of European Public Policy, 23(5), 771–787.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker, K. (2005). Individual and organisational unlearning: Directions for future research. International Journal of Organisation Behaviour, 9(7), 659–670.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berthon, P., Pitt, L. F., & Ewing, M. T. (2001). Corollaries of the collective: The influence of organizational culture and memory development on perceived decision-making context. Academy of Marketing Science Journal, 29(2), 135–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bessant, J., Öberg, C., & Trifilova, A. (2014). Framing problems in radical innovation. Industrial Marketing Management, 43(8), 1284–1292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bouton, M. E. (2000). A learning theory perspective on lapse, relapse, and the maintenance of behavior change. Health Psychology, 19(Suppl), 57–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brett, J. F., & Atwater, L. E. (2001). 360° feedback: Accuracy, reactions, and perceptions of usefulness. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(5), 930–942.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bridges, W. (1991). Managing transitions: Making the most of change. Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brook, C., Pedler, M., Abbott, C., & Burgoyne, J. (2016). On stopping doing those things that are not getting us to where we want to be: Unlearning, wicked problems and critical action learning. Human Relations, 69(2), 369–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cameron, K. S., & Freeman, S. J. (1991). Cultural congruence, strength and type: Relationships to effectiveness. Research in Organizational Change and Development, 5(1), 23–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cegarra-Navarro, J. G., & Dewhurst, F. W. (2006). Linking shared organisational context and relational capital through unlearning: An initial empirical investigation in SMEs. The Learning Organization, 13(1), 49–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chaudhuri, S., & Ghosh, R. (2012). Reverse mentoring: A social exchange tool for keeping the boomers engaged and millennials committed. Human resource development review, 11(1), 55–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeGrassi, S. W., Morgan, W. B., Walker, S. S., Wang, Y. I., & Sabat, I. (2012). Ethical decision-making: Group diversity holds the key. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics, 9(6), 51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duffy, F. M. (2003). I think, therefore I am resistant to change. Journal of Staff Development, 24(1), 30–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Easterby-Smith, M., & Lyles, M. A. (2011). In praise of organizational forgetting. Journal of Management Inquiry, 20(3), 311–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farhi, P. (2009). A costly mistake? When the Associated Press decided a decade ago to sell its news content to online portals, it may have hastened the decline of the daily newspapers that own the wire service. American Journalism Review, 31(2), 36–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Evanston: Row Peterson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiol, C. M., & Lyles, M. A. (1985). Organizational learning. The Academy of Management Review, 10(4), 803–813.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fiol, M., & O’Connor, E. (2017). Unlearning established organizational routines-part I. The Learning Organization, 24(1), 13–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foldy, E. G., & Creed, W. E. D. (1999). Action learning, fragmentation, and the interaction of single-, double-, and triple-loop change: A case of gay and lesbian workplace advocacy. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 35(2), 207–227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, E. A., Zammuto, R. F., & Gifford, B. D. (2001). The competing values framework: Understanding the impact of organizational culture on the quality of work life. Organization Development Journal, 19(3), 58–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grant, R. M. (1996). Toward a knowledge-based theory of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 17(Winter Special Issue), 109–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenhaus, J. H., & Powell, G. N. (2003). When work and family collide: Deciding between competing role demands. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 90(2), 291–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamel, G., & Prahalad, C. (1994). Competing for the future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, M., & Buckley, M. R. (2002). Assessing the “conventional wisdoms” of management for the 21st century organization. Organizational Dynamics, 30(4), 368–378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hedberg, B. (1981). How organizations learn and unlearn. In P. Nystrom & W. H. Starbuck (Eds.), Handbook of organizational design (Vol. 1). London: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinojosa, A. S., Gardner, W. L., Walker, H. J., Cogliser, C., & Gullifor, D. (2017). A review of cognitive dissonance theory in management research. Journal of Management, 43(1), 170–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hislop, D., Bosley, S., Coombs, C. R., & Holland, J. (2014). The process of individual unlearning: A neglected topic in an under-researched field. Management Learning, 45(5), 540–560.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huber, G. P. (1991). Organizational learning: The contributing processes and the literatures. Organization Science, 2(1), 88–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, D. H. (1993). The link between individual and organizational learning. Sloan Management Review, 35(1), 37–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, J. I. (1989). Parenthetic learning in organizations: Toward the unlearning of the unlearning model. The Journal of Management Studies, 26(3), 291–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knowles, M. (1970). The modern practice of adult education: Andragogy versus pedagogy. New York: Association Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knowles, M. (1990). The adult learner: A neglected species (4th ed.). Houston: Gulf Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, D. (2013). Nokia: The rise and fall of a mobile giant. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-23947212

  • Lei, D., Slocum, J. W., & Pitts, R. A. (1999). Designing organizations for competitive advantage: The power of learning and unlearning. Organizational Dynamics, 27(3), 24–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levitt, B., & March, J. G. (1988). Organizational learning. Annual Review of Sociology, 14, 319–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyndon, H. (1989). I did it my way! An introduction to “old way/new way” methodology. Australasian Journal of Special Education, 13(1), 32–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marcinkus Murphy, W. (2012). Reverse mentoring at work: Fostering cross-generational learning and developing millennial leaders. Human Resource Management, 51(4), 549–573.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markoczy, L. (1994). Modes of organizational learning: Institutional change and Hungarian joint ventures. International Studies of Management & Organization, 24(4), 5–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin de Holan, P. (2011). Agency in voluntary organizational forgetting. Journal of Management Inquiry, 20(3), 317–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin de Holan, P., & Phillips, N. (2004). Remembrance of things past? The dynamics of organizational forgetting. Management Science, 50(11), 1603.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin de Holan, P., Phillips, N., & Lawrence, T. B. (2004). Managing organizational forgetting. MIT Sloan Management Review, 45(2), 45–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meager, N. (2016). Foreword: JMO special issue on self-employment/freelancing. Journal of Management and Organization, 22(6), 756.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melton, A. W., & Von Lackum, W. (1941). Retroactive and proactive inhibition in retention: Evidence for a two-factor theory of retroactive inhibition. The American Journal of Psychology, 54(2), 157–173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mezirow, J. (1990). How critical reflection triggers transformative learning. In J. Mezirow & Associates (Eds.), Fostering critical reflection in adulthood. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mezirow, J. (2000). Learning to think like an adult: Core concepts of adult learning theory. In J. Mezirow (Ed.), Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in progress. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newstrom, J. W. (1983). The management of unlearning: Exploding the “clean slate” fallacy. Training and Development Journal, 37(8), 36–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nickerson, J. A., & Zenger, T. R. (2004). A knowledge-based theory of the firm: The problem-solving perspective. Organization Science, 15(6), 617–632.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen, R. K. (2015). Local journalism: The decline of newspapers and the rise of digital media. London/New York: I.B.Tauris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nystrom, P. C., & Starbuck, W. H. (1984). To avoid organizational crises, unlearn. Organizational Dynamics, 12(4), 53–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paoli, M., & Prencipe, A. (2003). Memory of the organisation and memories within the organisation. Journal of Management & Governance, 7(2), 145–162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peccei, R., Giangreco, A., & Sebastiano, A. (2011). The role of organisational commitment in the analysis of resistance to change: Co-predictor and moderator effects. Personnel Review, 40(2), 185–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perlovsky, L. (2013). A challenge to human evolution—Cognitive dissonance. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 1–3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Postman, L., & Underwood, B. J. (1973). Critical issues in interference theory. Memory & Cognition, 1(1), 19–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prahalad, C. K., & Bettis, R. A. (1986). The Dominant Logic: A new linkage between diversity and performance. Strategic Management Journal, 7(6), 485–501.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants Part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Revans, R. W. (1980). Action learning: New techniques for management. London: Blond and Briggs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rink, F., & Ellemers, N. (2010). Benefiting from deep-level diversity: How congruence between knowledge and decision rules improves team decision making and team perceptions. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 13(3), 345–359.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romme, G., & Witteloostuijn, A. v. (1999). Circular organizing and triple loop learning. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 12(5), 439–454.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rushmer, R., & Davies, H. (2004). Unlearning in health care. Quality and Safety in Health Care, 13(suppl 2), ii10–ii15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sadler-Smith, E. (1999). Intuition-analysis cognitive style and learning preferences of business and management students: A UK exploratory study. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 14(1), 26–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadowsky, S. J. (2016). Editorial: The case for unlearning. The International Journal of Prosthodontics, 29(6), 547–548.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schein, E. H. (1996). Culture: The missing concept in organization studies. Administrative Science Quarterly, 41(2), 229–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schein, E. H. (2004). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherwood, D. (2000). The unlearning organisation. Business Strategy Review, 11(3), 31–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sinkula, J. M. (2002). Market-based success, organizational routines, and unlearning. The Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 17(4), 253–269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snell, R., & Chak, A. M.-K. (1998). The learning organization: Learning and empowerment for whom? Management Learning, 29(3), 337–364.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Starbuck, W. H. (1996). Unlearning ineffective or obsolete technologies. International Journal of Technology Management, 11(7/8), 725–737.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starbuck, W. H. (2017). Organizational learning and unlearning. The Learning Organization, 24(1), 30–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stein, E. (1995). Organizational memory: Review of concepts and recommendations for management. International Journal of Information Management, 15(2), 17–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun, P. Y. T., & Scott, J. L. (2003). Exploring the divide – Organizational learning and learning organization. The Learning Organization, 10(4), 202–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsang, E. W. (2017). How the concept of organizational unlearning contributes to studies of learning organizations: A personal reflection. The Learning Organization, 24(1), 39–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsang, E. W. K., & Zahra, S. A. (2008). Organizational unlearning. Human Relations, 61(10), 1435–1462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Visser, M. (2017). Learning and unlearning: A conceptual note. The Learning Organization, 24(1), 49–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh, J. P., & Ungson, G. R. (1991). Organizational memory. Academy of Management Review, 16(1), 57–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Y.-D., & Hsieh, H.-H. (2014). Employees’ reactions to psychological contract breach: A moderated mediation analysis. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 85(1), 57–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wong, P. S., Cheung, S. O., Yiu, R. L., & Hardie, M. (2012). The unlearning dimension of organizational learning in construction projects. International Journal of Project Management, 30(1), 94–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, Y., Lu, Y., & Wang, X. (2013). Organizational unlearning and organizational relearning: A dynamic process of knowledge management. Journal of Knowledge Management, 17(6), 902–912.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Arts, Business and Law, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, QLD, Australia

    Karen L. Becker

Authors
  1. Karen L. Becker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Suleman Dawood School of Business, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

    Jawad Syed

  2. School of Management and Enterprise, Faculty of Business, Education, Law and the Arts, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

    Peter A. Murray

  3. School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire, United Kingdom

    Donald Hislop

  4. Muscat University, St Helens, Merseyside, United Kingdom

    Yusra Mouzughi

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Becker, K.L. (2018). Knowledge Management and Unlearning/Forgetting. In: Syed, J., Murray, P., Hislop, D., Mouzughi, Y. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Knowledge Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71434-9_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation