Working Paper
Locating Meaning Making in Organizational Learning: The Narrative Basis of Cognition
We call for a fundamental reorientation of our understanding of human cognition and its relation to organizational learning. A schema-based image of cognition has guided research in the organizational learning and change literature and is inherently limiting in addressing issues of change. We trace this limitation to the structuralist lineage and argue that this model fails as a theory of action because of its emphasis on invisible underlying structures, at the expense of actors' own descriptions of social life. What frames or schemas we have are constructed through the primary cognitive activity of narrativizing our experiences. Implications of studying narrative forms and practices for understanding organizational learning and change are discussed.
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