Unlearning at Work

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

   PDF

2. Research Framework

   • Makoto Matsuo

   Pages 1-11

3. Goal Orientation, Critical Reflection, and Unlearning

   • Makoto Matsuo

   Pages 13-29

4. Critical Reflection, Unlearning, and Engagement

   • Makoto Matsuo

   Pages 31-44

5. Managers’ Exploration Activities and Individual Unlearning

   • Makoto Matsuo

   Pages 45-59

6. The Unlearning of Managerial Skills: A Qualitative Study of Executive Officers

   • Makoto Matsuo

   Pages 61-77

7. Individual Unlearning Processes

   • Makoto Matsuo

   Pages 79-86

8. Back Matter

   Pages 87-89

   PDF

This book is to provide insights into the process of individual unlearning, which is little known in previous studies. This is the first book that described how employees should unlearn, i.e., abandon obsolete and outdated beliefs or routines to acquire new ones, at workplace. Updating old knowledge and skills to new one is crucial not only for organizations but also for individuals to survive in today’s competitive and turbulent environment. It provides readers with mechanisms by which personal factors, such as goal orientation, reflection, and critical reflection, and promotes employees’ unlearning under the influence of situational factors such as supervisors’ behaviors and promotion of the positions. Based on the findings by quantitative and qualitative analyses using questionnaire survey and interviews, this book is highly recommended to readers who are interested in higher-order learning process for self-change at work in the fields of organizational behavior and human resourcesdevelopment.

• unlearning
• leaning goals
• critical reflection
• outdated beliefs
• obsolete habits
• ambidexterity

• School of Economics and Business Administration, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

  Makoto Matsuo

Makoto Matsuo is Professor of Management in the Graduate School of Economics and Business Administration at Hokkaido University, Japan. He received his Ph.D. in Management Learning from the University of Lancaster. His research interests include experiential learning, workplace learning, human resource development, and career management. His research papers were selected as ‘Outstanding Papers’ of European Journal of Marketing in 2002 and Journal of Workplace Learning in 2018. 

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