ABSTRACT
The centrality of learning in management is now widely accepted. The practical and theoretical enthusiasm for this has been enormous and the importance of learning is usually not so much demonstrated as asserted. We are not shown evidence to support the idea that everybody is suddenly engaged in learning, but simply told that this must be the case because it is the only way that an organisation can survive in ‘today’s fast-moving business environment’ (or some such phrase). In this chapter I shall suggest a different way of thinking about learning which may provide us with a more effective analytic tool for understanding how learning takes place and for considering how managers may come to act as natural critical theorists. And from this basis, I will enable responses to questions such as: Why do managers not learn what others often would like them to learn? How do they keep some control of their learning despite the presence of powerful others who would like to influence or control their learning for them?
