Biography of Chris Argyris

Chris Argyris, a director of the Monitor Company, is the James Bryant Conant Professor of Education and Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Harvard University. He was awarded the B.A. degree in Psychology from Clark University (1947); the M.A. degree in Economics and Psychology from Kansas University (1949); and the Ph.D. degree in Organizational Behavior from Cornell University (1951). From 1951 to 1971, he was a faculty member at Yale University, serving as Beach Professor of Administrative Sciences and as chairperson of the Administrative Sciences Department during the latter part of this period.

Argyris’ early research focused on the unintended consequences for individuals of formal organizational structures, executive leadership, control systems, and management information systems—and on how individuals adapted to change those consequences (Personality and Organization, 1957; Integrating the Individual and the Organization, 1964). He then turned his attention to ways of changing organizations, especially the behavior of executives at the upper levels of organization (Interpersonal Competence and Organizational Effectiveness, 1962; Organization and Innovation, 1965).

This line of inquiry led him to focus on the role of the social scientist as a researcher and interventionist (Intervention Theory and Method, 1970; Inner Contradictions of Rigorous Research, 1980 and Action Science, 1985). During the past decades he has also been developing with Donald Schon, a theory of individual and organizational learning in which human reasoning—not just behavior—becomes the basis for diagnosis and action (Theory in Practice, 1974; Increasing Leadership Effectiveness, 1976; Organizational Learning, 1978); Argyris continues this line of inquiry by focusing on Overcoming Organizational Defenses, (1990), beginning at the highest levels of organization (Knowledge for Action, 1993) and Organizational Learning II, 1996.

Argyris has received numerous awards, including honorary doctorates from Warwick University (1996), DePaul University (1987), IMCB, Buckingham, England (1987), the Stockholm School of Economics (1979), the University of Leuven, Belgium (1978), McGill University (1977). He has received the Irwin Award by the Academy of Management for lifetime contributions to the discipline of management. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Human resources and is recognized as a distinguished lifetime contributor to theory and practice of management from Revieu Française de Gestion and Financial Times Handbook of Management.

Recently, the Chris Argyris Chair in Social Psychology of Organizations was established at Yale University.