Jane Mathison

Mapping Transformative Learning The Potential of Neuro-Linguistic Programming

This article explores the application of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) as a framework through which to map transformative learning. This is original work that makes use of NLP as a methodology for inquiring into subjective experience. The authors outline issues in the theory of and research into transformative learning, introduce the field of NLP, then describe the research design for the empirical work, a longitudinal case study of a manager reflecting on experiences of organizational change. Themes resulting from the analysis comprise the following three main categories: characteristics of the output, or of the emergent understanding of the learner; characteristics of the persons inner process or journey; and characteristics of the interpersonal process between learner and facilitator. The article illustrates the application of NLP to the field of transformative learning, providing an example of its potential for empirical investigation.

Neuro-linguistic programming and learning theory: a response

In an earlier issue of this journal, Craft (2001) explored Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) in relation to a classification of learning theories. Craft also offered various observations on, and criticisms of, aspects of NLP such as its theoretical coherence, modelling, Dilts’s ‘logical levels’ and possible dissonance of NLP’s espousal of individuality in learning with its experiential emphasis. This article offers a response to Craft’s article. It describes the origins and nature of NLP, and explores its theoretical identity. NLP is portrayed here as based primarily on the cybernetic epistemology of Gregory Bateson (1972, 1979). The article offers a critique of many of the views put across in Craft’s article, and builds on her attempt to position NLP theoretically. The broad aims of this article are to offer an informed perspective on the nature of NLP; to extend the academic literature on NLP; and to develop debate about its relevance to the theory and practice of education.

Exploring inner landscapes through psychophenomenology: the contribution of neuro-linguistic programming to innovations in researching first person experience

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore a contemporary European development in research into first person accounts of experience, called psychophenomenology, that offers enhancements to phenomenological interviewing. It is a form of guided introspection that seeks to develop finely grained first‐person accounts by using distinctions in language, internal sensory representations and imagery that have been incorporated from neuro‐linguistic programming (NLP). It is also a participative, relational and developmental form of interviewing, in the sense that the interviewee can gain significant insight into their experience; the process is not concerned purely with data gathering.Design/methodology/approach – The authors review the theoretical assumptions on which psychophenomenology is based, then describe the principal method used in psychophenomenology, the “explicitation interview”. The interview protocol is illustrated with transcript data, through which they identify specific aspects of NLP that...

Do Organizations Learn? Some Implications for HRD of Bateson's Levels of Learning

This article explores and appraises Gregory Batesons theory of “levels of learning” and its implications for Human Resource Development, with reference to issues of organizational learning. In Part One, after briefly reviewing Batesons biography, the origins and contents of the theory are described. In Part Two, three particular features of the theory are explored, together with their implications for Human Resource Development: (i) The significance of the recursive relationship between the levels; (ii) It not being a stage theory of learning; “higher” levels of learning are neither superior to, nor necessarily more desirable than, lower levels; and (iii) Its emphasis on the notion of context. In Part Three, the discussion emphasizes the holistic nature of Batesons theory, in that the levels of learning combine cognitive, embodied, and aesthetic dimensions. Some limitations of the theory are reviewed and then concluded by considering its perspective on the question, “do organizations learn?”

Neuro‐linguistic programming as an innovation in education and teaching

Neuro‐linguistic programming (NLP) – an emergent, contested approach to communication and personal development created in the 1970s – has become increasingly familiar in education and teaching. There is little academic work on NLP to date. This article offers an informed introduction to, and appraisal of, the field for educators. We review the origins of NLP, and summarise its nature as a method of, and conceptual framework for, education and teaching, with brief examples of applications. We argue that NLP offers an innovative praxis, underpinned in principle by Batesons epistemological thinking, which informs a distinctive methodology known as ‘modelling’. The credibility of the field relies, in our view, on its ability to address seven critical issues. These form a possible research agenda and a focus for dialogue between NLP practitioner and academic communities.

The Presuppositions of NLP

Two common questions asked about NLP are, does it have any theory; and what is distinctive about it? Many NLP practitioners would probably agree with McDermott & O’Connor, that ‘the root of NLP’s individuality lies in its presuppositions’ (1996:58).1 What are these and where did they originate? Do they indicate that NLP has any theoretical basis?

The Road to Santa Cruz

What constitutes a ‘history’? The Encyclopedia of NLP, a major work, running to 1,625 large-format pages spread across two volumes, includes a section headed ‘Historical Overview of NLP’. Yet within this entry, the part that recounts the ‘history’ is a single paragraph giving a very brief narrative account of how ‘NLP was originated by John Grinder… and Richard Bandler’ (Dilts & DeLozier 2000:850). Other accounts in the field, such as that by Peter Young (2004:61), are similarly sparse.

Organisational Applications of NLP

This chapter is an exploration of some of the ways in which NLP has been applied in organisational settings to enhance performance, drawing on our own personal experiences and published accounts. We give a brief overview of some of the ways in which NLP has been applied in organisational settings, ending with a discussion of coaching.

The Influences of Erickson and the Palo Alto Group

The next aspect of the story involves NLP’s links with the psychiatrist and hypnotherapist, Milton H. Erickson M.D., and with the work of the Palo Alto Mental Research Institute (MRI). It introduces one of the underpinning streams of thought from which NLP has evolved, that of constructivism.

‘Useful versus True’ — Theory, Knowledge and Pseudoscience

People can be wary of NLP because it is seen as not academically respectable. The worlds of NLP and academe have sometimes been like ships in the night, passing each other without contact and with little awareness of the other’s existence. Stereotypes appear to be common; on the one hand NLP is seen as lacking credible theory and is dismissed as ‘pop’ psychology or ‘pseudoscience’ and, on the other hand, academic theorising is seen as irrelevant to, or even antithetical to, NLP. There seem to have been more success at engagement with academic communities in countries such as France, Germany and Austria, where English is not the first language, than in the UK, the USA and Australia.