Action Learning

{Excerpt} Conventional approaches to learning hinge on the presentationof knowledge and skills. Then again, knowledge is revealedthrough methods of questioning amid risk, confusion,and opportunity. Reginald Revans, the originator of actionlearning, recommended that one should keep away from experts with prefabricated answers. Rather, people shouldbecome aware of their lack of knowledge and be preparedto explore their ignorance with suitable questions and helpfrom others: finding the right questions rather than the right answers is important, and it is one’s perception of a problem, one’s evaluation of what is to be gained by solving it, and one’s estimation of the resourcesavailable to solve it that supply the springs of human action. Action learning is an educational process by which a person studies his or her own actions and experience to improveperformance. Put simply, it is about solving problems and getting things done. In action learning, a smallgroup of 5–8 persons (called action learning set) meets regularly for a day or half a day over at least 6 months and works collectively on a problem faced in ongoing practice. The action learning set helps a “presenter”work on a problem through supportive but challenging questioning. It encourages a deeper understanding of theissues involved, a reflective reassessment of the problem, and an exploration of ways forward. (Action learningrequires that actions be agreed at the end of each meeting.) By so doing, it provides a structured way of workingthat provide the discipline we often need to learn from what we do and improve practice as a result

Developing transferable management skills through Action Learning

There has been increasing criticism of the relevance of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) in developing skills and competencies. Action learning, devised to address problem-solving in the workplace, offers a potential response to such criticism. This paper offers an insight into one university’s attempt to integrate action learning into the curriculum. Sixty-five part-time students were questioned at two points in their final year about their action learning experience and the enhancement of relevant skills and competencies. Results showed a mixed picture. Strong confirmation of the importance of selected skills and competencies contrasted with weaker agreement about the extent to which these were developed by action learning. There was, nonetheless, a firm belief in the positive impact on the learning process. The paper concludes that action learning is not a panacea but has an important role in a repertoire of educational approaches to develop relevant skills and competencies

To Act and Learn: A Bakhtinian Exploration of Action Learning

This paper considers the work of the Russian social philosopher and cultural theorist, Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin as a source of understanding for those involved in action learning. Drawing upon data gathered over two years during the evaluation of 20 action learning sets in the north of England, we will seek to work with the ideas of Bakhtin to consider their value for those involved in action learning. We consider key Bakhtin features such as Making Meaning, Participative Thinking, Theoreticism and Presence, Others and Outsideness, Voices and Carnival to highlight how Bakhtin's can enhance our understanding of the nature of action and learning

Sustaining competing professional identities: Measuring action learning 'outcomes' in an educational context.

This paper builds on an initial investigation of the process of action learning in a university Management School in New Zealand, where the focus is on sustainability and innovation. Students are encouraged to engage with entrepreneurial practice and develop critical thinking skills. In this study, we recognise the impact of the organisational context both on our own professional practice as teaching staff and on learning outcomes for staff and students. The emergent nature of action learning outcomes makes the measurement of their effectiveness problematic. Research questions cannot be determined at the outset but are generated in consultation with the research participants. Despite aiming to be collaborative, our focus groups and interviews made explicit the tensions existing in the professional identities of staff. Their expert knowledge as researchers and teachers was challenged by an action learning approach. Consequently, this paper is an example of ongoing critical reflective practice. We conclude that measuring the effectiveness of action learning outcomes is context-dependent and consider the implications for the teaching of critical management studies. The process of action learning must be considered a key outcome. Individual reflection on professional identity and practice may be as important as the organisational learning and explicit knowledge gained

Cultivating Collaborative Improvement: An Action Learning Approach

As competitive pressure mounts to innovate in the global knowledge economy, many organizations are exploring new ways of collaborating with their supply chain partners. However, the process of implementing collaborative initiatives across disparate members of supply networks is fraught with difficulties. One approach designed to tackle the difficulties of organizational change and inter-organizational improvement in practice is `action learning¿. This paper examines the experiential lessons that arise when cultivating collaborative improvement in an interorganizational learning environment. The authors, acting as action researchers, facilitated a practical learning program in an Extended Manufacturing Enterprise involving a large system integrator in the automotive industry and three of its\ud suppliers. Based on this experience, a practical learning model is offered to promote and facilitate inter-organizational change as part of a collaborative improvement process

Conversations outside the comfort zone: identity formation in SME manager action learning

In this paper we consider the construction of narrative identity and particularly how managers of small businesses may construct new narrative identities within the activity of the action learning situation. We build on recent work to suggest that the ‘world’ of managers can be explored through a consideration of Vygotsky's socio-cultural theory of learning and what he referred to as the zone of proximal development. We argue that for small business managers, a consideration of identity is fundamental to personal and business development and that this encompasses a consideration of present concerns and interests, existing capacities and understandings and skills to find solutions to problems faced. We base our propositions on the evidence that many small business managers feel the need to focus on operational activities, which prevents consideration of the long-term and of their personal development. Action learning should not be viewed merely as an opportunity to pose and find solutions to problems; more importantly it offers the possibility of considering which aspects of a learner's self-image are potentially blocking progress and change, to engage in identity work and to surface and take action upon those elements of one's current identity that prevent thoughtful action. The impact of the powerful image of the entrepreneur is also examined in two case studies of owner-manager identity construction in the action learning situation. We suggest that a re-theorization of action learning provides a basis for emphasising the identity-forming potential of sets and we also propose that action learning practitioners (set advisors) use Vygotsky's notions of socio-cultural practice and the zone of proximal development to encourage the re-narration of identities and particularly the development of a strong sense of self in the action learning situation

Making the case for action learning as an effective framework for strategy making

Action learning encourages individual reflection, insightful questioning and assumption breaking that result in changes in attitude and behaviour. This learning process provides the potential to explore and solve complex organizational problems, such as, the question of how to develop a future business strategy. Existing literature on the process of strategy making presents a multi-faceted debate, with the ‘Learning School’ of strategic management being one of the main approaches to conceptualise strategy formation. This school of thought suggests that strategy making is a process of emergent learning over time, where strategy makers critically reflect on past experience and adapt their strategies accordingly. Learning from action, change and reflection, is therefore, considered to be more useful in strategy making than formal analysis and subsequent strategy formulation. The premises of the Learning School of strategy making are similar to the premises of action learning, yet, the action learning paradigm has made little or no impact in strategic management literature. This is particularly surprising since the fundamental tenets of action learning could enable it to make an important contribution to strategy makers and business strategy development. This paper makes the case for action learning to feature more prominently in strategic management literature, and particularly, in the Learning School. It proposes that using an action learning methodology can effectively contribute to the development of business strategy, particularly for those organizations operating in competitive environments that are complex and unpredictable. In this type of environment, strategic responses tend to evolve from a process of experimentation, trial and error. Action learning is advocated as a suitable framework to encapsulate this emergent and experimental process and provide a platform for the development of effective strategy making

Action learning : co-creating value from collaborative sustainable projects

This article reports on the specific role that action learning plays in the promotion of sustainability and innovation in the Local Government sector. The study focuses on one organisation and the efforts of a senior manager to enact change. The senior manager utilized his participation in an MBA programme to bring the classroom learning into his business. As a consequence of the requirements of the programme and also the desire of the senior manager, he was able to instigate a change programme, which delivered measurable outcomes and had financial and cultural impact. This case study illustrates the favourable advantages of using action learning as an intervention approach by HEI’s in driving sustainable innovation in the Local Government sectorFinal Published versio