Action LearningPub Date : 2022-04-03DOI: 10.1080/14767333.2022.2058910
R. Pillay
{"title":"Transcending the role: personal transformation of action-learning facilitators","authors":"R. Pillay","doi":"10.1080/14767333.2022.2058910","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767333.2022.2058910","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The many genres of action learning have contributed to solving business and social problems, individual development and organisational learning. Different authors have scrutinised the role of the action-learning facilitator in upholding the precepts of action learning. Whilst the responsibilities of the facilitator to the group are significant, this paper concentrates on the personal transformation of facilitators who have transitioned into the role in an application of business-driven action learning. Hence, this study explores how individuals who took on the role of action-learning facilitator experienced genuine personal development. This exploration, within a South African context, offers a perspective on facilitator growth, a subject which has not gained much traction in the action-learning literature. The findings offer insight into the internalisation of action-learning principles, critical shifts and heightened learnings for facilitators.","PeriodicalId":44898,"journal":{"name":"Action Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47905579","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Action LearningPub Date : 2022-03-23DOI: 10.1080/14767333.2022.2056135
R. Quew-Jones
{"title":"Enhancing apprenticeships within the Higher Education curriculum – an Action Learning and Action Research study","authors":"R. Quew-Jones","doi":"10.1080/14767333.2022.2056135","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767333.2022.2056135","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This Action Learning (AL)/Action Research study (AS) explores the practice of Action Learning (AL) to further higher education (H.E.) apprenticeships by collaboration between University Provider (UP) and employer. AL members aim to address complexity, bridging the gap between management education delivered by a work-based learning (WBL) apprenticeship course and translating into the apprentices’ workplace. Set members followed a systematic cycle of planning, action, observing and reflecting. This demonstrates how AL, as a methodology, supports apprenticeship ambassadors (who lead apprenticeships in their organisations) and UPs to solve complex problems through inquiry and critical reflection to enhance the apprenticeship curriculum. The principal findings from AL to cultivate stronger collaboration were clarity of WBL, value proposition and ownership expectation; support of translation of theory into practice; empowering the apprenticeship mindset and professional identity; and senior management buy-in.","PeriodicalId":44898,"journal":{"name":"Action Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45833553","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Action LearningPub Date : 2022-03-08DOI: 10.1080/14767333.2022.2047609
Y. Hirose
{"title":"Action Learning in Japan: challenging cultural values","authors":"Y. Hirose","doi":"10.1080/14767333.2022.2047609","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767333.2022.2047609","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study aims to address how practitioners successfully implement action learning in organizations with different cultural values. To effectively adopt action learning, Japanese learners need to learn questioning skills, as they have been brought up in an atmosphere that negates questioning. Using Kolb’s learning model, this study aims to present the importance of paying attention to cultural values in participants’ learning environments. Based on 23 interviews with Japanese participants and facilitators, the study proposes that for learners to acquire business skills generated in different cultures, facilitators need to set rules and consultations to support learners in challenging their conventional cultural assumptions.","PeriodicalId":44898,"journal":{"name":"Action Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49552492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Action LearningPub Date : 2022-01-02DOI: 10.1080/14767333.2022.2033032
George Boak
{"title":"The hidden power of systems thinking: governance in a climate emergency","authors":"George Boak","doi":"10.1080/14767333.2022.2033032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767333.2022.2033032","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":44898,"journal":{"name":"Action Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42677409","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Action LearningPub Date : 2022-01-02DOI: 10.1080/14767333.2022.2033035
Alaa Garad
{"title":"Book Review: Creating a Healthy Organisation; Perceptions, Learning, Challenges and Benefits","authors":"Alaa Garad","doi":"10.1080/14767333.2022.2033035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767333.2022.2033035","url":null,"abstract":"questions that relate to the intersection of gender, race and class’ (p. 220). This book moves beyond simply being a textbook, which presents key theories and ideas in gender and leadership. In a relatively short book, practicalworkplace examples, alongwith insights into some of the many research projects Powell has conducted in this field bring the theoretical discussions to life. This book is both engaging and insightful. This will help practitioners and early career academics in the application of theory into real-world experience and highlight somecritical questions thatneeduntangling toundo the linkagesbetweengenderand leadership.","PeriodicalId":44898,"journal":{"name":"Action Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42263849","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Action LearningPub Date : 2022-01-02DOI: 10.1080/14767333.2022.2033036
P. Taylor
{"title":"Social work, critical reflection and the learning organization","authors":"P. Taylor","doi":"10.1080/14767333.2022.2033036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767333.2022.2033036","url":null,"abstract":"Department of Health. 2014. Well-Being, why it Matters to Health Policy, Accessed August 2021 at https://assets. publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/277566/Narrative__ January_2014_.pdf. Garad, A., and J. Gold. 2021. The Learning-Driven Business; How to Develop an Organizational Learning Ecosystem. London, UK: Bloomsbury. Pedler, M., and C. Abbott. 2013. Facilitating Action Learning; A Practitioner’s Guide. McGraw-Hill, Berkshire, England: Open University Press. Taylor, M., G. March, D. Nicole, and P. Broadbent. 2017. Good Work, The Taylor Review of Modern Work Practices. London, Great Britain: Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. World Health Organisation. 2006. Constitution of the World Health Organisation, Basic Documents, 45 Edn. Accessed August 2021 [https://www.who.int/governance/eb/who_constitution_en.pdf].","PeriodicalId":44898,"journal":{"name":"Action Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45345935","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Action LearningPub Date : 2022-01-02DOI: 10.1080/14767333.2022.2033034
Hannah Wilson
{"title":"Gender and leadership","authors":"Hannah Wilson","doi":"10.1080/14767333.2022.2033034","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767333.2022.2033034","url":null,"abstract":"K. Grint, B. Jackson, and M. Uhl-Bien, 56–65. London: Sage Publications. Day, D., J. Fleenor, L. Atwater, E. Sturm, and R. McKee. 2014. “Advances in Leader and Leadership Development: A Review of 25 Years of Research and Theory.” The Leadership Quarterly 25 (1): 63–82. Edmonstone, J. 2018. “Beyond Critical Action Learning: Action Learning’s Place in the World.” Action Learning: Research & Practice 16 (2): 136–148. Fleming, P. 2017. “The Human Capital Hoax: Work, Debt and Insecurity in the Era of Uberisation.” Organisation Studies 38: 475–493. Graeber, D. 2018. Bullshit Jobs: A Theory. London: Simon and Schuster. Guest, D., and Z. King. 2004. “Power, Innovation and Problem-Solving: Personnel Managers’ Three Steps to Heaven.” Journal of Management Studies 41 (3): 401–423. Jackson, B., and K. Parry. 2008. A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book About Studying Leadership. London: Sage Publications. Learmonth, M., and K. Morrell. 2021. ““Leadership” As a Project: Neoliberalism and the Proliferation of “Leaders”.” Organisation Theory 2: 1–19. Legge, K. 1978. Power, Innovation and Problem-Solving in Personnel Management. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill. Marchington, M. 2015. “Human Resource Management (HRM): Too Busy Looking Up to See Where It Is Going Longer Term.” Human Resource Management Review 25 (2): 176–187. Martin, G., S. Siebert, and I. Robson. 2018. “Conformist Innovation: An Institutional Logics Perspective on how Human Resource Executives Construct Business School Reputations.” International Journal of Human Resource Management 29 (13): 2027–2053. Menzies-Lyth, I. 1959. “The Functioning of Social Systems as a Defence Against Anxiety: A Report on a Study of the Nursing Service of a General Hospital.” In Containing Anxiety in Institutions: Selected Essays: Volume 1, edited by I. Menzies-Lyth, 43–88. London: Free Association Books. Morgan, G. 1986. Images of Organisations. London: Sage. Strauss, A., L. Schatzman, D. Erlich, R. Bucher, and M. Sabshin. 1963. “The Hospital and Its Negotiated Order.” In The Hospital in Modern Society, edited by E. Friedson, 163–172. New York, NY: Macmillan. Townley, B. 1994. Reframing Human Resource Management: Power, Ethics and the Subject at Work. London: Sage.","PeriodicalId":44898,"journal":{"name":"Action Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44253321","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Action LearningPub Date : 2022-01-02DOI: 10.1080/14767333.2022.2033031
C. Abbott, K. Winterburn, Chandara Sanyal
{"title":"Mapping the journey of practice","authors":"C. Abbott, K. Winterburn, Chandara Sanyal","doi":"10.1080/14767333.2022.2033031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767333.2022.2033031","url":null,"abstract":"There has been an enduring problem in defining what action learning is, Revans himself never gave a single definition and always maintained that there was no one form to what he described as ancient wisdom. What he emphasized in his description of action learning (Revans 2011) includes: to learn with and from each other; to search out the meaning of the unseen; learning by posing fresh questions and people who want to effect change. In their attempt to map the extent, growth and variety of action learning in the UK, Pedler, Burgoyne, and Brook (2005) discovered six varieties of practice in use which included selfmanaged action learning, online action learning, critical action learning, auto action learning, action mentoring, business-driven action learning and. Boshyk (2016) suggests that this has grown to at least 27 varieties worldwide. For those practitioners who are firmly embedded in Revans work on action learning and those who aspire to follow the Revans’ gold standard of action learning (Willis 2004) some of the varieties that have emerged are both exciting and puzzling. However, action learning is evolving with new technologies, practitioners and action learners, and it is the accounts of practice from those currently working with the ideas of action learning that help us to map the journey of action learning practice, of how it is being both interpretated and practiced in the field. This part of the journal is for those practising action learning either as an organiser, facilitator, or participant to share their practice to both support other practitioners and to help us understand the evolution of action learning itself. We welcome contributions to help map the journey of action learning in all of its varieties, why they work or do not work, and examples of what goes on within a set or within a particular organisation or community to explain this. Accounts of practice can be a celebration of the power of action learning, but equally can shed light on questions we do not understand. Sometimes contributors feel uncomfortable about sharing what went wrong, but learning from what feels like a mistake, a mishap or even a depressing/disappointing ending is, in itself, valuable. This section is not peer-reviewed but peer-supported throughout the writing and publication process by fellow practitioners, so we invite you to add your experiences to the understanding of how action learning is applied and practiced. Don’t delay – contact us! In this edition, we have accounts of practice from Scotland, South Africa and China that reveal in their variety of approach the authors understanding of action learning and its practice. In the first account Sharp et al, describe the implementation of a process of collective action inquiry to bring about a coaching culture within and across a public service organisation in Scotland. The stated intention of their work ‘ ...was to develop a simple way to have coaching style conversations in a range of settings to","PeriodicalId":44898,"journal":{"name":"Action Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47611187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Action LearningPub Date : 2022-01-02DOI: 10.1080/14767333.2022.2033033
J. Edmonstone
{"title":"Leadership unravelled: the faulty thinking behind modern management","authors":"J. Edmonstone","doi":"10.1080/14767333.2022.2033033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767333.2022.2033033","url":null,"abstract":"Chapman, J. 2004. Systems Failure: Why Governments Must Learn to Think Differently. London: Demos. OECD Observatory of Public Sector Innovation. 2017. Systems Approaches to Public Sector Challenges: Working with Change. Paris: OECD. Seddon, J. 2008. Systems Thinking in the Public Sector. Axminster: Triarchy Press. Seddon, J., and S. Caulkin. 2007. “Systems Thinking, Lean Production and Action Learning.” Action Learning: Research and Practice 4 (1): 9–24.","PeriodicalId":44898,"journal":{"name":"Action Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45584909","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Action LearningPub Date : 2022-01-02DOI: 10.1080/14767333.2022.2033022
C. Sharp, Joette Thomas, R. Brown
{"title":"Because how we talk matters: using action inquiry to nurture a coaching culture","authors":"C. Sharp, Joette Thomas, R. Brown","doi":"10.1080/14767333.2022.2033022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14767333.2022.2033022","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This account explores the experience of an action inquiry approach to develop a coaching culture within a public service organisation. We position action inquiry as a fresh interpretation of action learning that draws on a variety of roots and traditions and focuses on the nurturing of the collective capacity to lead through everyday interactions. Working with an initial core group of staff, we expanded our reach through an iterative process to intentionally bring more people into the work. We show how we adapted our original plans to respond to the COVID pandemic, the use of stories to propel inquiry and playback insights into the inquiry process, how we deepened inquiry in some settings and how ultimately being online was an opportunity to connect people across a system that we had not anticipated. We share insights into the commissioning process and of the importance of internal sponsorship. It concludes with a striking, participant-led call to approach scaling differently by supporting the co-creation of local implementation strategies and sponsor confidence in the case to use this approach in more circumstances, where participants in action inquiry explore, rather than assume, what the organisation and its staff need.","PeriodicalId":44898,"journal":{"name":"Action Learning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42463316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}