Action Learning and Its Applications Book

List of Tables, Figures, Boxes and Illustrations xii

Preface xiv

Acknowledgements xix

Notes on Contributors xxi

Part I Sector Overviews

1 Action Learning in Health care Cheryl Brook 3

Introduction 3

Background: The U.K. National Health Service 4

Action learning practice in the NHS 5

Some limitations and difficulties 7

Action learning in an NHS Trust: A case example 8

Discussion 11

Conclusion 12

2 Action Learning in Education Robert L. Dilworth 15

Introduction 15

The context within which action learning occurs in the United States 16

Action learning in secondary school systems 17

Action learning programs in higher education 23

Conclusion 38

3 Transformative Action Learning in the U.S. Government Robert Kramer James L. Kelly 43

Introduction 43

The US$4 billion comprehensive exam 45

The problem 46

Enter Chinook 47

Results 49

Transformative learning 53

4 Action Learning in the Military Robert L. Dilworth 55

Introduction 55

Some case examples 56

The Army as a learning organization 61

Conclusion 66

5 Action Learning in the Business World: Past, Present, and Future Yury Boshyk 68

What kind of action learning? And what does the term mean? 68

Reg Revans and “traditional” action learning in the business world 69

The “Americanization” of action learning in the business community 71

Action Reflection Learning™ (ARL): Swedish and U.S. Variations 74

Business driven action learning 77

The future of action learning in the business community 86

6 Action Learning, Community, and Civil Society Verna J. Willis 99

Introduction 99

Identifying agents of action learning 100

Civil society 102

Community development 103

Action learning and “development work” 104

The critical realism of action learning 105

Further examples 109

Action learning as a beacon for civil society 110

Conclusion 112

Part II Themes

7 The Practical Primacy of Questions in Action Learning Marilee G. Adams 119

Introduction 119

Action learning and the primacy of questions 120

Revans on learning and questions 121

The power and purposes of questions 123

The importance of questions “versus” answers 123

Questions, learning, and reflection 125

Linking questions with action and results 125

A team discovers missed questions 128

Conclusion 129

8 Process in Action Learning Teams: Similarities and Variations Michael Huge John W. Bing 131

Introduction 131

The nature of teams 131

Action learning teams as a distinct subcategory of teams 133

Examining process within action learning teams 134

Process as mediated by culture on action learning teams 138

Conclusion 142

9 Action Learning and Organization Development W. Warner Burke Debra A. Noumair 144

Problems of definition 144

Comparing action learning and organization development 147

A special case of action learning 149

Conclusion 152

10 Action Learning and the Learning Organization: Building Learning Capacity in Individuals, Groups and Organizations Judy O'Neil Karen E. Watkins Victoria J. Marsick 154

Our approach to action learning 155

Individual level of the learning organization 155

Team level of the learning organization 158

Organization level of the learning organization 160

Conclusion 163

11 Action Learning and Action Research Verna J. Willis 166

A few important fundamentals 166

Pioneer figures and their orientations 168

Exemplars for comparison of action learning and action research 171

Easy lessons from the examples 174

Charting “news of difference” between action learning and action research 175

12 Future Search as Action Learning Marvin R. Weisbord Sandra Janoff 179

Kurt Lewin's legacy 179

A short history of future search principles 181

Future search as a learning model 183

A philosophy and theory of facilitating 185

Future search as a cross-cultural phenomenon 185

Case study: Children of Southern Sudan 185

Results and critical factors 188

Learning from a learning event 189

Crossing cultures is counterintuitive, unless… 189

Conclusion: A comment on the “future” 190

Part III Perspectives

13 Action Learning through the Lens of Action Learners Robert L. Dilworth Verna J. Willis Karen M. Videtec Mariana Garban Lillie Graham Sapp Marvin R. Weisbord Fran Szabo Judy O'Neil Victoria J. Marsick Karen E. Watkins Sandra Janoff Isabel Rimanoczy 195

My friend Reg 195

Experiencing action learning (my thoughts) 197

Adventures in action learning 199

A view from Romania 201

Action learning for a lifetime 202

Learning by doing, doing by learning 203

My experiences with action learning 205

Our experiences in action learning 207

My action learning experiences 208

Revans' legacy 209

Experience of action learners 209

14 From the Frying Pan to the Fire - And Back Again: An Action Learning Story from General Electric Stephen R. Mercer 211

Part I: The frying pan 211

Part II: The fire 217

Epilogue: The frying pan again 223

15 My Experience with Business Driven Action Learning Alasdair Philip 226

Foundations of learning 227

Our organization 228

“Outside-in” perspectives 228

Our external environment 228

Value creation 288

Leadership 229

16 Making Space for Reflection in Action Learning Geert R. Egger 231

So, what is the problem? 232

Making space for reflection 235

Conclusion: A final reflection 240

17 Action Reflection Learning: Tales of Two Journeys Isabel Rimanoczy Victoria J. Marsick 242

Victoria Marsick's story 243

Isabel Rimanoczy's story 247

18 Looking to the Future of Action Learning Robert L. Dilworth 256

Introduction 256

The strategic view 257

The basic context 258

Meeting the challenge 259

The issue of problem diagnosis versus implementation of solutions 266

A suggested future state for action learning 269

Conclusion 274

Appendix: Robert L. Dilworth: His Life and Legacy (1936-2009) Verna J. Willis 276

Glossary Robert L. Dilworth 286

Index 295