Action Learning: Executive Development of Choice for the 1990s

Abstract

Action learning is a unique organizational learning process that involves a non‐traditional instructional approach and mindset. It is similar to the case method, in that it was designed as a managerial learning process. It was introduced by Reg Revans and first referenced as early as 1945, in a report on the British coal mining industry, recommending the establishment of a staff college for the industry in which field managers would be encouraged to learn with and from each other using group review to find solutions to immediate problems. Today it is growing in acceptance and use around the world, as evidenced by its successes at General Electric, Prudential Assurance, the University of Michigan Global Leadership Program, Harvard Business School, along with numerous others. It is used as a managerial learning process, involving teams who are resolving problems, the solutions to which are passed to clients who are themselves learning processes and relevant information valuable for future problem‐solving episodes. When projects and teams are selected appropriately, the body of institutional knowledge and the pace of strategic organizational learning is accelerated in user‐organizations through the action learning process.