This paper adds to the body of evidence demonstrating the efficacy of action learning to achieve measurable progress toward sustainability goals. It supports prior assertions that action and reflection develop the conditions of "awareness," "agency" and "association" required to develop the circular economy. The early…

We discuss an innovative action-learning course co-developed by the University of Northern British Columbia, the Prince George Chamber of Commerce (Canada) and local businesses. The Carbon and Energy Management course is an undergraduate/graduate course initiated by the Chamber to address an interest in climate change amongst local…

Human resource development professionals in Higher Education are continually striving to develop efficient interventions to increase the capabilities of their leaders. As a result of evaluating feedback from an action learning (AL) programme designed and delivered in North West Higher Education Institutions in the UK for women in senior academic…

This paper reports the historical foundation of Northeastern University's course, LDR 6100: Developing Your Leadership Capability, a partial literature review of action learning (AL) and virtual action learning (VAL), a course methodology of LDR 6100 requiring students to apply leadership perspectives using VAL as instructed by the author,…

The article describes the experience of forming a set in a higher education institution and offers some observations and insights gained from the perspectives of the role of the set adviser, cultural differences and the challenges of attempting to align theory, practice and experience.

This account of practice describes the introduction of an accredited postgraduate management qualification which used action learning as a major contribution to a blended learning approach in a fragile cross-border setting on the edge of Europe. Conventional management education has frequently been challenged on the grounds of relevance, efficacy…

This paper presents research with small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners who have participated in a leadership development programme. The primary focus of this paper is on learning transfer and factors affecting it, arguing that entrepreneurs must engage in "action" in order to "learn" and that under certain conditions…

The question addressed in this paper is whether action learning as a management development technique can be more effective in promoting ethical decision-making than more traditional approaches. Recent examples of moral failures which have emerged in both corporate and public sector organisations in the UK during recent years have prompted a…

This article provides an account of self-managed action learning (SMAL), where it came from and how it has been implemented in practice. Self-managed action learning offers a way of realising action learning without the continuing presence of a set advisor in set meetings to facilitate the process. It enables participants to manage and facilitate…

The aim of this article is to explore several decades of experience of action learning and to distil lessons from that experience that are worth sharing with other practitioners. The method is to systematically collect the experiential data within three categories (sense-based, affective and cognitive data), interrogate them to draw out lessons…

Complex, systemic issues continue to challenge public services without respect for organisational and professional boundaries. In practice, collaborative working with others who have differing professional cultural norms and systems confront members with the need to learn about each other's values, priorities and practices. This paper explores the…

This article aims to provide insights into a series of events in a higher education institution and their impact on the workings of an action learning set in one academic school within the institution. In doing so, it examines the relationship between programmed knowledge, questioning and reflection, originally postulated by Revans and suggests…

The Student Placements for Entrepreneurs in Education (SPEED) project ran in 12 higher education institutes in the UK between 2006 and 2008, providing an innovative, action learning-based route that enabled students to start new business ventures as self-started work experience, and has influenced successor programmes. The paper addresses three…

This paper explores the role of "action" in entrepreneurial learning and illustrates how programs designed to support action learning can enhance management development in entrepreneurial businesses. The paper begins by exploring action learning and the way "action" is conceived in different types of program. In the second part, the paper details…

We report upon implementing blended self-managed action learning (SMAL) within graduate and postgraduate courses in digital entrepreneurship. In four out of five cases, we found that SMAL was highly motivating to our learners and integrated well with a blended and flexible approach to learning. We report a case where a SMAL set broke down due to…