Nineteenth International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations

Abstract

The story of action learning begins in the coalmines of Wales in the 1940’s when Reg Revans began exploring new ways of solving problems by involving the miners themselves rather than bringing in outside experts. Over the next 40 years, Revans practiced and wrote about action learning, bringing it to Europe, Asia and Australia. Jack Welch brought Action Learning to General Electric and the United States in the 1980’s. Action learning, however, was little known and practiced until several action learning books were published and conferences convened in the 1990’s. Through the efforts of organizations such as the International Federation of Action Learning and the World Institute for Action Learning, action learning quickly became the leadership development and problem solving methodology of thousands of corporations and government agencies around the world. Research on action learning continues to identify ever more powerful ways for action learning to be used in online, national and global settings. The session will explore the history of Action Learning, Action Learning in its present state, and provide predictions of Action Learning in the future. This session is significant because it identifies the main strengths, pitfalls and challenges of action learning to date and provides a future vision of its potential value/impact worldwide.