Abstract
The phenomenal growth of management education in the last two decades has been accompanied by much controversy. Critics consider that business schools tend to concentrate on theory and on quantitative analysis, while neglecting interpersonal relationships and qualitative thinking. It is often stated that management education should be experience-based, active, problem oriented and modified by feedback. The extent to which Action Learning meets these criteria is discussed in this paper. The difference between Action Learning and other types of management education is stressed.
Attention is drawn to Action Learning programmes that have been conducted in Belgium, in the United Kingdom and in Australia.
Various difficulties that may be encountered in introducing Action Learning to management schools are described and some strategies for overcoming these difficulties are suggested.
The paper mentions problems connected with evaluating Action Learning programmes and suggests that Action Learning may be useful in management education.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beck, J. and Cox, C. (1980), Advances in Management Education. Chichester: John Wiley.
Behrman, J.N. and Levin, R.I. (1984), Are business schools doing their Job?, Harvard Business Review 1, 140–147.
Boddy, D. (1980), Some issues in the design of Action Learning programmes, in Beck, J. and Cox, C. (1980), Advances in Management Education. Chichester: John Wiley.
Carr, C. (1979), Action Learning and public administration: recent trends from Britain, Politics 14(1), 97–100.
Casey, D. and Pearce, D. (eds) (1977), More Than Management Development. Farnborough: Amacom.
Fiedler, F.E. (1967), A Theory of Leadership Effectiveness. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Forrester, P. (1982), A Study of the Practical Use of the M.B.A. Windsor: British Institute of Management.
Foy, N. (1977), Action Learning comes to industry, Harvard Business Review, September–October, 158–168.
Foy, N. (1978), The Missing Links: British Management Education in the Eighties. Oxford Foundation for Management Education.
Garratt, B. (1977), Don't call me teacher, in Casey, D. and Pearce, D. (eds) More Than Management Development. Farnborough: Amacom.
Gilbert, R.V. (1978), Organizational change in a public bureaucracy through a staff development programme, Human Resource Management Australia, Summer, 26–34.
Hayes, R.H. and Abernathy, W.J. (1980), Managing our way to economic decline, Harvard Business Review, July–August, 67–77.
Inquiry into Management Education Report (1982), Chairman J.T. Ralph, Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
James, R.K. (1984). Environmental education at Kansas State University, in Knowles, M.S. and Associates, Andragogy in Action. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Joyce, L. (1977), Evaluation of Training: A Study in the Irish Public Service. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration.
Knowles, M.S. (1978), The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species. Houston: Gulf.
Knowles, M.S. and Associates (1984), Andragogy in Action. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Kolb, D.A., Rubin, I.M. and McIntyre, J.M. (1984), Organizational Psychology. Fourth edition, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Lawlor, A. (1983), The components of Action Learning, in Pedler, M. (ed) Action Learning in Practice. Aldershot: Gower.
Leavitt, H.J. (1972), Managerial Psychology. Third edition, Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Lewis, A. and Marsh, W. (1987), Action Learning: the development of field managers in the Prudential Assurance company, Journal of Management Development U.K. 6, 45–56.
Limerick, D., Cunnington, B. and Trevor-Roberts, B. (1984), Frontiers of Excellence. Brisbane: Australian Institute of Management.
Lupton, T. (1983), Management and the Social Sciences. Third edition, Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Mintzberg, J. (1975), The manager's job: Folklore and fact, Harvard Business Review, July–August, 19–61.
MacNamara, M. and Weekes, W.H. (1982), The Action Learning model of experiential learning for developing managers, Human Relations 35 (10), 879–902.
MacNamara, M. (1985), Action Learning and organizational development, Organizational Development Journal 3 (2), 10–15.
McNulty, N.G. (1979). Management Development by Action Learning, Training and Development Journal 33, 12–18.
Nonaka, I. and Johansson J. (1985). Japanese management: what about the ‘hard’ skills?, Academy of Management Review 10 (2), 181–191.
Owen, T. (1971), Business School Programmes: The Requirements of British Manufacturing Industry. London: British Institute of Management.
Pedler, M. (ed) (1983), Action Learning in Practice. Aldershot: Gower.
Peters, T.J. and Waterman, R.H. (1982). In Search of Excellence. New York: Harper and Row.
Perry, C. and Euler, T. (1985), Experiental learning and management education, Higher Education Research and Development 4 (2), 183–192.
Pike, J. (1983), Action Learning on an academic course, in Pedler, M. (ed) Action Learning in Practice. Aldershot: Gower.
Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Postgraduate Education for Management (1970). Canberra: AGPS.
Revans, R.W. (1971), Developing Effective Managers. New York: Praeger.
Revans, R.W. (1976), Management education: time for a rethink, Personnel Management, July, 8 (7), 20–24.
Revans, R.W. (1976), Action learning — a management development programme, Personnel Review, 1, 36–44.
Revans, R.W. (1980), Action Learning. London: Blond and Briggs.
Revans, R.W. (1983), Action Learning, its terms and characters, M.D., 21, 1, 39–50.
Seekings, D. (1987), Allied Irish Bank in Britain: organisational and business development through Action Learning, Leadership and Organization Development 8 (5), 26–31.
Stanton, H.E. (1985), Ego-state reframing as a tool in staff development, Higher Education Research and Development 4(2), 175–181.
Weekes, W.H. (1980), Action Learning: an open system approach to management education, Human Resource Management Australia 18 (3), 9–13.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
MacNamara, M., Meyler, M. & Arnold, A. Management education and the challenge of action learning. High Educ 19, 419–433 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00137006
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00137006