Judith Breen

Exploring criticality in management education through action learning

The field of management education has been the focus of much debate in recent times. Issues relating to the real world and a lack of relevancy in business schools have caused much of this debate. In particular, questions have been raised regarding why business schools should endeavour to bridge this relevancy gap? However, it is important to define what is meant by relevance. How we define relevance has implications for all stakeholders of management education. As a result, this raises questions about the content and process of management education. For example, how applicable are the alternative approaches to management education such as action learning. How does such an approach translate into the professional practice of educators? What are the benefits and challenges of engaging in such an approach? In particular, what impact does it have for both management educators and their students? When we question what and how we teach it has the potential to open up new questions to be explored and insights to be revealed. This paper reveals a side of management education that is ever present in the philosophy and practice of action-learning practitioners. By exploring the impact of their practice it can inform our understanding and shape future practice. Management education like all education should be open to such exploration. Such an exploration is both timely and relevant for todays educators, students, managers and ultimately society.

Shining a light

In this edition of the journal the following reviews include subjects such as Action Research, Researching Organisations, Work Applied Learning for Change, Leadership, Participative Transformation and Action Learning. A common objective from most of the books being reviewed includes shining a light on research and practice in the place of uncertainty. In the first review, Anne Graham Cagney reviews Coghlan and Brannick’s Doing Research in your own Organisation. The book is described as a ‘hybrid, combining theory with a practitioner’s reference, to provide a window into understanding the complexity, challenges and rewards of insider action research’. Mandy Chivers continues with this theme in her review of Jones’ Researching Organisations: The Practice of Organisational Fieldwork. It is a book that targets graduate-level researchers undertaking fieldwork in an organisational setting for the first time. Jim Stewart’s review of Abraham’s Work-Applied Learning for Change engages with the conceptual arguments for Work Applied Learning as a development of Work-Based Learning and for the fusion of Action Learning and Action Research. However, as noted in the book review, ‘the utility of the concepts and the models at the heart of the book is demonstrated more fully than their validity’. The next two reviews relate to leadership and change. Firstly, Phil Radcliffe reviews Dotlich, Cairo and Cowan’s The Unfinished Leader: Balancing Contradictory Answers to Unsolvable Problems. A book that opens the space for leaders to realise that leadership is often about thinking and inquiry as much as it is about action and solutions. Cathy Sharp in her review of Klev and Levin’s Participative Transformation: Learning and Development in Practising Change highlights how the book emphasises both the transformation of organisations and methods of participative change. Finally, Brian Milsom explores Zuber-Skerritt and Teare’s Lifelong Action Learning for Community Development: Learning and Development for a Better World. The book documents and evaluates the contribution that lifelong action learning has made in addressing global inequality and community development in various settings around the world, specifically in the context of developing nations. Such a book provides us with new insights and an opportunity to understand more about the action learning world in different contexts. A purpose for many of

The potential of powerful learning

This edition of the Journal includes five book reviews exploring topics such as action learning, conferences as sites of learning, action research, doing research in the business world and human resource management. A common theme in most of the reviews relates to the potential of powerful learning. We begin with Mike Bloodworth’s review of two booklets on action learning by George Boulden. The first of these, entitled Applications of Action Learning, A Practical Guide is described as providing an ‘easily digestible insight into action learning and how it can be used to facilitate organisational learning and change’. Bloodworth then continues with his review of Boulden’s second book Empowering Change through FacilitationBecome a Facilator, Help others to Help Themselves. He highlights how this book delves more deeply into individual personal development goals in parallel to in-plant projects. The next review by John Edmonstone is of Zuber-Skerritt’s Conferences as Sites of Learning and Development: using participatory action learning and action research approaches. Edmonstone in his review critiques the concept of conferences as sites of learning through participatory action learning and research. Maeve O’Grady then reviews Jean McNiff’s Action Research – All you need to know. O’Grady believes that the book demystifies the action research process and explains what is meant by ‘contribution to knowledge’ in a way that makes it relevant to action learners. Steve Marshall continues with the research theme in his review of David Gray’s Doing Research in the Business World. A book that illustrates the broad field of business research and enables the reader to rapidly contextualises and theoretically situate their work. In the final review Neil O’Sullivan reviews Jonathan Crawshaw etc al’s Human Resource Management. A book that provides learning from HRM practices and strategies but also provides opportunities for academics and practitioners to reflect on a range of challenges facing modern HRM. In summary most of the reviews in this edition relate to the potential of powerful learning in different contexts and fields of practice and how such learning might be realised.

Emphasing and enriching both episteme and techne

This edition of the Journal includes book reviews exploring topics such as leadership and organisations, managing change, creativity and innovation, coaching and social enterprise. A common theme in most of the reviews relates to the importance of both episteme and techne i.e. ‘knowingwhy’ and ‘knowing –how’. The first review by John Edmonstone is Dawson and Andriopoulos’s Managing Change, Creativity and Innovation. A book that sets out to interweave the processes of organisational change, creativity and innovation. However, in doing so Edmonstone asserts that it is a book that will enrich the individual’s ‘know-why’ understanding more so than the ‘knowhow’ understanding purported by action learning. Annie Yeadon–Lee explores further innovation and change in the context of leadership in her review of O’Reilly and Tushman’s Lead and Distrupt: How to Solve the Innovators Dilemma. Embracing the construct of ambidexterity to survive and prosper is explored. The authors present a set of principles that guide the organisation’s senior leadership as they learn the art of becoming ambidexterous. Mike Pedler continues with the topic of leadership in Bolden et al’s Leadership Paradoxes: Rethinking Leadership for an Uncertain World. The book sets out to appeal to leaders as well as students of leadership, and invites its readers to consider how best to act in perplexing situations. Pedler highlights that ‘the paradoxes of leadership can serve as a compass that may lead to new and surprising possibilities’. Deborah Humphreys reviews Chris Grey’s A Very Short Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book about Studying Organizations. The book according to Humphreys will aid individuals in their reflections of how organisations themselves contribute to systems of entitlement and disadvantage. Wyn Owen reviews Jones et al’s How to Coach your Team: Release Team Potential and hit Peak Performance. He recommends the book to a potential, new or inexperienced manager; packed as it is with loads of useful tools and activities which can be used with their team over time. However, Owen questions how they would decide which to use first and when they are best applied. The final review is by Christine Abbott of Duff and Bull’s Understanding Social Enterprise. Abbott describes the book’s potential for action learning practitioners as opening up opportunities to be explored in working with social enterprises and their readiness for action learning as an intervention. Overall most of the reviews in this edition relate to increasing our understanding and knowledge ‘episteme’ however in doing so the importance of ‘techne’ as in action learning will enrich our knowledge and understanding further.

Integration: challenges and opportunities

This edition of the journal includes book reviews from topics such as Action Research, Teaming, Organisational Change, Leadership and Professional Doctorates. A common theme in each book relates to the challenges and opportunities of integrating theory, practice and/or approaches. The first review by Mark Robson is McNiff’s Writing and Doing Action Research. In this third edition Robson highlights how McNiff addresses the why and how of action research in the context of changing times since the first book was published. In doing so Robson highlights that for McNiff action research is not just about improving practice, but is the generation of actionable, useful theory. The next review is by Giles Hindle of Coghlan et al.’s Organisational Change and Strategy: An Interlevel Approach. The book aims to be of practical value within the context of strategic thinking appealing to a readership ranging from managers, organisational development practitioners and students. Hindle highlights the important premise of the ‘interconnectness of the levels’ and its effect on how individuals and groups learn and change. Dan Doherty then reviews the subject of teaming in his review of Amy Edmondson’s Teaming: How Organisations Learn, Innovate and Compete in the Knowledge Economy. The book according to Doherty ‘provides a useful encapsulation of this scholar’s researches into organisation learning and teamwork over the past ten years, and locates her findings within an authorative but partial literature’. Jean Kellie continues with her review of Joe Raelin’s Leadership-as-Practice: Theory and Application which is described as having a strong theoretical basis and will appeal to academics concerned with the discursive and practice turn in the social sciences, leadership, action learning and action research. Kellie also highlights how the book succeeds in making a persuasive case for ‘leadership as practice’ as an emerging paradigm for research, theory and practice. The final review by Tom Bourner explores in his review the field of professional doctorates in Business and Management. He reviews Anderson et al.’s A Guide to Professional Doctorates in Business and Management. A book written for anyone thinking of embarking on or engaged in a Professional Doctorate in Business Administration, and those involved in supervising and delivering such programmes. He sees the potential of much in the book as transferring to actionbased professional doctorates in other subjects. Overall most of the reviews in this edition identify the challenges and opportunities of the integration of approaches for learning and practice in the field. In doing so the benefits of such integration can then be realised.

Macro- and micro-level perspectives of learning

The reviews in this edition of the Journal range over the topics of the learning society, training, leadership, coaching and action learning. The first two reviews relate to books which explore learning from different perspectives. At the macro-level Mike Pedler reviews Joseph Stiglitz and Bruce Greenwald’s Creating a Learning Society: A New approach to Growth, Development, and Social Progress. The core concern of the book is related to industrial and public policy on learning, and how to organise to maximise this in societies and economies. The relevance to the action learning community according to Pedler is ‘that learning should be at the heart of public policy and debate and is something that concerns us both as citizens and as professionals aspiring to contribute to social enhancement’. Jane Dowson continues with the theme of learning and training albeit at a microlevel in which she reviews Emma Weber’s Turning Learning into Action. She highlights that the purpose of the book is to introduce the Turning Learning into Action methodology (TLA) as a new approach to an old problem: that of ineffective training which fails to deliver real-world results and benefits back into organisations. The review explores how the book challenges traditional formulaic approaches to procedural and declarative learning. The next three reviews relate to leadership and coaching. John Edmonstone reviews Nick Obolensky’s Complex Adaptive Leadership: Embracing Paradox and Uncertainty. The book is described as offering a much deeper understanding of the ways in which both the global and micro-level forces of chaos and complexity affect organisational evolution and the importance of adaptive leadership. Thomas Hoyland’s review of Geoff Mead’s Telling the Story: The Heart and Soul of Successful Leadership is a book with a heartfelt message to challenge leaders to break with the past and imagine a better future. As noted in the review the book endeavours to educate people as to how stories shape us and our organisations. Mary Holmes reviews Peter Hawkins’ Leadership and Team Coaching in Practice. It is a book that draws on practical experience, grounded in a depth of analysis and a range of theories for those who live and work with teams. Finally, Eileen Henderson reviews Skipton Leonard and Arthur Freedman’s Great Solutions Through Action Learning: Success Everytime. The book is aimed at Action Learning Team Coaches (ALTC) and is reviewed as being well referenced and having a focus strongly on the relationship between learning and problem solving. However, Henderson concludes that the book is centred more on this performative ethos than relating to personal growth and achievement of human potential. Overall the reviews in this edition of the journal explore the macroand micro-environments of practice and what we can learn from each perspective.

Reflecting back to the future

In this edition of the journal, the following reviews include subjects such as Capitalism American Pragmatism, Occupy Management and Leadership. A common theme from all the reviews includes reflecting back on the past as we go forward in the future. In the first review, John Edmonstone reviews Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty First Century. The book concentrates on the ‘grand dynamics’ of economic and social change over the longer term and is as much about a work of history as it is of economics. Edmonstone in his review emphasises where the links with action learning might be from a critical perspective. Mike Pedler continues with this theme in his review of Kelemen and Rumens’s American Pragmatism and Organisation: Issues and Controversies. The book explores the ideas of American Pragmatism in relation to theory, context and application. Pedler commends such endeavours to illuminate the field but highlights the lack of a concerted development of new ideas whilst doing so. The next review by Nicholas Snowden is Kostera’s Occupy Management! Inspirations and Ideas for Self-organization and Self-management. The book engages in the debate to re-cast and re-invent management in a way that privileges social and humanistic goals over financial ones. As noted in the review, the book provides an enjoyable experience in thinking, in learning through reflection and in what might be done to improve our world. The next three reviews relate to leadership but each in a distinctive way. Firstly, Annie Yeadon-Lee reviews Marquardt’s Leading with Questions – How Leaders Find the Right Solutions by Knowing What to Ask. The book addresses the concepts of questions and our ability to both ask and avoid asking questions. A contextual and practical viewpoint is also included and is deemed useful to differing audiences as it addresses how the premise of the book relates to action learning. Mary Holmes reviews De Haan and Kasozi’s The Leadership Shadow: How to Recognise and Avoid Derailment, Hubris and Overdrive. She highlights how the book offers stimulating discussion and some practical models that could be introduced to encourage individuals to reflect on both process and behaviour. Holmes acknowledges the complexity of the topic but also how invaluable the book is to those developing leadership in their organisations. Finally, Neil O’Sullivan reviews Zehndorfer’s Leadership: A Critical Introduction. This is a book that takes you on a journey of leadership theories and practice. However, as noted by O’Sullivan, the book will get you to ‘the foothills of leadership’ but will require access to more

Thinking differently for deeper action

In this edition of the journal, the following reviews cover subjects such as Dialogic Organisation Development, Reflective Practice, Management Research and Action Learning for Sustainability. A unifying theme from most of the books being reviewed includes thinking different for deeper action. Firstly, Chris Blantern reviews Bushe and Marshak’s Dialogic Organization Development: The Theory and Practice of Transformational Change. It is a substantial book that examines the developments in theory and practice of ‘Dialogue’ in the context of organisation development and change. Blantern highlights how the book encourages us to think differently about organisations. He sees that ‘overall the book serves as a useful collation of the kinds of thinking and practice of organizational change predicated on the relatively recent stance that views organisations not so much as entities but rather as clusters of social interactions’. Julia Claxton continues with this theme of thinking differently in her review of Gillie Bolton’s Reflective Practice. The book is described as one in which action learning practitioners will find helpful in relation to their facilitation skills. It encourages practitioners to consider how we can use writing within action learning as a tool for deeper reflection. The next review by Jean Kellie is Bell and Thorpe’s A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book about Management Research. The book is seen as a valuable addition to the established series of books. It invites the reader to think beyond philosophies, paradigms and methods and asks the deeper question of ‘What kind of a Management Researcher are you? Finally, Mike Pedler reviews Jonas Egmose’s Action Learning for Sustainability: Social Imagination between Citizens and Scientists, a book that tells the story of a three-year community engagement project on urban sustainability. A gift from the book as Pedler emphasises is to remind and encourage us that we need more optimism of the will to balance out our critical tendencies. As such he believes that ‘Action Learning for Sustainability would need all of us to start thinking bigger again and encourage everyone else to join us’. Overall the message from many of the reviews in this edition involves thinking differently for deeper action in the context of organisations, research, practice and ultimately society.

The importance of content and context

The scholarly and pragmatic review of books has remained an important part of the journal. As we assume the editorship of book reviews for Action Learning: Research and Practice, we take this oppor...

Challenging and questioning insights

In this edition of the journal the following reviews include subjects such as trends and issues in action learning practice, cross-cultural management, alternative organisations, leadership, goal focused coaching, to the field of research methods for human resources. A common theme from all the reviews includes the challenging and questioning of both theory and practice in particular fields. Such questioning relates to exploring alternatives as to how we conduct our practice and research. This is also compatible with the ethos of the Journal and action learning per se. The first two reviews in particular relate to action learning. Mike Marquardt’s review of Schein’s Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking Instead of Telling highlights how this book is perhaps the most valuable book an action learning professional could discover. He commends how ‘Schein has captured the essential ingredient in action learning; namely placing the focus on asking rather than telling, on caring rather than commanding’. Bob Mc Kenzie continues with this theme in his review of Cho and Bong’s Trends and Issues in Action Learning Practice: Lessons from South Korea. The book raises important issues about introducing action learning to suit specific countries, cultures, and contexts. He raises the question about how this book can help us to make a difference in our respective action learning worlds beyond the borders of South Korea. John Edmonstone also welcomes the reflexivity of Patel’s Cross-Cultural Management: A Transactional Approach which calls into question how we relate to others across different cultures. He emphasises the usefulness of this book for anyone who engages in international work – as a manager, a professional, or as an action learning set facilitator. Paul Illes continues this questioning theme as he reviews Parker et al.’s The Routledge Companion to Alternative Organization. He explores alternative forms of organising and organisations which he believes will help ‘stimulate research and practice into creating and reviving alternative models and organisational possibilities to conventional models’. The next review relates to leadership. John Lawler reviews April et al.’s book on Steward Leadership: A Maturational Perspective, which promotes a more reflective and developmental approach to leadership away from the more individualistic, competitive approaches. He notes that the book is an interesting text but lacks detail on the research, which provides its foundation. Mary Holmes reviews David et al.’s Beyond Goals: Effective Strategies for Coaching