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Examines recent changes in further education colleges and colleges’ greater responsiveness to the needs of employers and students. Explores the development of a model of responsiveness, the main ways in which responsiveness is changing and future directions for colleges. Concludes that colleges’ responsiveness to employer needs will continue to be influenced by financial and commercial decisions, and the needs of wider communities.

This paper outlines the action learning approach in adult education. To begin, it cites some definitions of action learning and describes the characteristics of this andragogical model through contrasting the common barriers and the benefits. The concept of questioning insight is dealt with in the learning equation. The social aspects of learning from each other in a set environment have been emphasized. With the advent of new technology, the future of action learning is highly promising to the learners, their employers, the education providers and the society. Some useful Web sites are included for those who want to approach learning more about the action learning approach.

The last in a series of four articles that seeks to answer questions about the domains of applicability of action learning. Aims to reach some conclusions about where and when action learning is most appropriate. The authors reflect on their own experience as action learning participants and set advisers to identify the conditions which best support action learning. Offers suggestions for those people who may be considering setting up action learning sets within their own organization. Concludes that action learning works best when the prevailing organizational culture is congruent with that of the action learning sets.

Offers a fresh perspective on action learning by looking at how action learning is experienced by the action learning participants themselves. Does this by asking the members of five action learning sets on their reflections on the feelings and outcomes of being an action learning set member.

The third in a series of four articles that seeks to answer questions about the applicability of action learning. Aims to look at what can be learned using action learning; and seeks to identify what can be best learned by action learning and what is best learned by other methods. Concludes that action learning is most likely to produce learning that is personal, situational and emergent. It is less likely to be learning that can be closely specified in advance or is skill based. Action learning is most valuable for higher level professional development (i.e. developing excellence) and less useful for the development of foundation skills (i.e. developing competence) where instruction and training remain more important.

This paper aims to argue that action learning can contribute to organizational learning and increased organizational performance. The author seeks to propose that an action learning approach can enable organizations to shift their mindsets to turn problems into opportunities and find genuinely new ways of looking at challenges.

This paper discusses the concept of action learning and looks at how Alliance Healthcare UK (formerly UniChem), the leading UK pharmaceutical distributor, and Hiscox, the UK‐based insurance company, have used it to help develop new ways of thinking and to address challenges within their organizations.

The action learning approach can help create a dynamic culture of innovation and collaboration, in which individuals and groups adopt a mindset of questioning and sharing the problem‐solving process.

The paper offers practical tips to help readers facilitate action learning in their own organizations.

Action learning is an exciting concept that has spread around the world following pioneering work by Professor Reg Revans who introduced the process after the Second World War. It is an on‐the‐job learning programme that enables managers in groups from diverse organisational backgrounds to work together to solve real problems, that have not previously been solved, in host organisations. Wlth the aid of a facilitator, the process draws on thc knowledge, skill and experience of participants and relies on their further questioning of the situation to evolve actions that are observed and further reviewed. Through this combination of programmed knowledge and questioning, not only are solutions evolved but, more importantly, the managers learn in a most effective way about how to improve their management skills.

Presents a methodology for the design of a learning approach to service quality improvement. Considers the strengths of “action learning”, noting some of the major companies which have utilized this approach, including the British Airports Authority and AT&T. Looks at a typical action learning program which involves aspects such as tackling real problems and working in small groups or “sets”, and notes benefits such as the fact that the programs can be designed to suit the organization and that the brightest people in the company can be challenged to solve critical problems.

Organizational learning is depicted most frequently as an intra‐organizational information processing activity, but the role that experience plays in the development of organizational knowledge has recently become a more central focus of learning theories. The two primary perspectives on organizational learning present strikingly different depictions of the relationship between action and learning: systems‐structural models based on positivist epistemological assumptions emphasize internally‐directed information collection and distribution activities aimed at reducing uncertainty; interpretive models utilize an interpretivist epistemology that emphasizes the necessity of taking action in ambiguous circumstances as a means of creating knowledge. Proposes that neither of these alternative views of organizational learning describe how learning outcomes vary as a consequence of different types of action and that, specifically, previous models of organizational learning have not emphasized the critical role that creative actions play in the development of organizational knowledge. Delineates assumptions which serve to legitimize creative action taking within organizational contexts, and describes the learning outcomes which result from creative and routine actions. Extends previous models of organizational learning which emphasize cognition and communication processes by distinguishing the varied influences that different actions have on the production of knowledge.

Reviews many of the published studies of the application of action‐learning strategies to management and executive development in North American organizations. Concludes that there are few meaningful examples of action learning that have been analysed for their organizational or developmental effects. Examples that are published seem to assess action learning more for its team‐building applications, with little attention being paid to using this process to facilitate individual or organizational learning.