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In contrast to predominantly academic approaches to learning, action learning based qualifications emphasise learning centered upon the workplace. By facilitating a process by which workplace learning is conceptualized and placed in an academic context, action learning based qualifications are well suited to provide a link between academic knowledge of core managerial disciplines and the context within which such skills are demonstrated. This paper outlines a credit mapping approach developed by the IMC Association which enables workplace and professional development courses to form the basis of certificated awards at the Action Learning Certificate in Management Studies (Action Learning CMS) level. The strength of the approach is that it addresses the demand for adaptive and responsive adult educational provision which is not restricted by the site of learning or the age or circumstances of the student. An important caveat is that the rules and guidance by which credit can be accumulated and transferred are vitally important in order to facilitate understanding of the process, coherent patterns of study for students and to safeguard academic standards. The process of credit mapping and validating workplace learning has the potential to improve access to higher postgraduate awards and add value to both the consumer and supplier of workplace training courses.

Action learning is a term that is used with a wide range of meanings: from an equivalent term for experiential learning to a philosophy of learning. This chapter takes the latter position and focuses on action learning as a scholarly activity. The chapter has two main sections. In the first part the breadth and depth of action learning is introduced: its variations and applications are discussed. The second part explores how action learning is at the cutting edge of engaging practitioners in real change and at the development of scholar–practitioners and actionable knowledge of how organizations change, how it offers a modality of an action-oriented approach to inquiry that accords with contemporary paradigms of useful and relevant research, its contribution to organization and management theory comes through how critical action learning engages with issues of power and social relations and through its critique of management education.

Reflecting on 25 years of collaborating in action learning research initiatives in interorganizational settings, the authors have framed three key theoretical contributions: (1) a formula for action learning in networks, (2) the notion of action learning research, and (3) the application of action learning research in networks. This chapter reviews how each of these three key theoretical contributions emerged as insights and were developed over time through three large-scale funded interorganizational action learning projects. The chapter provides insights into the process of theorizing as the authors show how these frameworks emerged through inquiry into experience and were consolidated through collaborative action as practice-based research, research as practice, and practice as research toward designed-in impact.

The chapter describes and reflects upon an EU-funded research initiative, TRADEIT, which has attempted to develop a learning network among European traditional food producers as one way of contributing to the economic sustainability of the ventures, the social sustainability of the food’s regional character and the environmental sustainability of food production through the use of traditional methods.

The chapter describes TRADEIT before moving on to an exploration of learning in organizations and networks. It outlines the action learning research methodology developed and implemented to explore the development of a learning network in TRADEIT. A single case history is presented to illustrate the engagement of a small food producer in the network.

The discussion reflects on the application of action learning in supporting sustainability evident in TRADEIT.

The chapter focuses on the application of action learning in the development of a learning network among traditional food producers across Europe.

Being acquainted with both lean and action learning in theory and in practice, this study finds that the theoretical complementarity of these two research streams has traditionally been underexploited. In this conceptual paper, this study aims to advance the theoretical understanding of lean by exploring the complementarity of lean thinking and action learning leading to a proposed integrated theory of these two research streams. Target audience is the operations management research community.

By deliberately adopting a process of theorising, this paper explores, reflects upon and combines individual experiences of researching, teaching and engaging in lean and action learning as operations management scholars.

Having taken a gemba walk through the literature and practices of lean and action learning, this study views and notices a systematic and complementary relationship between the two domains. The overlapping theoretical and practical complementarities of lean and action learning suggest that these two research streams are ripe for synthesis into an integrated theory. This finding provides an opportunity to (1) progress towards an integrative design of interventions leading to more sustainable lean system adoptions and (2) add new depth to our theoretical explanation of the success and failures of lean system adoptions.

This paper contributes an original integrated theory perspective on lean and action learning.

Action learning is a unique organizational learning process that involves a non‐traditional instructional approach and mindset. It is similar to the case method, in that it was designed as a managerial learning process. It was introduced by Reg Revans and first referenced as early as 1945, in a report on the British coal mining industry, recommending the establishment of a staff college for the industry in which field managers would be encouraged to learn with and from each other using group review to find solutions to immediate problems. Today it is growing in acceptance and use around the world, as evidenced by its successes at General Electric, Prudential Assurance, the University of Michigan Global Leadership Program, Harvard Business School, along with numerous others. It is used as a managerial learning process, involving teams who are resolving problems, the solutions to which are passed to clients who are themselves learning processes and relevant information valuable for future problem‐solving episodes. When projects and teams are selected appropriately, the body of institutional knowledge and the pace of strategic organizational learning is accelerated in user‐organizations through the action learning process.

This paper reviews the concept of action learning with reference to the classic texts by Reg Revans and texts that are likely to become classics, such as recent studies from the UK, Germany, Austria, South Africa, Australia, North America and Latin America. Action learning is now an international field and this paper draws widely from this field. The paper focuses on defining the concept of action learning and revealing its underlying philosophical assumptions. The terminology, features and success factors of an action learning program are also considered.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a conceptual framework for work-applied learning (WAL) that fosters the development of managers and other professionals as lifelong learners and practitioner researchers – through reflective practice, action research, action learning and action leadership, for positive organisational change.

The theoretical framework is designed from a holistic, affective-socio-cognitive approach to learning, teaching, research and development. It is based on a phenomenological research paradigm and informed by aspects of various theories, including experiential learning theory, strengths-based theory, grounded theory and critical theory/realism.

Based on classical and recent literature and the authors’ extensive experience, the WAL model presented here is an effective and practical approach to management education, research and development. It is useful for present and future requirements of business, industry, government and society at large in this twenty-first century, and in pursuit of a world of equality, social justice, sustainable development and quality of life for all. This is because of the nature of the research paradigm, particularly its collaborative and emancipatory processes.

This paper provides a theoretical, pedagogical and methodological rationalisation for WAL. This model is particularly useful for developing individual, team and organisational learning and for cultivating managers – or professional learners generally – as practitioner researchers. These researchers may act as role models of collaborative action leadership in their organisations with a cascading effect. This paper therefore advances an incipient literature on practitioner researchers as action leaders.