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The purpose of the paper is to assess the extent to which these practitioners ' perspectives and practices match Willis ' s conception of a Revans “gold standard” of action learning.

This study adopts a qualitative design and methodology based on interviews and the collection of cases or accounts of practice, and upon the analysis of both. This exploratory study draws on 24 cases of academic practice of action learning within higher education (HE) institutions in the UK and 21 cases drawn from practitioners in the UK National Health Service.

Whilst action learning is shown to be a context sensitive and protean methodology, the findings demonstrate that approaches to practice are not as divergent as anticipated. On the evidence of this study, many aspects of action learning practice remain rooted in the principles originally established by Revans, sometimes termed.

The limitations of this study stem from its exploratory nature using small samples in the NHS and HE sectors. Nonetheless, the results could stimulate further empirical research on approaches to the practice of action learning in a range of other contexts.

The study provides a basis on which practitioners can critically reflect on their own professional practices, and a means to review their own purposes in making use of action learning in their work situations.

The study extends earlier research by confirming the persistence of Revans Classical Principles in the present practice across two professional practice contexts.

This study aims to explore a self-managed action learning (SMAL) initiative undertaken by social work assessors in England, which led to insights into the practice of SMAL.

The paper draws upon the experience of the authors in relation to an actual SMAL intervention in a social care context in England.

The paper suggests that, in contrast to extant literature, it is not the absence of an “expert” facilitator, which has proved to be most challenging but rather dealing with the practicalities of managing inter-organisational sets online. Specific individual and inter-organisational learning came about as a result of the SMAL initiative, including the implementation of inter-organisational networking to support isolated assessors.

The ideas and perspectives discussed in this paper will be explored through further empirical research.

The paper illustrates how SMAL can be implemented and suggests how it can facilitate organisational and individual learning.

The paper discusses an initiative with the aim of better supporting assessors of newly qualified social workers; a task of enormous importance to the future of social work practice in England.

The paper contributes to a limited literature on the practice of SMAL. The uniqueness comes from both the multi-organisational aspect of the programme, that it is self-managed and delivered virtually.

The first three articles have been concerned with the substance, the conceptual context and the skills of negotiating. This final section is devoted to the ways and means of learning how to negotiate. Some relevant ideas on learning are discussed and a number of resources are listed to help those who are designing programmes in this area.

In the Western world, women make up more than 40% of the paid work‐force, yet most organizations are managed by men. Women's jobs are less skilled, lower paid, offer fewer possibilities for development, and confer less organizational power. At home the main responsibilities for child care and home‐making remain predominantly in female hands.

Reports some findings from the Developing the Developers report, in particular the high proportion of developers who differentiate training from development, and their reasons for so doing. Identify from the research the top ten approaches that developers see as important for the future. The authors summarize the issues addressed in their recent book, Self‐development: A Facilitator′s Guide, which include team building (first in frequency of being seen as important for the future in the AMED report), mentoring (second), coaching (third), self‐development (fourth), learning company (seventh), action learning (tenth). They suggest key issues related to each approach.

This research identifies factors which affect the unionisation of white collar workers and provides an analytical model for the use of practitioners in employee relations. The article is based on a study carried out at Sheffield City Polytechnic from 1974–1977. The research took a company or organisation‐level perspective rather than the national or industrial ones favoured by previous researchers. In an organisational context the union recognition process is one which creates a profound change in relationship between white collar staff and their employer; a change from what may be described as an “individualistic” to a more “collective” relationship.

This paper aims to provide an overview of the history, the present and the future or the learning organization as a concept and a practical approach, from the perspective of Professor John Burgoyne.

This conversation piece follows the development of the concept from its early days into the current debates and the possible directions for future development.

The interview highlights an interesting path the learning organization took in the UK, stemming from a drive for more and better management education, and evolving into a systemic view on various aspects of organizational capabilities, concerned primarily with organizational longevity and adaptability. The thinking behind Pedler, Burgoyne and Boydell’s model of a learning company is discussed. Several “hot” topics are identified, either overlooked in the past, or becoming more relevant in the modern world, precipitated by technological and societal changes.

The interview provides an insight into the thinking of one of the best known authors in the field. Understanding of the concept’s evolution path, as well as the influences from other fields such as innovation and CSR, could be useful for practitioners and academics working in the subject area, wishing to identify promising future directions for research and practice.

This article consists of four parts. The first part describes some of the forces in management and society in general which are supporting the move towards self‐developmental approaches to education and training. The second part suggests that managerial competencies and skills generally come about not through formal training but as a result of self developmental processes. Following this is a brief description of management self development — what it is and what it means in practice. The final section of the paper discusses the need for support in the self development process and suggests that support groups of learning communities go some way towards meeting this need.

In a report on two conferences concerned with “Applying Self‐development in Organisations”, the current position of the self‐development idea in management education and training is summarised. It is concluded that many management development practitioners have accepted the practical value of self‐development and are now concerned with attempting to apply the concept within organisations.

What strides have been made to increase the participation of women in the work force? Should we be concerned particularly about women's place in our industries and organisations, and if so, what can be done to improve it? This article outlines the aims, approaches, achievements and future plans of a group which has been involved for the past seven years in promoting the development of women through training as a means of improving the position of women in employment.