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The purpose of this paper is the presentation of a learning model for a manager and employee working collaboratively to make advances in knowledge, skills, work performance and in the quality of their relationship. The model is called reciprocal action learning.

The approach was to examine concepts and research that could be linked to reciprocal learning. Desired, ultimately, was creation of a proposal that put forth an explanation of manager–employee learning and a means for placing the effort into practice. Theories and concepts are identified in support of the learning approach and its functioning. Action or experiential learning was identified as the vehicle for implementation.

Substantive, supportive information was identified in the expression of a practical action plan for a manager to use to spring reciprocal learning to life.

The action plan set forth can serve as a model or template for a manager, particularly those managers with little experience in guiding employee learning. Initial use of the concepts and action plan could be regarded as an experiment and could set the stage for additional, more informed efforts at reciprocal learning.

While much empirical and other research addresses employee learning and management/manager learning, there is very little research or material available regarding how a manager and an employee can directly learn together in working on an issue (problem, change, improvement, etc.) in a collaborative fashion that embraces equality.

The purpose of this essay is the provision of a conceptual approach for a manager-as-coach to use for instructional purposes with an employee. Using scenistic materials (cases, incidents, stories), the aim of the essay is to assist the practitioner apply a practical and relatively adaptable instructional approach. While it is intended for application with a single employee, the approach, with modifications, may be used in a small group environment.

The methodology was directed to the study of manager-as-coach, application of a class of instructional tools, theories of constructivism and situated cognition and the joint (manager–employee) implementation of an action guide aimed at learning and performance improvement. Review and coordination of these areas resulted in a detailed guide for action.

Use of scenistic materials for instructional purposes adds to the repertoire of tools for a manager desiring to act in a coaching capacity. A step-by-step program of activities is offered for practical application. Created for experimentation and use is a research result-driven practical guide/action plan.

The design of the approach expressed requires the manager-as-coach to prepare for instruction and participate in it to the extent that the manager likely contributes to her/his own knowledge and skills in the areas under study. The step-by-step design not only guides the instructional process, it demands that the participants are fully engaged in creating new knowledge, assumptions and examples of practical implementation of what has been learned.

Currently, there is little information or research available to guide a manager in a coaching capacity in the use of situation-based (scenistic) instructional materials. The approach offered in this essay not only considers employee knowledge apprehension but also aims at performance3 improvement in a particular context. Additionally, the approach presented requires dialog, negotiation and focused application, all of which may help the participants improve the quality of their relationship.

The paper is practitioner-focused with a manager-as-coach applying experiential learning to aid an employee's learning and improve performance as well as helping to build employee commitment to both the job and organization. Reciprocity is intended as the learning and commitment of both the employee and manager are enhanced.

As a conceptual, not empirical, paper, the present study aimed at guiding manager behavior the methodology aims to examine the areas of manager-as-coach, efficacy of coaching, theoretical grounding of employee commitment and experiential learning processes. Study and coordination of information in these areas provided support for a detailed action plan for practical application.

It is possible to create a research results–driven practical guide/action plan for managers. The guide incorporates manager skills and commitment theory (investment) along with an experiential learning approach aimed at improving employee growth and building commitment.

There is clear evidence in empirical research that employee commitment positively relates to work performance, job engagement and job retention. This paper applies investment theory to build commitment as it is based on actual inputs and efforts of the employee.

There is very little research currently available that directly addresses manager-as-coach deliberately working to increase or build employee commitment to job, organization or the manager her/himself. This essay aims directly at how commitment may be enhanced.

Employee surveys are used by organizations throughout the world, typically to drive change and improve engagement and retention. Giving employees a voice is seen as a “good thing to do” but too often the managerial response to the findings is “so what?”. This paper aims to offer a clear direction for creating best practice employee engagement surveys. It seeks to explain how action planning can be improved, thus enabling change to be managed and implemented more effectively.

In total, 31 HR practitioners who manage employee surveys within their organizations were surveyed for this study in early 2010. The participating companies are large organizations headquartered primarily in the UK, Germany and the USA. They represent a diverse set of industries including banking and financial services, consumer products, information technology, manufacturing, natural resources, telecommunication/utility services and retail.

The paper reveals the key challenges that survey practitioners face and the barriers they need to overcome. It highlights that senior leaders are a key barrier and that metrics of survey effectiveness often lack organizational focus. It offers insights and practical recommendations for HR practitioners. In particular, it shows how organizations can improve their survey feedback and action‐planning processes.

The paper is based on original research by the Kenexa High Performance Institute. It translates the survey findings into practical implications for HR practitioners who are looking to utilize employee surveys to drive change and improve engagement.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how peer coaching in action learning meetings stimulates teachers to experience transformational learning through critically reflecting on the perceptions that shape their beliefs about student bullying.

The authors used interpretative phenomenological analysis to understand how participating teachers were using peer coaching in the action learning meetings to make sense of their subjective experiences with student bullying.

The authors report three themes (power, categories/labels and diversity/differences) explaining the perceptions that guided participants’ understanding of student bullying, and for each theme, describe how peer coaching enabled the participants to re-shape their interpretation of experiences with student bullying.

This study showed how peer coaching has the potential to empower teachers to devise meaningful action plans to address bullying. Future research using longitudinal quantitative research design could shed more light on the sustainability of those action plans.

Knowledge of teacher perceptions identified in the study can enrich anti-bullying interventions in schools. Furthermore, building a peer coaching action learning community can provide a form of systemic support to help teachers gain resilience in acting against student bullying in schools.

The study reveals the potential of peer coaching as a transformational learning tool to support teachers when dealing with student bullying.

This study was conducted in the United States of America to identify what practices virtual mentor-coaches perceived to be effective in virtual mentoring and coaching (VMC) within virtual professional learning communities (VPLCs). The authors also sought to determine the ways in which virtual mentor-coaches provided VMC for school leaders within VPLCs.

The authors used a phenomenological approach in our research, describing the lived experiences of practicing virtual mentor-coaches as they engaged in VMC. Data analysis included video analysis and systematic coding of interview data.

An in-depth analysis of interview and video data showed that virtual mentor-coaches support school leaders in developing and transforming school leaders' leadership for building teachers' instructional capacity. The authors identified a VMC process model within VPLCs, including four steps as follows: (1) presentation, (2) collaboration, (3) reflection and (4) action plan.

VMC for school leaders participating in VPLCs is regarded as a transformative model which provides encouragement, reflection and support for instructional leadership actions.

Key steps and components of an effective VMC highlighted in the current research offer practical guidance for future virtual mentor-coaches in conducting and implementing VMC within VPLCs.

This chapter explores the potential for involving the public in planning healthy urban mobility using a case study of two neighbourhoods in Oxford, UK. We draw specifically on lessons learned from the UK case of a large-scale international study entitled Healthy Urban Mobility (HUM). The HUM project was based on the need to address health inequalities within urban areas by implementing new approaches to planning and health that use novel research methods to encourage active dialogue with a wide range of stakeholders. The two principal objectives of the research were firstly, to understand the impact of everyday (im)mobility on health and wellbeing within different social groups, and secondly, to explore the potential for participatory mobilities planning with local communities to support and develop solutions for healthy urban mobility.

The chapter is organised into six parts. Following the introduction, we highlight the theories behind the need for public participation in urban mobility planning and calls for active dialogue and mutual learning between practitioners and communities for effective action on improving urban health. Then in the third and fourth parts, we provide an overview of the approach to participatory mobilities planning with local communities in the UK as part of the HUM project. In the fifth part, we report the outcomes of the project and critically reflect on the overall approach and lessons learned that may be of use to practitioners and communities. Finally, we conclude with the significance of the study and implications for public participation in planning healthy urban mobility. The research demonstrates the significant potential of participatory methods in transport infrastructure project but also highlights the complexities of public engagement and points to the need for a continual, long-term process to build trust between partners.

To gather insight into how graduating business students are preparing for the workplace and their future careers and how this has been impacted by COVID-19.

In total, 144 business students at an Australian university who had recently completed an internship and were nearing graduation took part in the study. Group A was surveyed before COVID-19 had emerged and Group B undertook their internships during a COVID-19 lockdown when the related economic downturn had become apparent. The responses were analysed using career construction theory (CCT).

This study concludes that graduating students do not generally place greater emphasis on career planning in times of economic downturn. However, they do devote more effort to job search and networking activities. They also display more career decisiveness and are less willing to seek out information about potential careers or their suitability for them. Their confidence in embarking on a career was not impacted.

This enables us to form a more complete picture of how graduating students perceive their work-readiness and the action they feel is important in order to improve their employability.

This has implications for career practitioners and employers of graduates as it adds to the knowledge of employability and the decision-making process in times of economic crisis and is particularly important for the tertiary education sector as it seeks to better target initiatives to aid employability in graduates.

The results increase the understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on early career development and argue that early-career decision-making is a specific area requiring investigation.

Taking the dialogic organizational development perspective, this study aims to investigate the framing processes when engaging in dialogue for strategy implementation and how these enable the evolution of implementation opportunities.

Through a qualitative exploratory study conducted in a large multinational, the authors analyse the dialogue and interactions among 25 dyads when identifying opportunities to contribute to strategy implementation. The data analysis relies on a process-coding approach and linkography, a valuable protocol analysis for identifying recursive interaction schemas in conversations.

The authors identify four main framing processes – shaping, unveiling, scattering and shifting – and provide a framework of how these processes affect individuals’ mental models through increasing the tangibility of opportunities or elevating them to new value hierarchies.

From a theoretical perspective, this study contributes to the strategy implementation and organizational development literature, providing a micro-perspective of how dialogue allows early knowledge structures to emerge and shape the development of opportunities for strategy implementation.

From a managerial perspective, the authors offer insights to trigger action and change in individuals to contribute to strategy when moving from formulation to implementation.

Rather than focusing on the structural control view of strategy implementation and the role of the top management team, this study considers strategy implementation as a practice and what it takes for organizational actors who do not take part in strategy formulation to enact and shape opportunities for strategy implementation through constructive dialogue.