ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the organisational conditions that triggered the initiative. It describes how a group of managers and consultants established a large organisational development-based change management initiative that led to the design of a programme that combined elements of the organisational development (OD) and critical action learning traditions. The chapter also describes the programme, entitled the “Cross-boundary Management Development Initiative". It explores the role of public reflection as a basis for learning and change at individual, group, and organisational levels. The conditions were further exacerbated during the 1990s when the nature, functioning, and cost of the National Health Service became one of the most important issues in the United Kingdom political arena. According to R. Revans action learning, like the OD tradition, stems from Kurt Lewin’s emphasis on the importance of real life issues as a source of learning.
