ABSTRACT

Published in 1977, this is a detailed account of the results of controversial methods as they were applied in a major company, when twenty-one managers came together for eight months to grapple with important problems for the purpose of learning some of the skills required for senior management. From their very different points of view, the course organisers, GEC’s own personnel specialists, and the managers involved, describe their experiences and discuss with unusual candour the effects on themselves as individuals and on their organisations. There is no attempt to gloss over the difficulties and the disappointments.

This is a book that will be read with attention and profit not just by personnel and management development specialists but by all managers seeking ways to improve business performance.

part One|27 pages

The action learning programme

chapter 1|4 pages

Action learning

The business of learning about business

chapter 2|7 pages

Programme outline

General description of the programme

chapter 3|14 pages

Programme development

How the action learning programme was developed at GEC

part Two|42 pages

Participants' experiences

chapter 4|9 pages

The project is everything

A micro-electronics product policy problem tackled by a manager from another part of GEC

chapter 5|5 pages

Learning how to learn

Participants from the Post Office and GEC work together

chapter 6|3 pages

This is the way to unlock resources

A GEC manager is assigned to a major problem in a government department

chapter 7|10 pages

It didn't work for me

A manager tries to take on his own job as an action learning project

chapter 8|4 pages

Now . . . to run a company

A project within his own company, but outside his own job, by a GEC manager

chapter 9|9 pages

Communication is the key to getting commitment

A technical manager takes on a systems problem in another part of GEC

part Three|31 pages

ALP International and Dunchurch Industrial Staff College

chapter 10|6 pages

The challenge was worth it

What the industrial staff college which housed the programme felt

chapter 11|12 pages

Don't call me teacher

An ALP project adviser's view from his set

chapter 12|11 pages

ALP is learning too

A director of ALP International reviews her programme involvement

part Four|26 pages

The impact of action learning on GEC

chapter 13|4 pages

We'd do it again

Two GEC managers review the project carried out in their company

chapter 14|7 pages

You don't need to be an expert

GEC's group personnel manager reviews his experiences as a set adviser

chapter 15|3 pages

It's opening our minds

What the process of action learning has started in GEC

chapter 16|5 pages

Action learning and the company

A project adviser, who is also a professor of business policy, takes the broad view