ABSTRACT
Learning is always for a purpose – clarifying an issue, resolving a problem or living in a more satisfying way. As action learning concentrates on what is significant in people's experience, it is essentially an opportunity for deep learning. From the perspective of organisational change and development, it is obvious that the values, assumptions and beliefs underpinning action learning have much in common with the field of Organisation Development. The most major evaluation of action learning in the Hospital Internal Communications programme demonstrated that Action Learning was primarily about organisational change achieved through individual change. The concept of action learning teaches participants to act themselves into a new way of thinking, rather than think themselves into a new way of acting. Action learning appears in different organisations and countries in numerous variants, much as a car is available in many different makes and styles, while still being recognisable as a car.
