Optimizing The Power Of Action Learning

Michael Marquardt has been helping organizations and world governments revolutionize the way they solve problems, build effective teams, develop leaders and transform themselves into learning organizations. Optimizing the Power of Action Learning puts the "action" in action learning by focusing on the six essential components that make action learning work: the problem, group diversity, a reflective inquiry process, action strategies, a commitment to learning and the participation of a well-trained action learning coach.

Fully revised third edition now available! Put the "action" in action learning with this revised second edition. This revised second edition of the groundbreaking guidebook puts the action in Action Learning, clearly demonstrating how and why this powerful method for addressing today's increasingly complex organizational challenges actually works. From Saudi Arabia to Singapore, Sweden to South Africa, profiles of such Global 100 leaders as GE, Sony, and Boeing tell the story of the power of action learning to create new products, improve service quality, and transform organizational cultures for competitive advantage and sustained success. It includes examples from the governmental and non-profit world, as well as offering up new better questioning techniques and creative strategies for organizational development.

Award-winning author Michael J. Marquardt explores innovative ways that action learning can be applied to the corporate landscape.

As much as adult learners can absorb in a classroom, they learn and retain a lot more on the job. Action Learning, or AL, can be based on any of several different schools of thought, and there is much debate as to which is ideal. The authors advocate tailoring the best attributes of each approach to the specific purpose and the learning environment. Drawing on theory from Self-Directed Learning, Learning from Experience, and Transformative Learning, Understanding Action Learning enables the reader to make an informed decision about which approach or combination to use in his or her organization, and provides: * a theoretical model that explains the different approaches to AL, and a framework for identifying which approach to use * a focus on co-design in creating Action Learning programs * practical tools, assessments, and exercises * illuminating stories and case studies from the field Combining top-shelf research with real-world experience, Understanding Action Learning is a crucial resource for adult educators everywhere.

Action Learning and Action Research deepens understanding and contributes to new knowledge about the theory, practice and processes of Action Learning (AL) and Action Research. It clarifies what constitutes AL/AR in its many forms and what it is not.

There seems to be renewed interest in having universities and other higher education institutions engage with their communities at the local, national, and international levels. But what is community engagement? Even if this interest is genuine and widespread, there are many different concepts of community service, outreach, and engagement. The wide range of activity encompassed by community engagement suggests that a precise definition of the “community mission” is difficult and organizing and coordinating such activities is a complex task. This edited volume includes 18 chapters that explore conceptual understandings of community engagement and higher education reforms and initiatives intended to foster it. Contributors provide empirical research findings, including several case study examples that respond to the following higher educaiton community engagement issues. What is “the community” and what does it need and expect from higher education institutions? Is community engagement a mission of all types of higher education institutions or should it be the mission of specific institutions such as regional or metropolitan universities, technical universities, community colleges, or indigenous institutions while other institutions such as major research universities should concentrate on national and global research agendas and on educating internationally-competent researchers and professionals? How can a university be global and at the same time locally relevant? Is it, or should it be, left to the institutions to determine the scope and mode of their community engagement, or is a state mandate preferable and feasible? If community engagement or “community service” are mandatory, what are the consequences of not complying with the mandate? How effective are policy mandates and university engagement for regional and local economic development? What are the principal features and relationships of regionally-engaged universities? Is community engagement to be left to faculty members and students who are particularly socially engaged and locally embedded or is it, or should it be, made mandatory for both faculty and students? How can community engagement be (better) integrated with the (other) two traditional missions of the university—research and teaching? Cover image: The Towering Four-fold Mission of Higher Education, by Natalie Jacob