ACTION LEARNING EXAMPLES
Action learning has been
successfully applied to a wide range of situations in industry, commerce, the
service sector and academia, as well as in other fields of human endeavor
across Western and Eastern Europe, North America, Africa, India, China and
Australia.
For example, it has been
used to: tackle strategic problems at the senior management and board levels;
help the unemployed start their own businesses; develop managers for new
responsibilities; develop high-potential managers; improve productivity in
retailing and manufacturing companies; bring about major change in large
organizations; improve services in health and education; and as the means of
study for advanced university degrees.
In Canada, organizations
such as Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Imperial Oil Limited, Northern
Telecom, Hewlett Packard, Toronto Dominion Bank, Sears, CCMD, CCRA, CN, IKEA,
Glaxo Wellcome and York University are examples of organizations that have used,
or are currently engaged in action learning initiatives. In the US,
organizations such as GE, Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, EXXON, Ameritech, Corning,
Coca Cola, Dow, GM, Gulf, MCI International and The Executive Development
Institute have used action learning extensively.
In the UK many small
businesses and large organizations have become involved. Among them are GEC,
Unilever, Rail Track, Prudential Assurance, ICI, Thorn EMI, TSB, Littlewoods,
the NHS, water companies, local authorities and government departments,
business schools and colleges such as Henley and International Management
Centres, and professional institutes and universities such as Lancaster and
Manchester. These various enterprises are all increasingly incorporating action
learning into their activities.