Implementing Experiential Action Learning in International Management Education: The Global Business Strategic (GLOBUSTRAT) Consulting Program

The authors wish to thank Deepa Iyer for her able research assistance; Kathryn Warren, Donna Booher, and Jill Erbland for their comments; and Kiran Kamath for her thoughtful editing.

Abstract

This paper discusses the theoretical foundations and implementation challenges and outcomes of a unique “hands‐on” global consulting program that is integrated into an international EMBA program for mid‐career and senior American and European managers. It details the challenges for the integration of experiential action learning, double‐loop learning, service learning, and tacit learning into global management education and discusses the value of such integration for the EMBA‐participant's learning experience. The lessons learned from the implementation of the use of integrated global consulting based on an experiential action learning model on EMBA education are discussed. The andragogical model of education used should be a useful guide for designing and implementing experiential action learning based MBA/EMBA programs.

The authors wish to thank Deepa Iyer for her able research assistance; Kathryn Warren, Donna Booher, and Jill Erbland for their comments; and Kiran Kamath for her thoughtful editing.

Keywords:

• Experiential managerial learning
• global consulting
• team learning
• online collaboration
• integrated global managerial skills/capability upgrading

Notes

The authors wish to thank Deepa Iyer for her able research assistance; Kathryn Warren, Donna Booher, and Jill Erbland for their comments; and Kiran Kamath for her thoughtful editing.

1. GLOBUSTRAT faculty facilitators are not paid directly by the companies and the consulting revenues are sent directly to the program account at the university to be used for the purposes identified in this paragraph. Faculty facilitators are paid a small lump‐sum flat fee by the university for the 13‐month period that they supervise the project. This payment is based on a signed supervision contract which is required by the university and the fee is paid only to the faculty members who are involved in supervision. In order to eliminate any conflicts of interest, faculty facilitators and the directors of the program do not consult privately with any of the companies involved in the program.

2. See Knowles (1973, 1975) for a discussion of the andragogical model of learning versus the pedagogical model of learning. The TEMBA program incorporates an andragogical model of learning in its design and execution but supplements this approach with the best elements of the pedagogical approach.