Developing an action learning design model

Abstract

As the number of organizations implementing action learning increases, both successful and failed cases also increase in action learning practice in South Korea. Existing studies on action learning have listed key success factors of action learning at the program level or at the team level but have not paid sufficient attention to the program design process itself. The purpose of this study was to show how to develop a design model of action learning that incorporates a step-by-step decision-making process and that provides design principles necessary along the way. This design model will present the importance of contextualizing the action learning process by asking ‘highly required’ questions and help raise the level of successful implementation of action learning programs.

Keywords:

• action learning
• contextualizing action learning
• the 4P action learning design model

Notes on contributors

Dr Hyeon-Cheol Bong ([email protected]) is Professor of Business Administration at Chonbuk National University, South Korea and President of the Korea Action Learning Association. He introduced action learning in South Korea through the translation of action learning books (e.g. Marquardt, 1999). His research interest centers on action learning in organizations. His professional activities include facilitation of action learning teams, design and implementation of action learning programs, and training of learning coaches. He has published many articles on action learning both in Korean and in international journals. He serves on the Advisory Editorial Board of the Action Learning: Research and Practice journal. He is a Vice President of the Korea Academy of Organization and Management and a Board Member of the Korean Association for Training and Development. He received his doctoral degree in HRM from The University of Regensburg in Germany.

Dr Yonjoo Cho ([email protected]) is Associate Professor of Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University. She had worked as an HR professional for more than 10 years in South Korea, in business, non-profit, and academic sectors. Her research interest centers on action learning in organizations, based on her work as an external facilitator in large companies. She has published a book entitled Trends and issues in action learning practice: Lessons from South Korea (Cho & Bong, 2013) with Routledge. She has recently received the 2013 Best Paper Award from the Human Resource Development Quarterley by her co-authored paper titled ‘Organizational support for action learning in South Korean organizations’ (Vol. 24, No. 2). She is an editorial advisory board in the European Journal of Training and Development and a board member of the Korea Action Learning Association and Korean Association for Educational Technology. She received her Ph.D. degree in Instructional Technology from The University of Texas at Austin.

Dr Hyung-Sook Kim ([email protected]) is Executive Vice-President of the Korea Action Learning Association where she has developed 1500 action learning coaches. She is also the CEO of the Global Action Learning Alliance in which she trains and researches on action learning coaches. As a result, she has published several articles on action learning coaches and co-authored books on action learning. She received her Ph.D. degree in Business Administration at Chonbuk National University in South Korea. Dr Kim as a Master Learning Coach teaches and consults on action learning at universities, the public sector, and companies (e.g. Hyundai Motor Co., LG Electronics, and SK Telecom).

Notes

1. Due to the page limit, we do not report on the results on the five-point Likert scales. Please let us know if you are interested in.