Student accounts of action learning on a DBA programme: learning inaction

Abstract

This account of practice sets out the action learning experience of three doctoral students on the same Doctoral Programme in Business Administration at a UK university. It also include the sense-making of a fourth member of the set. It explores the tension between their area of work and their engagement in the action learning process and, in so doing, contributes to the ongoing debate about the relative priority of learning and problem-solving in action learning. The account narrates the students’ personal accounts of their involvement with the action learning set (ALS), what they felt worked and what did not before reflecting on their personal contributions as hybrid practitioner-learners. Insights into the experience are offered up to illuminate the function and purpose of the ALS within a management education programme.

Keywords:

• action learning
• management education
• problem solving

Notes on contributors

Roger Mendonça is a DBA student at Liverpool Business School. His research is focused on the use of storytelling for sensemaking purposes within organisations. He is an experienced manager and has worked in a number of senior leadership roles across the public, private and voluntary sectors.

Anthony Parker is a DBA student at Liverpool Business School. He is a senior resident engineer at Hamad Port Project based in Qatar with over 35 years’ experience in port and airport construction. He is currently researching Building Information Modelling and Six Sigma in the construction industry.

Uwem Udo is a DBA student at Liverpool Business School. He is a certified project manager and chartered mechanical engineer with over 12 years’ experience in managing the delivery of multi-million pound projects in the nuclear industry. He is currently researching Organisational Change in the sector.

Catherine Groves is a DBA student at Liverpool Business School. Her research is focussed on the role of the individual within entrepreneurship. She is a senior lecturer and business psychologist with extensive experience in business coaching and managing social enterprises.