Examining the development of action learning practice in South Korea

ABSTRACT

This year marks the 25th anniversary since action learning (AL) was first introduced in 1993 in South Korea. Although AL has greatly contributed to meeting organizational needs so that it would result in its strong presence as an organizational learning tool, there is no single review study on the development of AL practice in Korea. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to examine the development of AL practice in Korea to understand its current state and envision the future. To that end, two research questions guided our inquiry: What are the distinctive features of the development of AL practice in Korea? What is unique about the development of AL practice in Korea? To answer the two research questions, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 13 AL practitioners who have experienced AL practice for many years, analyzed 13 annual AL conference proceedings published since 2005, and reviewed Korean publications on AL published since 2000. Based on the triangulated data analysis, we discuss the uniqueness of the development of AL practice in Korea and implications for research and practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Action learning
• historical development
• South Korea

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Yonjoo Cho is an associate professor of Instructional Systems Technology focusing on human resource development (HRD) at Indiana University. Before joining IU, she worked in diverse organizations including profit-, non-profit, and academic sectors in South Korea. Her latest position was MBA Director of the KAIST Business School. Her research interests include action learning in organizations, HRD, and women in leadership. She has published three books: Trends and Issues in Action Learning Practice: Lessons from South Korea (Cho and Bong 2013), Current Perspectives on Asian Women in Leadership (Cho, Ghosh, Sun, and McLean 2017), and Korean Women in Leadership (Cho and McLean 2018). She serves as an associate editor of the Human Resource Development Review and serves on the editorial board of the Human Resource Development Quarterly, European Journal of Training and Development, and Action Learning: Research and Practice. She is a board member of the Academy of Human Resource Development and Korean Action Learning Association. She received her PhD in instructional technology from the University of Texas at Austin.

Hyeon-Cheol Bong is a professor of Business Administration at Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, South Korea and former president of the Korea Action Learning Association (KALA). He worked as an HR professional at Hyundai Institute for HRD and first introduced action learning in Korea through a translation of action learning books (e.g. Marquardt 1999). Since 2000, he has implemented action learning programs in many organizations and established KALA in 2005. His research interest centers on the implementation of action learning in organizations such as Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Oilbank and with the office of the President of Korea at the Blue House. He has published articles on action learning in Korean journals including ‘An exploratory study of key success factors of action learning in South Korean companies’ (Bong 2007). He is a board member of the Korean Academy of Organization and Management and Korean Association for Training and Development, and serves on the editorial board of the Action Learning: Research and Practice journal. He received his PhD in HRM from Regensburg University in Germany.

Hyeong-Sook Kim is an executive vice-president of the KALA in which she has developed 1500 action learning coaches. She is the CEO of the Global Action Learning Alliance in which she trains and conducts research on action learning coaches. She has published articles on action learning coaches and co-authored books on action learning. She received her PhD in Business Administration at Chonbuk National University in Korea. She is a master learning coach and teaches and consults on action learning at universities, in the public sector, and in companies (e.g. Hyundai Motor Co., LG Electronics, and SK Telecom).