Improving teamworking competence through action learning. Experiences in operations management education

ABSTRACT

Teamworking competence is essential in many operations management environments and can be developed through formal education and practice-based experiences. The main objective of this paper is to describe and to reflect on how to facilitate students in their development in teamworking competence through action learning in Operations Management education. The research design is built around action learning research undertaken by faculty members enquiring into student action learning cycles. What emerges is an understanding of a contingent connection between the classic Tuckman teamworking stages and educator interventions where the nature and timing of the interventions differ as the team evolves.

These new practice-based insights illustrate the co-development of students’ teamworking competence and educators’ capability to facilitate learning in action about teamworking. They can be used as a guide for educators and practitioners involved in the development of teamworking competence to design and implement an action learning-based educational initiative.

KEYWORDS:

• Teamworking
• competence
• higher education
• action learning cycle
• action learning research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Cristina García-Palao is a doctoral student and Associate Professor of Operations Management at Business Administration and Marketing department at University Jaume I, Castellón, Spain. Her research interests include Operations strategy and Teamwork Processes for continuous improvement. She has collaborated in different papers related to Operations Management and Technology.

Maria J. Oltra-Mestre is Associate Professor in Operations Management at Business administration and marketing department at University Jaume I, Castellón, Spain. Her research interests include Operations strategy, Teamwork and Knowledge processes for innovation. She has authored or coauthored papers in a number of journals, including Creativity and Innovation Management, Research Policy, R&D Management, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Technology Analysis and Strategic Management, Business Process Management Journal, and European Management Journal.

Paul Coughlan is Professor in Operations Management at Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. His research interests include continuous improvement of manufacturing and product development practices, services innovation, action learning, action research, and the commercialization of university research. He and David Coghlan are co-authors of Collaborative Strategic Improvement through Network Action Learning: The Path to Sustainability (Edward Elgar, 2011).

ORCID

Cristina García-Palao http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4404-6353

Maria J. Oltra-Mestre http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0944-1641

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Universitat Jaume I through project 3653/18.