U8D1-28 - Needs-Based Action Learning and Change Management Planning - Please follow all instructions as written to complete this homework. See Details Below.

ABC_of_Action_Learning_----_9_Annotated_Bibliography.pdf

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Annotated Bibliography

This annotated bibliography lists four of Revans’ key texts, together with a selection of his other works and some useful contributions by other writers.

(i) revans’ key texts

reg revans has written eloquently over many years about Action Learning. His books repay repeated study. Unfortunately, with the exception of this edition, these are now out of print and must be had from libraries, including IFAL (see below).

Four books in particular chart the development of the action learning idea:

1. Revans R.W. (1971) Developing Effective Managers. new York: Praeger.

Based on the Belgian exchange programme, which had an enduring impact on his thinking, this book stands as the most formal attempt to develop a theory of action learning via the detailed exposition of three interacting systems:

Revans, Reg, and Reg Revans. ABC of Action Learning, Routledge, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/capella/detail.action?docID=730762. Created from capella on 2018-06-02 12:28:05.

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Alpha – the decision or strategy system which rests on the managers’ values, the external environment and the available internal resources;

Beta – the influencing or negotiation cycle required to implement the decision or strategy – of survey, trial, action, audit and consolidation; and

gamma – the learning process as experienced uniquely by each action learner, involving self-questioning and awareness of self and others.

System gamma was the essence, (it) represents in its own way the structure of all intelligent behaviour, and offers in conjunction with systems alpha and beta, one starting point for a general theory of human action, for a science of praxeology. (p. 58)

2. Revans R.W. (1980) Action Learning: New Techniques for Managers. London: Blond and Briggs.

A four-part odyssey demonstrating the width and depth of Revans’ vision. Part 1 has nine action learning case studies circumnavigating the globe from egypt to Australia. Part 2 illustrates action learning’s operational research roots in studies of productivity and morale from coal mines, factories and schools from the late 1950s and early 1960s. They also display Revans’ even commitment to workers (or schoolchildren) and managers alike in his pursuit of improving the whole system of work.

Part 3 traces the historical, social and cultural context of action learning; a major theme being the long-established split between scholar and smith, artisan and scribe. A final

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perceptive chapter recapitulates the call for cooperation between the book and the tool and describes the future of action learning as worker participation. Part 4 rehearses the text of the ABC in setting out the characteristics and logistics of action learning.

3. Revans R.W. (1982) The Origins and Growth of Action Learning. Bromley: Chartwell-Bratt.

Revans’ ‘Collected Works’ with 52 papers and 850 pages spanning the years from 1938 to 1981. the idea of action learning emerges as early as 1945 (in Paper 5 A Staff College for the Mining Industry p.31), although the term is not used until many years later. Many of these papers date from the 1960s and 1970s, two decades of peak endeavour and output.

4. Revans R.W. (1983) The ABC of Action Learning. Bromley: Chartwell-Bratt.

A first edition of the ABC appeared in 1978 and was reprinted by the revans Centre in 1995. this 1983 version is longer than the original and at 84 pages, perhaps represents the acme of revans attempts to summarize his idea. Here are laid out the values and principles of action learning with P & Q, the Learning Equation, Puzzles & Problems, the Principle of Insufficient Mandate and many others.

This builds on, but also contrasts with, the ‘scientific’ view of action learning espoused in Developing Effective Managers. Here the emphasis is on human action and learning in sets and organizations. This turn marks the result of twelve years’ effort since the earlier work, and

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constitutes Revans’ effort at ‘a general theory of human action … a science of praxeology.’

(ii) other PrinCiPaL books and PaPers

1. Revans R.W. (1949) The Education of the Young Worker. oxford Department of education, oxford: oxford University Press.

2. Revans R.W. (1953) Size and Morale. London: Acton Society.

Based on the coal industry, this paper is amongst the first of his writings on the theme of ‘small is dutiful’ and illustrating the damaging effects of large size upon communication, morale, accidents and productivity. the next paper below continues this theme with added evidence.

3. Revans R.W. (1958) ‘Human Relations, Management and Size’ in Hugh-Jones E.M. (ed.) Studies in Industrial Economics, Human Relations and Modern Management. Amsterdam: north Holland Publishing Company.

4. Revans R.W. (1959) ‘The Hospital as an Organism’ Paper presented to 6th Annual International Meeting of Institute of Management Sciences, Paris, September. London: Pergamon Press.

The first of the hospital studies, involving 5 Lancashire hospitals, revealing the links between staff stability and hospital communications on the one hand and length of patient stay and hospital waiting lists on the other. (Also Chapter 13 of The Origins and Growth of Action Learning)

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5. Revans R.W. (1962) ‘The Hospital as a Human System’ Physics in Medicine & Biology Vol. 7 october.

6. Revans R.W. (1962) ‘Hospital Attitudes and Communications’ Sociological Review no. 5 December.

7. Revans R.W. (1963) ‘Management Education and the University Tradition’ Address to the CIOS Conference new York, September.

8. Revans R.W. (1964) ‘Bigness and Change’ New Society Vol. 3 (66) 2 January. (Also Chapter 13 of The Origins and Growth of Action Learning)

9. Revans R.W. (1964) Standards for Morale: Cause and Effect in Hospitals. London: oxford University Press.

The first of three books on hospitals demonstrating that variability in communications, morale and patients’ stay differs systematically by hospital; and that variability between hospitals is greater than that within any one institution – showing that these are whole organizational characteristics.

10. Revans R.W. (1965) Science and the Manager. London: Macdonald.

A set of essays on sampling shop floor attitudes, technical knowledge, the pathology of automation, management control, industrial relations and training, which display a predominantly operational research orientation to organizational problems.

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11. Revans R.W. (1966) The Theory of Practice in Management. London: Macdonald.

Essays on management education from the first half of the 1960s. this time of great expansion in the Universities saw the establishment of the Manchester and London Business Schools in the UK. revans was unhappy with the prospect of the MBA and the diet of programmed management courses, proclaiming instead that the focus should be on helping managers learn how to solve problems (p. 5) and that the first need of the general manager is to know the conditions under which persons, including himself, are able to learn (p. 38).

12. Revans R.W. (1971) Hospitals: Communication, Choice and Change. London: Tavistock.

One of three books (two edited by Revans, one by Wieland and Leigh) on the Hospital Internal Communications (HIC) project 1965–1969 which, with its hundreds of doctors, nurses and other staff in ten London hospitals, ranks amongst the largest scale demonstrations of action learning in practice.

13. Revans R.W. (1976) Action Learning in Hospitals. Maidenhead: Mcgraw-Hill.

14. Revans R.W. (1989) The Golden Jubilee of Action Learning. Manchester: Manchester Action Learning exchange (MALEx).

A retrospective with chapters summarizing the impact of action learning upon education, health and third

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World problems, and a quantitative attempt to trace improvements in the Belgian economy.

15. Revans R.W. (1995) Disclosing Doubts. first international Action Learning Mutual Collaboration Congress, April. Salford: revans Centre, University of Salford.

Another restrospective, covering similar ground. Here is action learning as driven by a sense of the limitations of learning, self-awareness and knowledge of the world, and of the need to frankly admit ignorance and seek fresh questions.

(iii) some other usefuL books

1. Wieland G.F. and Leigh H. (1971) Changing Hospitals: A Report on the Hospital Internal Communications Project. London: Tavistock.

The official report of one of the most comprehensive evaluations (although revans elsewhere describes this as premature (1988, p. 33)) of action learning and the HIC Project. Revans’ introductory chapter is notable for its emphasis on learning – on self-study and self-teaching as the basis for organizational learning.

2. Cortazzi D. and Roote S. (1975) Illuminative Incident Analysis. Maidenhead: Mcgraw-Hill.

An imaginative approach to visualizing problems and action learning situations by drawing them – another product of the HiC Project.

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3. Casey D. and Pearce D. (1977) More than Management Development: Action Learning at GEC. Aldershot: gower Press.

Findings and experiences from a landmark effort at action learning in GEC that occasioned Revans’ return to the UK in the mid-1970s. Contains participant accounts, including a chapter entitled ‘It didn’t work for me’.

4. Wieland G.F. and Bradford A. (1981) ‘An evaluation of the Hospital Internal communications Project’ in Improving Health Care Management. Ann Arbor, Mi: Health Administration Press.

In Chapter 24 of this wider work, Wieland revisits his earlier conclusions on the HiC and reports more positively on the effectiveness of action learning than he did ten years previously.

5. Casey D. (1993) Managing Learning in Organisations. Milton Keynes: open University Press.

Action learning assumptions underlie this excellent little book detailing the lessons drawn from a consulting career; chapters on working with teams, chief executives and whole organizations.

6. Weinstein K. (1998) Action Learning: A Journey in Discovery and Development. Aldershot: gower.

A book distinguished by its giving a primary voice to participants in describing and evaluating the action learning experience.

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7. McGill I. and Brockbank A. (2004) The Action Learning Handbook. London: routledgefalmer.

A useful book which takes a less Revans-centred approach and draws more on the traditions of group work. It is good on reflective learning, the skills involved in action learning, self-facilitated sets and evaluation.

8. Pedler M. (2008) Action Learning for Managers. Second edition. Aldershot: gower.

An action learning primer in nine short chapters built around key questions, each containing ideas, resources and activities for practice.

9. Marquardt M. (2009) Optimizing the Power of Action Learning. Boston, MA: nicholas Brealey.

Outlines this prolific author’s approach to action learning which emphasizes the role of the coach. Usefully distinguishes action learning from more traditional task forces and quality circles.

10. Boshyk Y. and Dilworth R. (2010) Action Learning: History and Evolution. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

With contributions from some of those who knew him best, this is the best current source on the life of reg Revans and the development of his thinking.

11. Pedler M. (Ed.) (2011) Action Learning in Practice. fourth edition. farnham: gower.

A worldwide review of action learning theory and practice with contributions from many of the leading practitioners.

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