Just do it: Action Learning as a Catalyst for Reflective Practice on an Mba Programme

Abstract

This paper examines the experience and outcomes associated with an applied Change Management Module, completed as part of an executive MBA programme, built on the principles of critical thinking and reflective practice, with a distinct action learning approach to curriculum delivery and assignment completion. The action learning ethos seeks to facilitate executive skill development based on the integration of knowledge gained from experience and that gained from scholarship, and underlined by critical reflection among students engaged in the action learning cycle applied through a year-long project applied in the student/executive's work environment. Each programme participant is either a senior executive or business owner, tasked with completing a change project in his or her own organisation. The programme ethos is to help these students to improve their professional and business performance through a premeditated intervention, designed and implemented under the tutelage of a research tutor, supported by a tutor panel, and the programme management team. Findings suggest deeper more thoughtful engagement in the research process when of immediate value to the participant's workplace.