To explore how high potential Chinese managers who are acquainted with each other practise critical reflective working behaviours through an in-house action learning programme.

Wong, Po Wah (2010) To explore how high potential Chinese managers who are acquainted with each other practise critical reflective working behaviours through an in-house action learning programme. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

There are varieties in the format an action learning. (AL) program is organized
and their learning objectives were quite murky. However, according to Reg
Revans, AL should be able to help the participants to learn critical self
reflection which is also an important capability for a manager to lead change
in their own organization.
The researcher had the opportunity of organizing two AL programs for high
potential management staff of two manufacturing companies in China. In
order to achieve AL’s learning objective, these two programs were designed
around the 5 key ingredients of AL discovered from the literature review.
These 5 key ingredients were – emerging programmed knowledge; real
problem; participants implement their own proposed actions; questioning
insight with each other; and take improved action. As the target participants
of each AL program were high potential Chinese management staff of the
same company and were acquainted with each other, it was alleged that these 4
contextual factors – (1) the program arranged in-house in a (2) Chinese
cultural context for (3) high potential management staff who were (4)
acquainted with each other, could have an impact on the 5 key ingredients of
AL.
Literature mentioned little on ways these 4 contextual factors could impact on
AL programs. In order to understand the way the 5 key ingredients could
create impacts on the AL process, the methodology of action research (AR)
was adopted.
The AL program in Cycle 1 was a failure as some of the contextual factors had
hindered the effective functioning of several key AL ingredients. Armed
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with the experience, another AL program was organized. It was found that
one of the team had enabled the members to practice critical self reflections
but another team still failed to do that.
This research seems to point out the possibility of achieving the learning
objective of AL – critical self reflection when the 5 key ingredients were
functioning effectively. However, the 4 contextual factors could enable the
personality of the participants to become a roadblock for the effective
functioning of the 5 key ingredients and rendered the AL program to become
ineffective.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Education and Lifelong Learning
Depositing User:	Users 2259 not found.
Date Deposited:	07 Mar 2014 10:21
Last Modified:	07 Mar 2014 10:21
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/48017
DOI:

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