How can managers prepare for extreme but exceptional events and for the challenge of managing complexity and uncertainty in their daily business? Confronted with the challenge of achieving high and reliable performance in risk-prone, fast-paced, and unpredictable environments, managers and management scholars can learn a lot from the organizing…

In this article, we argue for advancing grounded curricula, which explicitly link theory and pedagogy, and executing them in authentic and multidisciplinary settings as a means to facilitate student growth into integrative learners. We describe the development of a student-centered learning experience that combines elements of critical management…

Effective outdoor management development programs have certain features: emotional intensity, psychological safety, consequences, enhancement of self-confidence, use of metaphors, unpredictability, peak performance experiences, multiple skill/knowledge types, development of the whole person, and focus on transfer. They succeed because they sustain…

Notes that an action-oriented approach to management education combines analysis with insight, intuition, creativity, and learning by doing. Suggests it differs from a traditional approach in the nature of information, primary goal, basic premises, sanctioned actions, and preferred feedback forms. (SK)

Discusses approaches to management education and development, stating that organizational improvement is facilitated by working with managers rather than by teaching them in the traditional sense. The manager can develop only through his own experience and through the organizational processes of which he is a part. (MF)

Expands on the propositions of Kolb's learning-cycle model by adding psychodynamic and political aspects. Illustrates the complexity of experiential learning when unconscious forces and power aspects are considered. (SK)

Relates leadership needs in corporate organizations with the experiential learning in Outward Bound courses. Explores the value of Outward Bound inductive learning in developing management and leadership potential on three organizational levels--supervisory, middle management, and executive. (PD)

Classifies trends in management development approaches using Kolb's experiential learning model: (1) abstract conceptualization (traditional management education); (2) active experimentation (action learning, project, and consultancy approaches); (3) concrete experience (competency based); and (4) reflection (reflective practicum, apprenticeship).…

Alternatives to master of business administration courses for construction industry managers are portfolios for assessing workplace competence, coaching and mentoring through networks or learning partnerships with master builders, and action learning to attain formal accreditation. These methods can attract small builders and contractors who are…

Management development is essential for the economic development of least developed countries (LDCs) in Africa. The collectivist culture of LDCs necessitates development of behavior skills and attitudes and a cyclic, experiential learning approach. (SK)

Effective organizational learning must build on individual learning. Continuous work-centered learning is a sequential process of interaction, implementation, integration, and iteration. A learning organization should aim to improve individual capacity to recognize and use learning opportunities. (SK)

The rationally based model of action learning limits learning and change. Adding a psychological component (emotional experiences that promote or discourage learning) and a political component (effects of institutional and personal power relations on learning) broadens understanding of individual and organizational development. (SK)

Argues that management training is a cost-effective tool for improving company profit, innovation, and performance. Describes how large and small companies have implemented and used management training. (CH)

Differences in the structure and operations of small businesses necessitate management training tailored to their needs. One method involves different techniques for each management level: chief executives, managers, supervisors. Another approach is holistic group training involving action learning for the entire management team. (SK)

Addresses the coherence of the principles of action learning, the consequences of employing certain variants in school management courses, the implications for action learning of research into effective training, and the need for thorough evaluation. (Author)