The Roots of CFAR's Approach to Action Learning

CFAR, in its long history both inside the Wharton School and as an independent consulting firm since 1987, draws on a tradition of Action Learning theory developed at the Wharton School and extensive experience applying this theory to real business problems in both client engagements and in executive leadership development programs. We look back on two important taproots for our thinking about Action Learning:

• The Tavistock Institute for Human Relations. Founded in London after World War II, multidisciplinary researchers came together to continue applied work on critical issues of post war adjustment. Eric Trist, the founding chairman, led a major project on productivity and safety in the British coal industry, working closely with industry insiders from miners at the coal face to top leaders. They rediscovered powerful ways of working that in teams that improved productivity, safety, and quality of working life. They developed the "socio-technical" concept, which seeks the best match between human factors and technology versus the prevailing ‘scientific management’ and fitted workers to the technology (Trist, Vol II 1993 pp 580-598). In many other areas, consultants and researchers combined with in-company teams on "action researc" or "action learning" projects with a joint commitment to real business results and individual and organizational learning. 

• Operational research. Russell Ackoff drew on his war experiences to create an operations research doctoral program, first at Case Western, then later bringing the entire group to the Wharton School of Business. Ackoff and an interdisciplinary faculty worked with doctoral students on real projects in industry and government with the dual objectives of solving significant problems and developing new tools and knowledge.  By working closely with internal teams in these organizations, staff developed new skills and links to relevant other in the business.

Ackoff and Trist linked these two traditions, sharing the commitment to action learning/research and working to link business analytics (financials, system flows and dynamics, queuing, customer focus groups, etc) with organizational psychological perspectives (leadership, conflict, negotiation, team dynamics, job satisfaction, clarifying roles and responsibilities, stakeholder analysis, etc). They applied this perspective both in client-funded engagements and in their doctoral program, where students productively used this frame with real world interventions that produced both business results and new management knowledge.

 

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