Developing Transferable Management Skills through Action Learning

There has been increasing criticism of the relevance of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in developing skills and competencies. Action learning, devised to address problem solving in the workplace, offers a potential response to such criticism. This paper provides an insight into one university's attempt to integrate action learning into the curriculum. Sixty-five part-time students were questioned at two points in their final year about their action learning experience and the enhancement of relevant managerial skills and competencies. The results showed a mixed picture. Strong confirmation of the importance of selected skills and competencies contrasted with weaker agreement about the extent to which these were developed by action learning. There was, nonetheless, a firm belief in the positive impact on the learning process. The authors conclude that action learning is not a panacea but has an important role in a repertoire of educational approaches to develop relevant skills and competencies.