Action Learning, Leadership and Organizational Development in Public Services

Unprecedented investment is being made in leadership development across the public sector in the hope of raising organisation capacity, and delivering modernisation and improvement of public services. Leadership programmes and courses are mushrooming and leadership development is a core theme of organisational capacity building initiatives. Within this activity action learning has been attracting increasing interest as an approach that can simultaneously address individual and organisational development, where learning is embedded in participants' real complex problems, as well as being social in that they interact with others from diverse contexts. Action Learning, Leadership and Organisational Development in Public Services collates examples of this extensive action learning activity and considers the evidence for its effectiveness as an approach to public leadership development. With a rich collection of accounts drawn from across different public services, including health, local government, civil service, police and probation services, it is particularly unique in focusing on developing organisational capacity and on the wider public service system as well as on individual development, including examples from both intra- and inter-agency contexts. The book contextualises the growing interest in action learning, outlining the policy environment for placing emphasis on leadership for enhancing the capacity of public service organisations to address public service issues. Learning theory and theories of organisation are drawn on to help explain the potency of action learning for individuals' development as well as for connecting individual and organisation change. The book draws insights from across all the contributions to raise new questions, concerning the role of the facilitator, the value of a '¬~bilingual' ability with both public service issues as well as with facilitation, comparisons with coaching and mentoring, and implications for employing action learning in a politicised or hierarchical environment and on a consultancy basis.Rigg, Clare is the author of 'Action Learning, Leadership and Organizational Development in Public Services ' with ISBN 9780415372701 and ISBN 0415372704.