INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR ACTION LEARNING
IFAL in Conversation
with
Mike Pedler & Bernhard Hauser
Mike Pedler
Mike Pedler has been an adult educator, a teacher in Higher Education and a consultant on managerial and organisational learning. Since meeting Reg Revans in 1976, who announced to a group of management teachers that they were doing it all wrong, he works with the action leaning idea and has published a number of books and papers. He is Emeritus Professor at Henley Business School, University of Reading and founding editor of the Journal: Action Learning: Research and Practice. He was born in Sheffield, UK and now lives nearby in the Peak District National Park.
Bernhard Hauser
Bernhard Hauser works as consultant for management development programmes and change projects in organizations and authorities. His main interest is in critical reflection and collective learning. He serves in the editorial board of the journal Action Learning: Research and Practice and has written books and papers. He is Honorary Professor for Change Management at the University of Applied Management in Ismaning, Germany, lecturer at the Rosenheim Technical University of Applied Sciences and director of the bhcg.impact.network. He lives in Munich.
Action Learning and Democracy
Earlier this year a Special Issue of Action Learning Research and Practice Journal, the Journal, focused on 'Action Learning and Democracy. Its co-editors Mike Pedler and Bernhard Hauser in their introduction stated that;
"Democracy as a governing principle seems to be more in question now than at any time since the end of World War two. In countries with democratic systems of government, often hard won over centuries of struggle, the social democracies that we have taken for granted are experiencing crises of legitimacy. Many are beset by widespread disillusionment and the emergence of populist and authoritarian parties which do not subscribe to familiar democratic values. In work organisations, there is usually a striking "democratic deficit" and wide disparities of power and voice. Despite research evidence for the superiority of collaborative and cooperative leadership in uncertain conditions, hierarchical principles are as evident as ever and tend to usurp attempts at democratic decision making.
In countries with democratic systems of government, often hard won over centuries of struggle, the social democracies that we have taken for granted are experiencing crises of legitimacy. Many are beset by widespread disillusionment and the emergence of populist and authoritarian parties which do not subscribe to familiar democratic values. In work organisations, there is usually a striking "democratic deficit" and wide disparities of power and voice. Despite research evidence for the superiority of collaborative and cooperative leadership in uncertain conditions, hierarchical principles are as evident as ever and tend to usurp attempts at democratic decision making.
In this issue of the Journal we make a case for action learning as an enabler of democratic processes and as a means of reviving faith in democracy as a way of working and living together. We hope that this special issue will be an inspiration to everyone working with action learning to encourage democratic practices in organisations and society. The contributors made arguments and presented cases in support of this aim, reporting from a great variety of locations including Greek teacher learning networks, Swedish preschools, a Citizens' Assembly in Germany and an effort to develop democratic competencies with students in war-torn Ukraine."
IFAL is dedicating its end of year dialogue on 3 December, 12.30 to 14.00 UTC/GMT, facilitated by Mike and Bernhard, to delving further into the case for Action Learning as set out in the special issue of the journal.
We look forward to welcoming you to what promises to be a timely, informative, respectful and participative conversation in service of a fairer, more equitable and democratic world.
Jafar Akhavan-Moossavi
On behalf of IFAL executive team
The event will be recorded and made available to IFAL members in the Members Area of the IFAL website.
Join us online in Zoom for this interesting conversation.
Register now to receive your confirmation email, including a Zoom link to this event. A reminder with the same link will be sent to registrants 24 hours prior to the event.
