Action Learning at work and in school — Part 1

In July 1957, I addressed the Institution of Production Engineers in their annual conference at Harrogate. The theme of the meeting as a whole was Automatic Production: Change and Control, a subject felt to be important for the future of Britain: the country once known as The Workshop of the World. Even in 1957 output per person employed was more than twice as high as that of Japan; but in the 26 years that have since passed, things have changed quite a lot. The particular aspect of productivity about which I was invited to talk was The Analysis of Industrial Behaviour, telling what people do at work. I was asked to develop this subject because I had spent many years in coalmines, factories and hospitals simply recording what those who worked in them seemed to be doing.