A Review And Application Of Action Learning In The Leadership Development For Middle Managers Of ZJ Company

As a link between decision-making managers and junior staffs,middle managers play an important role in a firm's competitive advantage and,ultimately,its economic performance.In comparison with their counterparts in the developed countries,many middle managers of firms in China lack the necessary skills and abilities to function as effective leaders.Such shortage of leadership skills in middle managers poses a threat to the continuous success of these firms.Therefore,the development of the leadership abilities of these middle managers is critical for the success of these firms in China.Action learning,as a well-recognized tool for leadership development,has been widely used in the development of leadership skills in many firms around the world.In recent years,there is a growing number of firms in China adopting this tool to train their middle managers.Based on insights drawn from current literature,this paper provides an overall review on action learning,including the definition,key components and execution process of action learning.With above understanding and actual situation of ZJ Company,this paper explains the application of this method through a case study: Based on collected data through survey and Behavioral Event Interview,this paper analyzes the current status of middle managers' leadership skills in ZJ Company,finds out their weaknesses and identifies the specific competencies to be developed,and then designs an application scheme of action learning in leadership development for middle managers of ZJ Company.In and after the implementation of this application scheme,methods,like survey and face-to face interview are implied to evaluate the effectiveness of action learning as a leadership development tool.What could be concluded from this study is that: Action learning is a powerful tool in the development of the necessary leadership competencies of middle managers through working on real-time organizational problems by changing their mental models,and promoting a cohesive team and organization by creating a learning environment,consequently,increasing the firm's economic performance.This study is intended to serve as a valuable guideline for the leadership development or other training programs for middle managers in ZJ Company.This study also has the potential to serve as a valuable reference for other firms that tend to adopt action learning for their leadership development or other training programs.