Action learning in a decentralized organisation : the case of designing a distributed database

This paper uses Revans’ theory of action learning to understand cases of collective IT development and implementation projects within a multi-national company. It means having to deal with an international project, cultural differences, diflerences in levels of knowledge and differences in the organizational structure. In action learning, the discussions take the form of reciprocal teaching and group problem-solving situations, trying to reach consensus concerning meaning, relevance and importance of certain aspects, questioning, evaluating and criticising each other, thereby pushing for higher levels of understanding, satisfactory explanations and clarifications. What is most important is that the group members help each other to understand, thereby overcoming the differences in knowledge within the group. This is an ongoing process partly because some group members left and others took their place.