Cultivating collaborative improvement: an action learning approach

The process of implementing collaborative initiatives across disparate members of supply networks is fraught with difficulties. One approach designed to tackle the difficulties of organisational change and interorganisational improvement in practice is 'action learning'. This paper examines the experiential lessons that arise when cultivating collaborative improvement in an interorganisational learning environment. The authors, acting as action researchers, facilitated a practical learning program in an Extended Manufacturing Enterprise (EME). Based on this experience, a practical learning model is offered to promote and facilitate interorganisational change as part of a collaborative improvement process.