Delivering Management Development Through Action Learning, Debby Hudspith and Hadyn Ingram, analyze the process to the establishment of action learning Beafeater University. Beafeater is a family friendly, steak and burger restaurant chain in the United Kingdom. Beafeater Academy was developed with the goal of training the next top fifty managers for the company from within. Two items differentiated Beefeater Academy, $1)$ they pursued accreditation and $2)$ they focused on action learning. Traditional learning and training methods, such as workshops, had seen little results. Action learning is an approach where groups of employees $($usually five or six$),$ work on solving organizational problems. Beyond action learning, Beefeater Academy incorporated online learning. The results were unprecedented, the participants felt accomplished and productive.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that corporate universities in lieu of traditional training, have become common. I agree that action learning is multi$-$faceted. For the employer, it provides control of the knowledge and learning environment, promotes team$-$building skills, supports innovation, and finds solutions to existing organizational problems. The article quoted that, "lifelong learning is the only way to keep pace with the changing world." If organizations want their employees to take part in continuous learning, they can only require it within the scope of the job role and work hours. Employees, in turn, have opportunities for development, career growth, networking, and creativity. In an accredited institution, employees can translate the skills learned elsewhere.

Two key topics to note were the need for balance of communications in online learning and the worry that employees would not accept a new way of learning. Balance of communications is being able to communicate in writing as well as you would in a face to face setting. Employees are so used to traditional workshop training sessions and textbook and lecture learning, that working on real life situations may have been met with skepticism. Instead, employees felt that it was better utilization of their time and efforts.

I have taken part in many workshop training opportunities and can confirm that many employees do not apply what is learned. Faced with a conflict between two supervisors, I organized a conflict resolution seminar for our entire management team. The instructor was lively and most of us learned a lot in the workshop. We discussed how to implement what had been learned. Unfortunately, the individuals involved in the original conflict, missed several days of the workshop and did not apply the material outside of the worshop, leading to the team suffering as a w$-$

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