Asking the Right Questions: Action Learning and PMT 401

Abstract

Six students form a rough circle seated in a seminar room at the Defense Acquisition Universitys Fort Belvoir, Virginia, campus. They lean forward, engaged in animated give-and-take. The students are enrolled in the Program Managers Course (PMT 401),an intensive case-based, 10-week program aimed at improving leadership, critical thinking, problem solving and decision-making skills. Participants in this rigorous, in-residence program hail primarily from the military Services,defense agencies and the defense industry. Although most are program managers (PMs), their experience encompasses a wide a variety of acquisition communities including, engineering, logistics and testing. A trained coach is on hand to focus on the learning, and steers clear of direct involvement in the problem-solving discussion. The coach makes sure, among other things, that the questions broached are open-ended and that all students actively take part and are committed to arriving at a consensus. This maximizes opportunities for learning and development.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2016
Accession Number
AD1015930

Entities

People

  • Bobbie Deleon
  • Christopher Phillips

Organizations

  • Defense Acquisition University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Best Practices
  • Case Studies
  • Climate Change
  • Defense Industry
  • Defense Systems
  • Engineering
  • Group Dynamics
  • Human Resources
  • Leadership
  • Learning
  • Management Personnel
  • Military Acquisition
  • Students
  • Systems Management
  • Thinking
  • Universities

Readers

  • Educational Psychology
  • Organizational Process Management (OPM).
  • STEM Education