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The second in a series of four articles that seek to answer questions about where and where not action learning is most applicable. Aims to identify the kinds of people who benefit most from action learning and the most appropriate times in their lives to undertake an action learning programme. The authors reflect on their own experience as action learning participants and set advisers to identify those who have got most and least out of action learning. Concludes that action learning has worked best with people who are willing and able to take action, are skilled at reflection and want to take responsibility for their own learning. Such people are likely to be mature adults who want to learn about themselves, as well as the world they inhabit, with a view to changing both themselves and their worlds.

Action learning is a process of reflection and action, aimed at improving effectiveness of action where learning is an important outcome. Its purpose is to learn from experience in order to act more wisely. It can be used wherever a group can support the learning of others in a context where it is possible to learn from experience.The authors of this article are all experienced participants and set advisers in action learning. We have come to the conclusion that now is the time to question where and for whom action learning might not work. As advocates of action learning, we have helped it to make inroads into higher education alongside more traditional models of learning. It is felt that action learning is now robust enough to take care of itself if we stand back and reflect on our experience to seek the limits of the method.Action learning has reached a maturity which allows us to ask the question "what can go wrong?" without feeling disloyal to its principles. We believe that the case for action learning has now been established in principle and the focus can now be shifted to improving the practice. By sharing our mistakes as well as our successes, we can discover where and with whom it works best and, in this way, we can learn to do action learning better. This is in the spirit of action learning: looking for the obstacles rather than basking in the successes.

The last in a series of four articles that seeks to answer questions about the domains of applicability of action learning. Aims to reach some conclusions about where and when action learning is most appropriate. The authors reflect on their own experience as action learning participants and set advisers to identify the conditions which best support action learning. Offers suggestions for those people who may be considering setting up action learning sets within their own organization. Concludes that action learning works best when the prevailing organizational culture is congruent with that of the action learning sets.