Crossing culturally embedded assumptions in action learning: objective reflexivity as a threshold concept in Japan

This paper argues that, when participants’ culturally embedded assumptions differ from those underlying dialogue-oriented Action Learning (AL), Objective Reflexivity serves as a threshold concept that they need to cross before they can effectively participate in Action Learning. Drawing on interviews with 22 participants from Japanese organisations, this study examines how learners socialised in such contexts come to engage effectively in dialogue-oriented Action Learning. The findings show that participants first needed to recognise the limitations of their culturally embedded assumptions about discussion. They then became able to position these assumptions as only one among multiple legitimate perspectives, crossing the threshold of Objective Reflexivity and adopting a more dialogue-oriented approach to discussion. The study further identifies the process through which this transformation occurred and demonstrates that AL facilitators played an important role in supporting participants to recognise the limitations of their existing assumptions and facilitating threshold crossing.