Key Management Development Models, 3rd Edition

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Kolb/Honey and Mumford learning styles

Educational theorist David Kolb’s model of learning styles describes learning as a four-stage cyclical process which anyone who is learning something can enter at any point. The model, later adapted by psychologist Peter Honey and management developer Alan Mumford, can be used to help you to determine the most effective way to learn something new.

The big picture

David Kolb theorised in the 1970s that the learning process comprises four cyclical stages (see Figure 30.1). You can start at any stage in the learning cycle, but most people will start with concrete experience.

• Concrete experience: according to Kolb, we do something and the practical, concrete experience of doing it starts the learning process ...