Research | - "A research challenge"

Kai Peters, Ashridge Business School.

I've been thinking recently that there is a research angle that business schools rarely address and we are working to change that.

The debate around research tends to follow along old familiar ground. Is the research too esoteric to be useful? Does a teacher have to be a researcher? Is the research too focussed because of the requirements of functional silos and their equivalent journals?

The area that has increasingly interested me is slightly different. My question is as follows: if we want to create programmes (MBAs, open courses, customized courses etc) that have an impact, should we not research management learning more, and actually use it for course design?

We have been working at thinking through what kind of an intervention works when and where. A part of the project involves a review of philosophy of education literature and much of it involves applying various aspects of adult psychology to educational programmes.

We have found that there is indeed a significant body of literature in this area, but it is not really applied to programme design. As an example, there is considerable evidence that action learning, practical approaches, reflection and thematic rather than subject teaching is important for business students to be successful. While we know this, MBA programmes, since they are often conducted in groups of 75 students per section, do not do this, but fall back on a talk-and-chalk sheep dip approach to learning.

Imagine what business education would look like if schools were really interested in impact??

Comments

[Vincent H. Dominé]

I couldn't agree more with your comments. If solid management research is important, why shouldn’t as much emphasis be dedicated to developing the leaders supposed to put such theories into best practice? In the case of developing leaders, the reflective element should in my view become an integral part of any management education. It was Seneca who wrote "Retire into yourself as much as possible. Associate with people who are likely to improve you. Welcome those whom you are capable of improving. The process is a mutual one. People learn as they teach.” Henry Mintzberg has been a key advocate for creating such learning facilitation environments. Self awareness is no doubt a prerequisite for developing a more authentic leadership style which should result in healthier organizations. In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins describes how “people with the potential to evolved to Level 5, will begin to develop under the right circumstances – self-reflection, conscious personal development, a mentor, a great teacher, loving parents, a significant life experience, a Level 5 boss, or any number of other factors.” (Collins, 2001: 37). Mintzberg writes “managers today desperately need to stop and think. They need to step back from the action and reflect thoughtfully on the experience they live all too pervasively”. He stressed the point that “Learning is not doing; it is reflecting on doing” and illustrates his point by quoting the poet T. S. Eliot who wrote “we had the experience, but missed the meaning” (Mintzberg, 2004: 253-4). I share Mintzberg’s view that the University is an ideal place to reflect, to see beneath, above and beyond the obvious, to the deeper and higher meaning of important things (Mintzberg, 2004). Mintzberg paraphrases Karl Weick (1995) who refers to academic institutions as “places designed to make meaning” (21). According to Mintztberg, as life gets more hectic, academic institutions have become even more important as havens in which to take stock. He further believes that the role of the management schools is management development to promote organization development to attain social development (Mintzberg, 2004). According to de Bettignies, a possible outcome of the business schools’ reinvention will be: to develop accountable citizens’ sharing a ‘community’ – our global community (de Bettignies, 2000: 204). According to Kets de Vries, being authentic and possessing wisdom are close twins. They reinforce and build on each other. The willingness to look into the self is a necessary condition of acquiring wisdom (Kets de Vries, 2000: 310).

I feel that business schools have a unique opportunity to create the reflective space and the experiential learning facilitation environment to develop better leaders.

Collins, J. (2001). Good to great. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
de Bettignies, H.-C. (2000). The Corporation as a 'Community': An oxymoron? Can business schools re-invent themselves? Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Kets de Vries, M. (2000). The Business Graduation Speech: Reflections on Happiness. European Management Journal Vol. 18, No. 3. pp 302-311. Elsevier Science.
Mintzberg, H. (2004). Managers not MBAs: A hard look at the soft practice of managing and management development. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.