A Multi Capital Approach to Understanding Participation in Professional Management Education
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A multi capital approach to understanding participation in professional management education. Jane Simmons Hope Business School, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, England Hope Park Liverpool England L16 9JD Working paper Stream: Vocational Education and Training and Continuing Professional Education and Development Email [email protected] Telephone 44 (0)151 291 3911 This paper presents the outcomes of research which has been framed by a multi capital approach. It reflects, and illuminates the rationale for engagement in continuing professional development and focuses on a case study of employees, and their employers, who are engaged in Chartered Management Institute professional courses at a university in the northwest of England. This phenomenological study used two methods sequentially, quantitative by the use of questionnaires and qualitative by the use of interviews. These were used by the researcher to construct the stories of the respondents. Fifty questionnaires were completed by employees and fifteen interviews were undertaken, out of a total population of eight one. The entire population of twenty four employees completed a questionnaire and six of them were interviewed. In this study the researcher aimed to describe, as accurately as possible, the phenomena, professional management education, lifelong learning and the cultural, economic, human and social capitals of the respondents. It was concerned with the lived experiences of the people involved, or who were involved, with the issue that is being researched. The respondents were encouraged to reflect on their lived experiences, which were explored by way of their stories. The outcomes of the research highlight the changing nature of the workplace in the twenty first century together with the impact of the current adverse economic climate. They illustrate how these factors have impacted on government policies, organisations and their employees in the UK. This has led to a need for the acquisition of new skills by workers at all hierarchical levels in organisations. Economic capital is expressed through engagement in lifelong learning by employees in order to enhance their knowledge and skills, in order to improve their employment prospects. Here economic and cultural capital are linked as the acquisition of qualifications potentially lead to promotion and to increase earnings. Human capital was evidenced by both employers and employees as lifelong learning facilitates a move to a knowledge based economy, where government agendas and skills initiatives are relevant. The social capital of employers was found to be important in mentoring and encouraging employees to engage in learning. This has helped to facilitate the emergence of learning organisations which require workers to be flexible to learn continually and actively. Cultural capital was evidenced by the desire of employees to equip themselves with new skills and knowledge, in order to remain in employment and to advance their careers. Many of the respondents gained cultural capital through their early life experiences of home and school and their relationships with mentors. Overlaying their motivation to learn was their social capital, in their need to remain geographically close to their networks of family and friends. Keywords: capitals, cultural, economic, human, social. Introduction This study is a critical investigation of the reasons why both employers and employees, engage in continuing professional development after they have completed their compulsory education and have entered employment. Its aim is to explore the influence which economic and human capitals have on employers’ motivation for funding learning opportunities in this area for their staff and how social or cultural capital might cause them to encourage employee learning on professional management education courses. This continuing professional development is intended to allow individuals to enhance their knowledge and skills, by engaging in learning opportunities throughout their working life. In the context of lifelong learning, continuing professional development is important because of the changing nature of work which requires highly skilled staff. The relevance of social, cultural factors and their economic capital for employees who engage in professional management education are also explored. The study seeks therefore, to explore the perspectives of both the employees who are engaged in continuing professional development and their employers, many of whom fund the courses. It focuses on the perspectives of employees, and their employers, who undertook Chartered Management Institute (CMI) courses at a university in the North West area of England and those of their employers. These qualifications range across all academic levels and are designed to meet the needs of employees at various hierarchical levels of management, and to allow them to gain formal qualifications. These employees are people who have completed their compulsory education and who are engaging in continuing professional development of their own volition or at the behest of their employer. This research is framed by a multiple capital approach as it reflects, and illuminates, the rationale for engagement in lifelong learning and professional management education. It does not consider the direct effects of learning on income, nor does it explicitly address academic theories of motivation, rather it adopts a multi capitals approach, drawing on the work of, among others, Becker (1993), Bourdieu (1972) and Putnam (1993). Continuing professional development Traditionally learning was focused on people in their early lives, now emphasis is being placed on continuing education, with few areas of employment being immune from the requirements of continuing professional development, (Morgan-Klein and Osborne, 2007, p.85). Rogers (1996, p.11) divided adult learning into three categories, first, their occupation requires employees to pursue learning; factors which are relevant here are changes in the nature of jobs, work and potential of being, or remaining, employed. The Commission on Social Justice (1991, p.185) suggested that ‘the mass-production economy did not need a well educated mass of workers,’ however, the ‘new high performance organisations…depend upon a high level of skill and creativity throughout their workforce.’ There are echoes here of the economic, and human capital, of employers. Secondly, throughout their life people take on new roles in society, their social capital, and these are redefined during their lives and require new learning for example to cope with adult life. Finally, as adults grow older their interests and attitudes change, here their cultural capital is relevant. UK Government initiatives in relation to work based skills The prosperity of UK economy depends on its skills base; in common with other developed economies the UK government has advocated the creation of a high skilled, high waged economy by upgrading the skills of its workforce. It has launched a series of initiatives to attempt to address the educational and training needs of the workplace. Arguably, its policies influence the human capital of organisations and employees, together with the cultural capital of employees and the economic capital employers. However, it has met with mixed success. In 1989 Gavyn Davies, Chief UK Economist at Goldman Sachs at that time, was quoted as saying ‘a modern developed economy can only prosper if it has a labour force with skills and education to compete with the best. Ours patently hasn’t,’ The Guardian (16/8/1989). Moving forward fifteen years the same problems were still being identified. Gordon Brown (2004), the British Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time, stated that ‘if we are to succeed in a world where off shoring can be an opportunity…our mission (is) to make the British people the best educated, most skilled, best trained in the world..’ In 1990 the UK government introduced Investors in People (IiP) as a national standard, or benchmark, for the quality of training and development in organisations. It is a quality standard which, emphasised investment in human resources and development. It represented a key lever in the government’s attempt at producing a skill’s revolution in training and development and it is ‘one of the few admissions that the internal workings of the firm have to be addressed if training policy is to succeed,’ (Keep and Mayhew, 1996, p.319). This points to businesses improving performance, and thereby profitability, through training and developing their employees, continuing professional development is concerned with maximising the potential of employees. Yet in 2006 the Leitch Review of Skills identified that over 70% of the UK 2020 workforce had already completed their compulsory education and summarised the position that time in this way ‘our nation’s skills are not world class and we run the risk that this will undermine the UK’s long term prosperity,’ (Leitch Review of Skills, 2006, p.1). That report held that even if the current targets to improve skills were met, the UK’s skill base would still lag behind that of many countries by 2020, (Leitch Review of Skills, 2006, p.3) Capitals As has been indicated this study, and analysis of the findings, are framed by a multiple capitals approach. Social capital is generally understood as the property of the group rather than the property of the individual. There are many possible approaches to defining social capital; however, there is some consensus,