View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Lancaster E-Prints Elaine Dunn PhD Thesis Lancaster University Towards Transformation in Management Education: Telling the Managers’ Tales Elaine Louise Dunn Submitted for the degree of PhD September 2011 Department of Management Learning and Leadership Lancaster University Management School Page 1 Elaine Dunn PhD Thesis Lancaster University ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks to Professor John Burgoyne for his encouragement, support, tolerance, insightful criticism and reassuring friendship. I could not have wished for a more knowledgeable and patient supervisor. Thanks also to Professor Jonathan Gosling who encouraged me to set out on this learning journey, and to Dr Donna Ladkin who believed in me as a researcher. Thanks to each of my research subjects – you were a joy to be with! Finally, I want to acknowledge the loving support and practical help which I have received from Margaret (my Mum), Roger (my husband) and Christina (our daughter) who has tolerated my frequent absences. Even now I can hear Christina asking “Will you be writing again today Mummy?” Along this journey, they have been a constant reminder of what is most precious in life. Page 2 Elaine Dunn PhD Thesis Lancaster University ABSTRACT Elaine Louise Dunn, BSc, Towards Transformation in Management Education: Telling the Managers’ Tales, PhD Thesis, (2011). This thesis focuses on the experiences of twelve senior managers who participated in postgraduate management education programmes embodying a transformative intent. It is informed by primary empirical research into the learners‟ perceptions of the emotions and changes in thinking attributed to their learning experiences and the emotions and changes in practice associated with transfer of learning into their workplace. The empirical research involved twelve research subjects over a two-year period, from the 2003-05 cohorts of the Exeter Masters in Leadership Studies and the Ashridge Masters in Organisational Consulting. The context is the contemporary debate about the alleged failings of management education which focuses on instrumental failure, ethical failure, and a disconnection between teaching and practice. Scholars have recommended and experimented with new forms of management education which challenge conventional assumptions, problematise existing knowledge, surface values and interests, embody critical reflection and facilitate experiential learning. However, research into critical adult education in the US has fuelled speculation that managers might suffer disturbing practical and emotional consequences as a result of questioning deeply held beliefs and behaving contrary to organisational norms. Educators have been urged to understand these consequences, but to date there has been little research in this area. Page 3 Elaine Dunn PhD Thesis Lancaster University Previous research has focused primarily on the challenges faced by educators within the learning environment. This thesis finds that critical postgraduate management education can be a site for transformative learning, that the outcomes for managers can be positive if educators provide skilled support, but that these outcomes are not necessarily gender neutral. It is argued that critical management learning discourses and practices need to balance critique with the teaching of research-informed theories for managing and organising work. This means theories informed by a new paradigm which embodies a relational understanding of human individuality, behaviour and development. Page 4 Elaine Dunn PhD Thesis Lancaster University ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ 2 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. 3 SUMMARY OF FIGURES ....................................................................................... 10 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 11 1.1 A point of departure .................................................................................... 11 1.2 A gap in the research ................................................................................... 14 1.3 The story behind the story ........................................................................... 16 1.4 Outline of thesis .......................................................................................... 23 1.5 Naming and boundaries .............................................................................. 25 2 LITERATURE REVIEW – PART I ....................................................... 31 2.1 A discursive perspective ............................................................................. 32 2.1.1 Knowledge, power and discourse .................................................. 33 2.1.2 Language and reality - the construction of perceptions ................. 35 2.1.3 The discourses on management and education .............................. 38 2.2 Management education - forms and functions ............................................ 40 2.2.1 Mainstream forms – learning to play the game ............................. 41 2.2.2 Revised forms – same game different approach ............................ 42 2.2.3 Alternative forms – learning to change the game .......................... 43 2.3 Management education – learning to change the game .............................. 45 2.3.1 Critical management education ..................................................... 45 2.3.1.1 Introduction and origins .................................................. 45 2.3.1.2 Critical pedagogy - CME ................................................ 48 2.3.1.3 Critical pedagogy – more generally ................................ 49 2.3.2 Action based education .................................................................. 53 2.3.2.1 Introduction and origins .................................................. 53 2.3.2.2 Critical Action Learning – in theory ............................... 54 2.3.2.3 Action-based pedagogy – in practice .............................. 56 2.4 Learning to change the game ...................................................................... 59 2.4.1 Experiential learning ...................................................................... 60 2.4.2 Transformative learning ................................................................. 62 2.4.3 Learning domains & theories ......................................................... 66 2.5 Research studies .......................................................................................... 69 Page 5 Elaine Dunn PhD Thesis Lancaster University 2.5.1 Introduction .................................................................................... 70 2.5.2 Consequences for managers - conjecture....................................... 72 2.5.3 Consequences for managers – empirical studies to date ............... 76 2.5.3.1 In the classroom .............................................................. 76 2.5.3.2 Back at work ................................................................... 82 2.5.4 A research proposal ....................................................................... 84 3 THE RESEARCH SETTING .................................................................. 87 3.1 Choices available and choices made ........................................................... 87 3.2 The Exeter programme................................................................................ 93 3.2.1 Aims ............................................................................................... 94 3.2.2 Faculty perspectives ....................................................................... 95 3.2.3 Curriculum ..................................................................................... 96 3.2.4 Learning process ............................................................................ 97 3.2.5 Comparison with literature review ................................................ 99 3.3 The Ashridge programme ........................................................................... 99 3.3.1 Aims ............................................................................................. 100 3.3.2 Faculty perspectives ..................................................................... 101 3.3.3 Curriculum ................................................................................... 103 3.3.4 Learning process .......................................................................... 104 3.3.5 Comparison with literature review .............................................. 105 3.4 Summary ................................................................................................... 106 4 LITERATURE REVIEW – PART II ................................................... 108 4.1 Management education – debating failure ................................................ 108 4.1.1 The making of managers – an economic project ......................... 109 4.1.2 Debating failure ........................................................................... 112 4.1.2.1 Instrumental issues ........................................................ 112 4.1.2.2 Ethical issues ................................................................. 115 4.1.2.3 Teaching versus practice ............................................... 118 4.2 Management – frames of reference ..........................................................