Showing papers in "Management Learning in 1995"
TL;DR: In this paper, it is argued that the learning organization is badly flawed because of its proponents' apolitical assumptions, which leads them to neglect the political activity likely to be encountered in a learning organization, activity which will tend to frustrate the learning aims.
Abstract: Three main criticisms of the 'learning organization' are developed in this paper. First, it is argued that the concept is badly flawed because of its proponents' apolitical assumptions. This leads them to neglect the political activity likely to be encountered in a learning organization, activity which will tend to frustrate the learning aims. Second, while their model allows for greater employee empowerment the amount will probably be relatively modest in real terms. On the other hand, the power of managers, especially those at the apex of the organization, is likely to be enhanced by their privileged access to any extra informational and symbolic resources that are created by individual and collective learning processes. The third, and potentially the most damning, criticism is that the concept of the 'learning organization' is expressed in ways that provide raw material for managerial ideology, potentially constraining the meanings and actions of other employees so that they support the interests of th...
269Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, a polemic against the mainstream of management education is presented, arguing that this mainstream is managerialist in character and ignores critical management research, and that it replicates the...
Abstract: This paper is a polemic against the mainstream of management education. It is argued that this mainstream is managerialist in character and ignores critical management research. In replicating the ...
132Â citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors use the metaphor of economic enterprises as religious institutions and business administration as religion, and suggest that these organizations perform a crucial ontological role in modern societies.
Abstract: The paper deals with the communication, which the paper claims to be uni-directional, between the West (industrialized `capitalist' countries) and Eastern and Central Europe Using the metaphor of economic enterprises as religious institutions and business administration as religion, the paper suggests that these organizations perform a crucial ontological role in modern societies After the fall of communism in 1989 the values of capitalist modernity are transferred to the post-communist countries by guest lecturers and consultants taking part in assistance programmes and in other ways involved in the transition process This is depicted by the use of the religious metaphor as missionary activity The paper ends with a discussion of the unidirectional communication, which in dawning postmodern society is perhaps not the best way to a common, East-West construction of a new social reality
91Â citations
TL;DR: Companies are not only systems created and controlled by those who manage them but also self-organizing entities that evolve through learning, seen as a product of an alternative replicator, the meme or mental model, acting, like a gene, to preserve itself in an Evolutionary Stable System.
Abstract: Companies are not only systems created and controlled by those who manage them but also self-organising entities that evolve through learning. Whereas an organism is a creation of natural replicators, genes, an organisation can be seen as a product of an alternative replicator, the meme or mental model, acting, like a gene, to preserve itself in an Evolutionary Stable System. The result is an organisation which self organises around a set of unspoken and unwritten rules and assumptions.
Biological evolution is stimulated by environmental change and reproductive isolation; the process of punctuated equilibrium. Corporate innovation shows the same pattern. Innovations in products and processes occur in groups isolated from prevailing mental norms.
Successful organic strains possess a genetic capability for adaptation. Organisations which wish to foster learning can develop an equivalent, mental capability. Unlike their biological counterparts they can exert conscious choice and puncture the memetic codes that seek to keep them stable; the mental models of individuals, and the strategies, paradigms and unwritten rules at the company level.
46Â citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the intricate relationship between dialogue and doing through data from senior executives in a selection of large UK organizations and argued that through dialogue, these senior managers practice the 3Rs of managing reading, wrighting and relating.
Abstract: This paper explores the intricate relationship between dialogue and doing through data from senior executives in a selection of large UK organizations. It is argued that through dialogue (in the sense of talking and listening) and doing (in the sense of learning and enacting), these senior managers practice the 3Rs of managing-reading (situations), wrighting and relating. In this way, shared meanings (both as process and as outcome) are shaped which may or may not be called strategic decision-making. It is proposed that whatever name is given, it is simply a communicative device to shape future meanings (dialogue) and to generate further appropriate action (doing). However, like the game of 'Mornington Crescent', the search for the rules continues.
39Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the nature of management self-development in the small business sector and found that it tends to be accidental, highly interpersonal, and informal in comparison to management self development in medium and large businesses.
Abstract: Based on in-depth interviews with eight owners/managers, this paper examines the nature of management self-development in the small business sector. In comparison to management self-development in medium and large businesses, management self-development in small business tends to be accidental, highly interpersonal, and informal. Purveyors of management education and training should understand the nature of learning in small business. They should also consider helping small business owners/managers create, maintain and develop their own personal and professional networks.
32Â citations
TL;DR: The historical undervaluing of skills in business and management degrees has led to a widening gap between the skills that employers require and those that graduates provide as mentioned in this paper, and this gap has been identified as a major cause of job losses.
Abstract: The historical undervaluing of skills in business and management degrees has led to a widening gap between the skills that employers require and those that graduates provide. Given the resources ne...
27Â citations
TL;DR: Managers have often tried to enact a 'preferred' organizational experience on others through business concepts such as corporate philosophies, values, vision and mission statements either to create... as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Managers have often tried to enact a 'preferred' organizational experience on others through business concepts such as corporate philosophies, values, vision and mission statements either to create...
26Â citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the importance of organizational learning in the academic management literature and in the business press, especially in firms that operate in rapidly-changing environments, such as the Internet.
Abstract: There has been much recent interest in organizational learning in the academic management literature and in the business press. This issue is especially salient in firms that operate in rapidly cha...
20Â citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the core idea is that to think ethically in the practice of management requires an appreciation of the detailed context for specific actions, and that case material and other learning resources should therefore provide a basis for relating ethical thinking to the detail of particular situations so that such contextualization for decisions and everyday conduct is appreciated.
Abstract: The core idea in this paper is that to think ethically in the practice of management requires an appreciation of the detailed context for specific actions. Ethical theory, as typically offered on programmes for managers, is based on abstract concepts which call for judgement in their real-world application. Thus the 'disorderliness' of management practice must be recognized; this is part of the context in which moral discourse in organizations is conducted, decisions taken, and behaviour enacted. Furthermore, such discourse and action go well beyond the 'ethical decision-making' often assumed in texts and teaching; individuals' everyday conduct and demeanour must also be considered. Case material and other learning resources should therefore provide a basis for relating ethical thinking to the detail of particular situations so that such contextualization for decisions and everyday conduct is appreciated. To this end, it is suggested that literature may provide a valuable aid to learning.
20Â citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report on a project set up to assess the feasibility of introducing a competence-based management award in a university business school, and the lessons of this pilot and the evidence arising from their work with members of the advisory group, are set out in this paper.
Abstract: This paper reports on a project set up to assess the feasibility of introducing a competence-based management award in a university business school. The school has a long-established Executive MBA programme-could it be adapted to use the potential benefits of competence-based development and what issues would need to be dealt with? To find out, we worked with an advisory group of major employers, and designed and ran a pilot competence-based Certificate equivalent to Year 1 of the 3-year part-time MBA programme. The lessons of this pilot, and the evidence arising from our work with members of the advisory group, are set out in this paper. They indicate that linking workbased learning with a recognized qualification is more difficult and costly than expected, and the paper shows how we now plan to overcome those difficulties.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors develop a core agenda for management and organization learning: learning for positive global change, cooperative advantage and anticipatory learning, learning in innovative organizational forms, and large group-learning dynamics.
Abstract: In this paper we direct the field of management and organization learning toward the betterment of the global human condition. Through the metaphor of the global meeting, we develop the core agenda for scholarship in management and organization learning: learning for positive global change, cooperative advantage and anticipatory learning, learning in innovative organizational forms, and large group-learning dynamics. For this agenda to be effective in constructing positive global change, the discovery and education endeavors of scholars in this field must change to accommodate the new learning realities mirrored by the global meeting: relationality, participation, flexibility and transboundary thought, organizing and action.
TL;DR: The role of talk in the creation, development and instating of a new script within an organization is discussed in this paper, where the authors use the metaphor of the theatre to depict the social world we inhabit as a place of settings, scenes, acts and scripts and ourselves as dramatists/dramaturges, performers, audiences and critics.
Abstract: This paper is about the role of talk in the creation, development and instating of a new script within an organization. For a long time I have been interested in how we recognize the patterns of behaviour that we have become accustomed to, how we sustain them and how, if we so choose, we modify them. Elsewhere I have made extensive use of the metaphor of the theatre in characterizing these processes, depicting the social world we inhabit as a place of settings, scenes, acts and scripts and ourselves as dramatists/dramaturges, performers, audiences and critics (Mangham, 1978, 1987, 1988; Mangham and Overington, 1986). In my work with members of organizations, I have utilized this frame to invite them to step back from their own performances, appraise them, rewrite them, try out the new scripts and work towards a long run of their new creations. Here I report on the role of talk in one such intervention.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used their combined experience of working in European management education in the UK, France, Germany and Spain to analyse the different strategies being pursued by business schools, and to identify some of the key issues and problem areas involved in transforming a business school from being a local or national school to being a real European competitor.
Abstract: Throughout Europe business schools are redesigning their strategies to cope with the rapidly developing Single European Market. As the SEM evolves as a distinct entity, so does the notion of a European manager and a European management distinct from the American model, and even more distinct from the several Asian models. Business schools are having to discover how to prepare managers for Europe; how the schools will compete in the changing market; how they will transform themselves in order to compete effectively in future; what resources, capabilities, and knowledge they will have to develop. This article uses the authors' combined experience of working in European management education in the UK, France, Germany and Spain to analyse the different strategies being pursued by business schools, and to identify some of the key issues and problem areas involved in transforming a business school from being a local or national school to being a real European competitor.
TL;DR: The objective is to present a framework of questions which might particularly represent aspects of research within management learning, and the general phrase used to depict this framework is the notion of 'research as learning'.
Abstract: This paper explores what may be distinctive about management research undertaken from a perspective on management learning. There are some general principles that influence research in this field and the author sets these in relation to key issues that seem to have a particular influence on the learning process. The objective is to present a framework of questions which might particularly represent aspects of research within management learning, and the general phrase used to depict this framework is the notion of 'research as learning'. Such an approach is interested in the integration of specific dynamics that are part of the processes of both research and learning. The paper describes how these dynamics can be utilized in the process of management research, placing specific emphasis on what learning means within, and how it affects the practice of, research in management learning.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors make the assumption that many texts and programs of study on strategic management either ignore or address only vaguely the issue of defining strategic management, or promulgate it.
Abstract: This paper is based on the assumption that many texts and programmes of study on strategic management either ignore or address only vaguely the issue of defining strategic management, or promulgate...
TL;DR: In this article, a reflexive study of workplace talk is presented, focusing on the dual characteristic of talk's operation in both accomplishing pragmatic ends and facilitating ritual sociability, and it is argued that context-less transcription of talk is boring.
Abstract: This work documents a reflexive study of workplace talk. It attempts to trace the conversational encounters of a management educator whilst engaged in routine academic activities. Concepts drawn from Speech-act theory and Actor-network theory are found useful in interpreting transcribed conversational episodes and pursuing performative and translational features of their evolution. Analytical emphasis falls on the dual characteristic of talk's operation in both accomplishing pragmatic ends and facilitating ritual sociability. In considering the textual representation of workplace talk, it is argued that context-less transcription of talk is boring. Despite the legitimate analytical ambitions of ethnomethodology, the transcription protocol of conversation analysts does little to remedy the anaesthetic effects of drily reproduced exchanges. An inquiry into styles of representation adopted by playwrights and screenplay writers is used to inform an alternative approach to the representation and interpretation...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe the difficulties they faced in developing an adequate theoretical and methodological structure for their own PhD, and warn of the dangers inherent in selecting theories "off-the-shelf" and encourage those engaged in doctoral research to return to first principles in developing their own conceptual frameworks.
Abstract: This paper is based on my experience as a doctoral student at the Manchester Business School. In many such institutions, research tends to be based on a positivist epistemology. Using two examples from the literature, I suggest that use of the 'scientific method' may not be appropriate for natural science and, therefore, may be even more problematic for social science. Nevertheless, researchers in business and management schools may find that they are encouraged to adopt methodologies with which they are uneasy. In the later sections of the paper I describe the difficulties I faced in developing an adequate theoretical and methodological structure for my own PhD. The paper warns of the dangers inherent in selecting theories 'off-the-shelf and encourages those engaged in doctoral research to return to first principles in developing their own conceptual frameworks.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present preliminary evidence gathered from recently graduated Master of Business Administration (MBA) learners, which reveals that, unless support is continued, in time learners may revert back to previous practices of learning and behaviour in the course of their work, thus undoing the benefits that the programme sought to introduce.
Abstract: This reflective account seeks to share concerns about the effectiveness of programmes that emphasize personal and/or professional growth. The paper presents preliminary evidence gathered from recently graduated Master of Business Administration (MBA) learners, which reveals that, unless support is continued, in time learners may revert back to previous practices of learning and behaviour in the course of their work, thus undoing the benefits that the programme sought to introduce. The paper discusses some of the reasons why this might occur and concludes that the author must shoulder at least some of the responsibility.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored some of the issues associated with espousing the offer of freedom of choice within an action learning program for university faculty teaching management in central Europe, and argued that this reputation is ill deserved, and that the concept of "freedom of choice" as applied in practice by the western partners, and as common currency in the West, lacks the level of clarity necessary for it to become more than dogma.
Abstract: This paper explores some of the issues associated with espousing the offer of freedom of choice within an action learning program for university faculty teaching management in central Europe-where both freedom of choice and management teaching are reputedly underdeveloped. It is argued that this reputation is ill deserved, and that the concept of 'freedom of choice' as applied in practice by the western partners, and as common currency in the West, lacks the level of clarity necessary for it to become more than dogma.
TL;DR: In the year 2000, the International Advisory Board of Management Learning (ILBML) held an electronic conference, "Management Learning in the Year 2000" as mentioned in this paper, in which members of the board were asked to participate in a debate about a range of issues.
Abstract: This is an edited version of an electronic conference for members of the International Advisory Board of Management Learning, in which we invited our Board to discuss 'Management Learning in the year 2000'. Over the five weeks of the conference, from late August through September 1994, those members of the Board who were technologically equipped to do so and who wished were engaged in a lively and increasingly fluent debate about a range of issues under that heading, electronically chaired by David Sims. The editors of Management Learning then edited this conference thematically, taking in turn four main strands that developed in the discussion:* What is management learning?* How might Management Learning build a 'community' of debate and learning?How might Management Learning make a distinctive contribution?* Who should shape the agenda of Management Learning?
TL;DR: In this article, the author examines the fear that exploration of prayer generates in many of those engaged in the study of organizational learning and the negative impact that such fear has on understanding how organizations actually learn.
Abstract: According to the author, for organizations to learn, their members must constantly engage in a particular type of prayer, which he calls 'prayers of communication'. The paper begins by describing several such prayers as they occur in everyday organizational settings. It then defines 'prayers of communication' and ruminates about their essential nature and the impact of praying and not praying on individual and organizational learning. The author examines the fear that exploration of prayer generates in many of those engaged in the study of organizational learning and the negative impact that such fear has on understanding how organizations actually learn.
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TL;DR: This article found that the production work in a US synthetic fibres plant was organized and accomplished using the images and lexicon of motor racing, and workers expressed their continuing skepticism about management learning in terms of the same racing metaphor.
Abstract: The author discovered that the production work in a US synthetic fibres plant was organized and accomplished using the images and lexicon of motor racing. When management learned the local language of work they were able to understand the fate of past programs and believed they could take more sensible action. But workers expressed their continuing skepticism about management learning in terms of the same racing metaphor.