Implications For Management Education Research Articles

Gender in IHRM Scholarship: Implications for Management Education and Women’s Academic Careers

Gender in IHRM Scholarship: Implications for Management Education and Women’s Academic Careers

Developing Interdisciplinary Learning: Spanning Disciplinary and Organizational Boundaries

Based on a study of a postgraduate course, we show how—through the processes associated with applying a strategic tool—students developed the understandings that allowed them to span disciplinary and organizational boundaries. We reveal how the students, working in groups and acting as consultants to industry clients, developed specific boundary-spanning skills learned through observation and practice (mimesis), and reflection. Namely, (1) working with others with different disciplines to establish roles and processes to operate successfully as a group, (2) establishing productive communication with other groups of diverse disciplines as part of project processes, (3) eliciting information from other groups of diverse specialists, and (4) managing an inclusive discussion process among other groups of diverse specialists for agreement. We discuss how these insights about mimesis and reflection add to pedagogic debates about instruction for interdisciplinary and inter-organizational learning and the implications for management education and development practice.

Cultivating Inclusive Leadership in Management Education: Bridging the DEI Competency Gap

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in management education is a critical subject that has increasingly become important in preparing future leaders for a diverse world. The research problem is the lack of knowledge on how management education programmes develop inclusive leadership skills by identifying and building necessary capabilities. This study aimed at identifying DEI competencies, evaluating existing approaches to teaching and learning and analyzing the factors that hinder or facilitate the development of inclusive leadership skills. By conducting a conceptual literature review, it examined academic journals and authoritative sources while focusing on DEI in management education. Historical development towards more inclusive practices, identification of core competencies required for an inclusive leadership model, and efficacy of different teaching methods are the major points. It therefore calls for incorporation of DEI principles into management education; providing innovative ways to overcome these barriers. The study thus has serious implications for management education as it provides an influential framework for improving educators’ preparation of future leaders who can navigate through diverse and inclusive workforces.

Generative artificial intelligence (ChatGPT): Implications for management educators

ChatGPT has been one of the most talked about computer programs amongst management educators in recent weeks due to its transformative ability to change how assessments are undertaken and graded. Unlike other educational technologies that can be tracked when used, ChatGPT has superior abilities that make it virtually untraceable when used. This creates a dilemma for management educators wanting to utilise the technology whilst staying relevant but also interested in authentic learning. Thus, it is critical for management educators to quickly implement policies regarding ChatGPT and subsequent new generative artificial intelligence because of its ease of use and affordability. This article is conceptual in nature and discusses ChatGPT as a generative form of artificial intelligence that presents challenges for management educators that need to be addressed through appropriate strategies. Thereby contributing to the literature on how technological innovations can be included in curriculum design and management learning practices. Practical and managerial implications are stated that highlight the critical need to re-examine existing education practices as a way of incorporating new technological innovation that can be utilised in a beneficial way.

Artificial intelligence and poverty alleviation: Emerging innovations and their implications for management education and sustainable development

Artificial Intelligence (AI) could help humanity achieve the ambitious goal of eradicating extreme poverty. The United Nations (UN) General Assembly, in its declaration Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, boldly proclaimed the aspirations of the nations of the world to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere.” No Poverty is the first of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, humanity is not on track to accomplish this ambitious goal; the COVID-19 pandemic has increased joblessness and economic disruption pushing additional millions into extreme poverty and rolling back the gains in poverty alleviation over the past three decades. This paper briefly explores the theoretics of poverty, recent trends in management education, and emerging innovations in AI. It provides some examples of AI implementation in the agriculture sector and draws inferences from these diverse but coalescing transformations in AI, management education, and sustainable development.

Power to the People: The Impact of Student Personal Power on Performance in Teams

This article examines teammates’ perceptions of individual expert and referent power (personal power) in student teams working on a semester-long project. In our study, we found a positive relationship between being perceived as high in personal power (expert and referent power) by teammates and faculty advisor-rated performance, measured by quality and quantity of work, efficiency, meeting team goals, meeting deadlines, and overall performance. To examine the mechanism behind this relationship, we also examined and found that expressed humility mediated the effect between teammates’ power perceptions and individual performance. These findings suggest that power plays an important role in teammates’ perceptions of individuals, in the individual’s own performance, and in how humility functions in team settings. We further discuss these results in terms of practical implications as well as implications for management educators.

How can practical wisdom manifest itself in five fundamental management and leadership practices?

Purpose Practical wisdom (PW; phronesis), as one of the human virtues, is experiencing a renewal in the contemporary management literature. The aim of this conceptual paper is first, to explore the core practices of managers and leaders in the literature and second, to demonstrate how PW can manifest itself in these practices. Design/methodology/approach The research follows the interpretivist research philosophy, inductive approach, qualitative method and the theory-building research strategy. The data collection method is a literature review. The practice ecosystem framework is applied to demonstrate the presence of PW in the core practices of managers and leaders. Findings The paper proposes a practice-based paradigm of management and leadership. From the literature study, envisioning, enabling, energizing, engaging and executing as five fundamental practices are identified. Research limitations/implications The most significant literature was selected based on decisions of the author. Therefore, it might be that important sources were overlooked. The paper proposes future research questions, and it calls for an empirical validation of the proposed conceptual model in management and leadership practices context. Practical implications The practical implications for managers and leaders are in applying the framework developed in this paper as a tool or guidelines to cultivate PW in their practices. The paper offers implications for management education, traditional educational institutions and educational practitioners because they are the key influencers of wise thinking and actions of future managers and leaders. Originality/value The novelty of this paper is in making explicit how the eight features of PW can manifest themselves in the everyday actions of managers and leaders. Applying the practice ecosystem framework for this purpose is an original contribution.

A social network comparison between a Classroom-as-Organization and traditional management classes

The constructivist theory of learning states that student interaction with peers leads to cognitive development. Meanwhile, scholars claimed that traditional management classes that use group work do not promote student interaction effectively. Despite this concern, student interaction has not been compared between different courses. In the current study, the authors used social network analysis to explore student interaction in two traditional classes and one that followed the Classroom-as-Organization (CAO) approach. The authors found that the CAO involves students in a better cohesive network of interactions compared to other classes. Implications for management educators are discussed.

Who Built Maslow’s Pyramid? A History of the Creation of Management Studies’ Most Famous Symbol and Its Implications for Management Education

Abraham Maslow’s theory of motivation, the idea that human needs exist in a hierarchy that people strive progressively to satisfy, is regarded as a fundamental approach to understanding and motivating people at work. It is one of the first and most remembered models encountered by students of management. Despite gaining little support in empirical studies and being criticized for promoting an elitist, individualistic view of management, Maslow’s theory remains popular, its popularity underpinned by its widely-recognized pyramid form. However, Maslow never created a pyramid to represent the hierarchy of needs. We investigated how it came to be and draw on this analysis to call for a rethink of how Maslow is represented in management studies. We also challenge management educators to reflect critically on what are taken to be the historical foundations of management studies and the forms in which those foundations are taught to students.

The Increasing Importance of Curriculum Design and Its Implications for Management Educators

In this essay, I explore the topic of curriculum design in business and management education from the perspective of my current role as Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching. Using Biggs’s constructive alignment as an organizing framework, I summarize a number of challenges for management educators and administrators in the design and evaluation of programs and courses and highlight the increasing complexity of the task. I conclude by arguing that, from an associate dean’s perspective, management educators must increasingly adopt the role of designer, rather than teacher, and offer suggestions to help with that transition.

Management Education and Earth System Science: Transformation as if Planetary Boundaries Mattered

Earth system science (ESS) has identified worrying trends in the human impact on fundamental planetary systems. In this conceptual article, we discuss the implications of this research for business schools and management education (ME). We argue that ESS findings raise significant concerns about the relationship between business and nature and, consequently, a radical reframing is required to embed economic and social activity within the global sustainability of natural systems. This has transformative implications for ME. To illustrate this reframing, we apply the ESS lenses of social-ecological interdependence, multiscalar relations, environmental governance, and environmental values to the ME functional domains of institutional purpose, social context and engagement, pedagogical practice, curricular design, and research focus. Our work contributes to the literature on business education for sustainability and the business-society-nature nexus. We explore and apply key ESS findings and concepts, discuss normative implications of these ideas, and offer guidance on transformational pathways for business schools and ME.

Refining Grit in Academic Performance: The Mediational Role of Psychological Capital

Recent popular and academic attention is being given to the role that grit plays in important student outcomes. While gritty individuals are more likely to engage in deliberate practice and maintain commitment in the face of setbacks, what remains unclear are the cognitive processes linking grit and academic performance. Identifying the cognitive processes can play an important role in helping both students and educators apply grit in productive ways. The purpose of this study is to explore the mediational role that psychological capital (PsyCap) may play in the relationship between grit and student academic performance. Drawing from a sample ( N = 176) of business students, the results indicate their PsyCap largely mediates the relationship between their grit and grade point averages. In other words, Academic PsyCap consisting of the psychological resources of hope, efficacy, resiliency, and optimism seem to help drive gritty students toward more successful academic performance. A discussion concerning the significance of these findings, as well as implications for management education, are provided.

The knowing body as a floating body

This article enriches practice-based studies on bodily knowing by conceptualizing the knowing body as a floating body. This concept accords epistemic value to two forms of bodily existence – waking and sleeping – that are considered to be intertwined and floating. Based on an auto-ethnographic study conducted in Finnish academia, we propose three different sensorial flows that the knowing body engages in when participating in organizational practices: sensory release, within-corporeality and sensory entanglement in dreams. These forms highlight the inconstant and uncertain nature of embodied knowing, suggesting a novel onto-epistemological stance in which the knowing body is thought of as a floating body that is never still. The study also has implications for management education.

Understanding Sustainability Through the Lens of Ecocentric Radical-Reflexivity: Implications for Management Education

This paper seeks to contribute to the debate around sustainability by proposing the need for an ecocentric stance to sustainability that reflexively embeds humans in—rather than detached from—nature. We argue that this requires a different way of thinking about our relationship with our world, necessitating a (re)engagement with the sociomaterial world in which we live. We develop the notion of ecocentrism by drawing on insights from sociomateriality studies, and show how radical-reflexivity enables us to appreciate our embeddedness and responsibility for sustainability by bringing attention to the interrelationship between values, actions and our social and material world. We examine the implications of an ecocentric radically reflexive approach to sustainability for management education.

Management Learning as Collaborative Visual Encounter

This article reviews a body of literature that relates to the use of aesthetic, specifically visual, methods in organizational research and management education. Visual methods are associated with a range of benefits for those studying management and organization, including the elicitation of emotional responses, support for reflection and self-reflexivity, making varied forms of knowledge explicit, and in supporting dialogue and collaborative learning. Key implications for management educators are outlined, which include the need to appreciate the nature of aesthetic-visual “knowing” and to evaluate methods with pedagogical criteria, to consider the type of visual “space” educators need to create, to build individuals’ capacities to use visual methods, and to facilitate visual encounters appropriately. A set of practical “starting points” are also identified for management educators, drawn from the author’s teaching practice.

Does international experience count in the cross-cultural management course effectiveness?

The rapid increase in globalisation processes in many aspects of social and work life has pushed educators to develop students with cross-cultural competence to work in culturally diverse settings. We extend the current understanding of the effectiveness of cross-cultural management courses by emphasising multidimensional learning outcomes. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of international experience on the effectiveness of cross-cultural management education. By studying 179 students at two universities, our results showed that students' international experience through international student status was positively associated with their cognitive cultural intelligence, and students' international experience through military affiliation was positively related to their motivational cultural intelligence and cross-cultural adjustment efficacy. We discuss ways to utilise experience for better learning and implications for management education.

Does international experience count in the cross-cultural management course effectiveness?

The rapid increase in globalisation processes in many aspects of social and work life has pushed educators to develop students with cross-cultural competence to work in culturally diverse settings. We extend the current understanding of the effectiveness of cross-cultural management courses by emphasising multidimensional learning outcomes. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of international experience on the effectiveness of cross-cultural management education. By studying 179 students at two universities, our results showed that students' international experience through international student status was positively associated with their cognitive cultural intelligence, and students' international experience through military affiliation was positively related to their motivational cultural intelligence and cross-cultural adjustment efficacy. We discuss ways to utilise experience for better learning and implications for management education.

Reimagining and Refashioning Integral Management

The function of Management in the present complex world cannot be overemphasized. The role of ethics in Management, especially in the Indian context, is even more profound. Despite a vast amount of work in this area, repetition and exaggeration have become commonplace, so much so that certain concepts without validity have taken root. This paper ventures to provide an alternative understanding of human psychology drawn from the philosophical insights of Sri Aurobindo, with significant implications for Management education and practice. While surveying the history of ideas in modern civilization, Sri Aurobindo's ontological formulations appear to have an edge, which unfortunately have not received much attention. Moreover, there is perceptible resistance from various interest groups and dominant philosophies, especially in the context of the prevailing political situation. This paper uses select concepts from Sri Aurobindo's philosophy to point out how radically our thinking should change. His stress on personal development through Yoga and integral education constitutes a task in the domain of self-management. Accommodating these facets into management education as well as practice is a challenge that needs to be taken up by interested individuals and institutions in right earnest.

Towards WISE Development, WISE Management and WISE Leadership: Implications for Management Education

Towards WISE Development, WISE Management and WISE Leadership: Implications for Management Education

Determinants of Student Academic Performance in Indian B-Schools – An Empirical Investigation

Given the highly competitive nature of MBA admission, one cannot help asking the question if the criteria used in the admission decisions are predictable for success in management courses offered at various B-Schools. This paper tries to explain the determinants of performance of students who are enrolled in regular MBA program in an Indian B-School. The study is conducted on first year students of a premiere B-School using multiple regression. Study shows that performance of MBA student in the course is not determined by their earlier academic performance. It can be explained only by the student's exposure to the course contents either through previous experience or otherwise. Academic performance is also explained by motivation to learn, or the efforts student put during the course. This study has implications for management education not only in the area of admission decision but also in area of teaching methods.