How can we support the translation of theory to practice on and beyond a post-graduate Management Learning programme?

Court, Krista and Greenwood, Jo (2024) How can we support the translation of theory to practice on and beyond a post-graduate Management Learning programme? In: 12th Annual Action Research Colloquium, 2024-06-25 - 2024-06-26, TU Dublin. (Unpublished)

Abstract

We seek to address several dilemmas encountered in our field of management learning within a Higher Education context: 1) Having struggled in the past, how can we engage busy professional learners in research? 2) What key elements of our curriculum improve management practice for postgraduate work-based learners? 3) How can our own action research approach, and that of our learners, support personal, academic and professional growth? 4) Can this growth bring about positive organisational outcomes and sustainable impact? How so? Our research can be considered a response to a call made by Spencer, Anderson and Ellwood (2022) to examine how programmes which interweave scholarship and practice, and which privilege the development of inquiry and critical reflection skills, might bring about improvements in management practice. Our multi-layered action research examined: a) our departmental policies and practices via document analysis, developmental conversations, facilitated workshops at CPD days, and the co-creation of organisational and educational artifacts; and b) the mechanisms by which impact unfolds for a group of learners via a collaborative exploration of their personal, academic and professional development. We suggest that translation occurred through: a) a programme design and teaching approach which interweaves scholarship and practice; b) a facilitated process of intentional partnership - of relational, conceptual and experimental spaces (Bradbury, 2023) where knowledge could be created and lived, and leadership capacity extended; and c) a coaching-based relationship between student and academic, especially during their final capstone project phase. Findings from this phase indicate the development of confident scholar-practitioners, who share a sense of organisational vision, ownership and decision-making, who engage deeply and with extended networks, who have enhanced reputations and professional opportunities and who are initiators of wider organisational learning and sustainable workplace change. We aim to share the highs and lows of our journey and invite academics to move beyond a traditional 'information give' model of andragogy to one of partnership, knowledge- and power-sharing.