in UK Management education Yiannis Gabriel University of Bath - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Reconciling and ethic of care with Critical Management Pedagogy in UK Management education Yiannis Gabriel University of Bath University of Lund Pag e 1

 Hospitals  Police  Social services  The BBC  …  Universities  … and in particular Business schools

 Cash cows and/or parasites  Mouthpieces of neo-liberal project  Irrelevant – peddlers of useless esoterica  Finishing schools ◦ Pieces of paper – diplomas ◦ Interview and presentational skills ◦ Disciplinary machines  Brands – competing and cannibalizing each other  Machines of exploitation ◦ Of students ◦ Of their staff

 Not merely more effective management  … though I would not underestimate the importance of effectiveness  … but also more humane, ethical and responsible management

 Scientific knowledge AND practical wisdom (phronesis)  Reflection AND action  Ethic of criticism AND ethic of care

 Criticism can be positive, negative or mixed  X is not good, where X can be ◦ A theory / an idea / a concept ◦ An institution ◦ A person ◦ A process  X is not good enough ◦ Imagining something better  X is not what it seems

 Critical of unquestioned adherence to tradition and convention  Critical reflection and the reflective practitioner  Critical imagination and innovation  Critical of oppressive and exploitative management regimes (CMS)  Critical of unquestioned subordination of knowledge to the pursuit of management efficiency

 It can destroy important ideas and innovations in their early and fragile state  It can destroy tested institutions without offering adequate replacements  It can destroy individuals and kill learning, curiosity and innovation  Consider criticism of something particularly dear to yourself (a theory, work of art, project, person) “What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult .” Freud

 Those who conscientiously care for others are not seeking primarily to further their own individual interests; their interests are intertwined with the persons they care for. Neither are they acting for the sake of all others or humanity in general ; they seek instead to preserve or promote an actual human relation between themselves and particular others . (Held, 2006)

 Gro rows ws out t of f a d a deep p convictio nviction n that at al all individuals ividuals ar are dependent endent on eac ach h other her fo for r their ir well ll-being being an and fl flour ourishin ishing  Does es not tre reat at al all people ople as as e equa ual  Goes the ‘extra mile’ or ‘beyond the call of duty’  Car arer r so sometimes metimes ac acts s as as th though ough he/she /she understan derstand d the interest erest of f the car ared ed fo for r better ter than an the e lat atter. er.

 Tak akes s re responsibility ponsibility fo fot the e well ll- being ing of f other hers  Not a ‘scripted’ performance  Does es not fo follow llow universa iversal l prin rinciples ciples but t depend pends s on se sensitivity, sitivity, wat atchfuln chfulnes ess s an and a a par aramount amount concern ncern fo for r sustainin taining g re relations ations

 An ethic of care may counterbalance the possible excess of negative criticism  It may adjust criticism to the occasion, the needs of the subject and the opportunities for learning  It may prompt a questioning of the ethic of consumerism and its increasing impact on education  It may be used to reconfigure and re-evaluate the role of higher education teachers  … and teaching as a long -standing and noble profession

Three stories

 Hard work  Active learning and passive learning  Mistrust easy solutions

 Relentless work (action) stops us from reflecting  Failure to listen  Information overload and the lack of meaning

 Mistrust bipolarities of either/or  Be mindful of forced choices

 Scientific knowledge AND practical wisdom (phronesis)  Reflection AND action  Ethic of care AND ethic of criticism