How Educational Developers in Leadership and Management
Studies Can Use Architectural Design to Facilitate Student
Learning About Delivering Innovation
Conference: “Educational Development in a Changing World”
International Consortium for Educational Development
Stockholm, 16 June 2014
Steven Cranfield 1 , Sheila Marsh 2 & Jud Stone 2
1 University of Westminster
2 PublicServiceWorks, London, UK

– Novel approach to use of creative industry
(architectural design) as focus of learning in a work based leadership masters programme – a ‘creative assignment’
– Assignment provided a powerful learning experience for most participants
– But it led some others to question their capacity as leaders for fostering creativity
– Activity theory and associated theory used to explain these differing outcomes and develop learning
– Challenges and opportunities for educational developers

• Observational case study, by module tutors
• Conceptual framework – activity theory
(Engeström, 1987, 1999, 2000, 2007)
• Data collected 2001-13 visually and verbally
• Thematic and content analysis of verbal data
• Variety of evaluation tools used, including some secondary data from an independent evaluation

Programme and rationale
– Work based Masters in Leadership in Health and Social Care
– Commissioned initially by National Health Service Executive
(NHSE) in England
– Goal – practical delivery of improvement of public services
– Service level leaders – multidisciplinary, multiprofessional
– Delivered 2001-2013 at two post-1992 universities by independent educational developers

Approach to learning
– Action learning (Revans, 2011)
– Activity theory – focus on dialogue, systems, role of tools/equipment, informal and formal procedures, division of labour (Engeström, 1999; McCaslin & Hickey,
2001)

Approach to leadership
– Embodying Leadership – What Do Good Leaders Do?
(NHSE, 2000)
– From normative and transactional to transformative -
‘participation, consultation and inclusion’ (Silvestri, 2007: 39)
– Organisations espouse the rhetoric of transformation but do not consistently support the practice of it (Marsh et al., 2003)
– Creative industries as inspiring models of delivering innovation, improvisational leadership and collaborative, cross-disciplinary ways of learning and working (Latham,
2013)

Why architectural design?
– ‘Creative’ activity needed to be justifiable use of time – enduring impact on local economy and people’s quality of life
– Interrogate connections between creative concept, innovative product and decision making
– Tensions, shortcomings, dilemmas and achievements of delivering innovation – activity theory

Creative assignment o Introductory task for 20-credit level 7 module on creativity, innovation and decision-making o Select an innovative architectural design project
(completed within previous 10 years) o Find out how creative idea was turned into a tangible, collaboratively created product o No prior knowledge of architectural design assumed or required o Present findings in posters created at first module workshop o Workshop activities identify common principles of creativity and innovation translated to participants’ work (i.e. activity system) o Formative feedback via action learning sets and tutorial support

Creative assignments
7 cohorts (n=89)
– redevelopment programmes
– civic landmarks
– housing and regeneration projects
– office buildings
– shopping centres
– football stadiums and sports facilities
– ecological centres
– public gardens
– bridges
– sculptural installations
– churches

Themes from Posters and Workshops
– Core components of creativity - expertise, creative thinking skills, and motivation (Amabile, 2001)
– Collaborative working, responsiveness to multiple stakeholders and clarity of purpose
– ‘People skills’
– Relative freedom over reaching specified goals
– Risk aversion
– Tools for facilitation - organisational support

Key Messages from Participants
‘I observed the creativity, determination and dedication of Tim Smit, inspiration and driver for the Eden Project. What could I learn from this to transform my practice? ... As I complete this assignment I reflect on the impossible
Biomes of Eden, now described as the eighth wonder of the world. I remember purpose, dedication, motivation and reward.’ Eden Project Cornwall,
England, 2001

Creative self image of public sector leaders
– ‘But I’m not creative’
A positive self-image is associated with creative productivity
– Leaders and managers ‘lack creative edge’
– They do not see innovation from start to finish, or learn from the results
– ‘I didn’t view any of my current projects in work as particularly innovative; this may be my interpretation of the concepts of innovation and creativity.’

Creative self image of public sector leaders
– ‘But I’m not creative’
A positive self-image is associated with creative productivity
– Perceived as anti-creative by clinicians
– Innovation linked to ‘creative destruction’ and downsizing
– ‘The current climate is one of insecurity, distrust and lack of resources, all of which are identified to block creativity.’

Stabilisation knowledge and possibility knowledge
(Engeström, 2007)
– Stabilisation knowledge
 Simplifies and fixes an otherwise bewildering reality
 Hard won cognitive achievement ensuring a certain level of survival in a complex, unruly world
– Possibility knowledge
 Embraces uncertainty, sees meanings in transformation and opens up possibilities
– Both are collaborative, both more or less creative

Stabilisation knowledge and possibility knowledge
(Engeström, 2007)
– Stabilisation knowledge
 assignments on more linear aspects of delivering innovation e.g. problem-solving techniques to circumscribed issues like ordering systems
– Possibility knowledge
 assignments more non-linear, exploratory e.g. applying a ‘home-grown’ computer-generated montage technique to use visual metaphor to identify significant blocks to effective communication between consultant medical staff and managers in the redevelopment of a hospital

Stabilisation knowledge and possibility knowledge
(Engeström, 2007)
– Both types of knowledge could result in successful assignments and guide positive action and change in the workplace
– Distinction helped make sense of participants’ differing expectations and aspirations, and …
• paradoxes and double-binds of art-and-management discourse experienced as ‘paralyzing in some contexts and inspiring in others’ (Parush & Koivunen,
2014: 104)
• and enabled more nuanced feedback to participants.

Conclusions 1
– Architectural design provided a potent source of learning for students and for us as educational developers
– Assignment developed conceptual and applied links between leadership performance, creative collaboration and the goal of delivering innovation
– Carefully integrated into the curriculum, it can prompt applicable insights into the above

Conclusions 2
– Formative, non-assessed and non-competitive
– Opened up discussion about creative self-image in a purposeful way
– Positively evaluated by 7 consecutive cohorts
– Cost-effective and does not rely on subject specific knowledge
– Merits further research

References
Amabile, T. (2001). How to kill creativity. In J. Henry (Ed.) Creative Management , Second Edition, pp.
4 –10. London: Sage
Engeström, Y. (1987). Learning by expanding: an activity-theoretical approach to developmental
Research . Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit Oy.
Engeström, Y. (1999). Activity theory and individual and social transformation, Perspectives on Activity
Theory , 19-38.
Engeström, Y. (2000). Activity theory as a framework for analyzing and redesigning work,
Ergonomics , 43(7), 960-974.
Engeström, Y. (2001). Expansive learning at work: Toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization, Journal of Education and Work , 14(1), 133-156.
Engeström, Y. (2007). From stabilization knowledge to possibility knowledge in organizational learning, Management Learning , 38(3), 271-275.
Latham, S. D. (2013). Leadership research: an arts-informed perspective, Journal of Management
Inquiry , 1056492613491434.
McCaslin, M., & Hickey, D. T. (2001). Self-regulated learning and academic achievement: A Vygotskian view, Self-Regulated Learning and Academic Achievement: Theoretical perspectives , 2 , 227-252.
NHS Executive (NHSE) London Region (2000). Embodying Leadership: What Do Effective Leaders
Do?
London: NHS Executive. Revans, R. (2011). ABC of Action Learning . Farnham: Gower Publishing.
Parush, T., & Koivunen, N. (2014). Paradoxes, double binds, and the construction of ‘creative’ managerial selves in art-based leadership development, Scandinavian Journal of Management , 30(1),
104 –113.
Silvestri, M. (2007). ‘Doing’ police leadership: enter the ‘New Smart Macho’, Policing & Society , 17(1),
38-58.