All Academy
Professional Development Workshop Proposal
Title
Bringing Practice Back into our Scholarship: Setting an Agenda for Action
Primary Sponsor
Dianna Stone, 2008 All Academy PDW Chair, shashcub1@satx.rr.com
Organizer and Contact person
Prof. Elena Antonacopoulou
PTC Chair, AoM
University of Liverpool
Management School
Chatham Building
Chatham Street
Liverpool, L69 7HZ, UK
Phone: + 44 151 275 3727
Fax: + 151 795 3724
E-mail: eagnosis@liv.ac.uk
Abstract
The aim of this PDW is to shift the focus beyond debating issues of relevance and rigour
in management research, towards actively collaborating with practitioners to ensure our
scholarship is impactful.
This PDW provides a unique opportunity to contribute towards shaping the development
of five thematic priorities as part of the Practice Theme Committee (PTC) strategy to
develop a practice-relevant approach to management scholarship. The five thematic
priorities are:
1. Practice Research
2. The Epistemology of Practice in Management Learning
3. Leadership Development for a Practice Orientation
4. Exemplars of Impact
5. Co-creation of Knowledge
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These five themes will be brought to life through the round table discussions led by
prominent scholars who will act as chairs and facilitators for each theme. The round
table discussions will also be inspired and guided by a Master Class on the theme
“Learning to Advance Practice Relevant Scholarship” which will be delivered by Prof.
Chris Argyris. Drawing on his own experiences of developing practice-relevant
scholarship he will provide illustrative examples and account for the impact of
scholarship of the highest standard.
Keywords: Practice-relevant scholarship, Actionable Knowledge, Impact, Co-creation of
knowledge
List of PDW Participants organized by themes
Name
Chris Argyris
Professor Emeritus
Harvard Business School
Director Monitor Group
2 Canal Park
Cambridge, MA 02141, USA
chris_argyris@monitor.com
617-252-2000
Anne Huff
Professor of Strategic Management
TUM Business School
Leopoldstraße 139
80804 München, Germany
annehuff1@googlemail.com
+49-(0)89-289-24800
Georg Schreyoegg
Professor of Management
Institute of Management
Freie Universitaet Berlin
Garystrasse 21, 14195 Berlin
Germany
schrey@wiwiss.fu-berlin.de
+49-30-838-52780
Role
Commitment to
participate
Keynote Speaker
Confirmed
Chair Practice Research
Theme (1)
Confirmed
Facilitator Practice
Research Theme (1)
Confirmed
2
Name
Role
Commitment
to participate
Yvon Pesqueux
Professor of Philosophy
Conservatoire National des Arts et
Métiers (CNAM)
292 Rue Saint Martin
75 141 Paris Cedex 03, France
pesqueux@cnam.fr
+33-1 40 27 21 63
Facilitator Practice
Research Theme (1)
Confirmed
Joe Raelin
Asa Knowles Chair of Practice-Oriented
Education
Northeastern University
304 Hayden Hall
Boston, MA 02115, USA
j.raelin@neu.edu
617-373-7074
Chair of Epistemology of
Practice Theme (2)
Confirmed
Russ Vince
Professor of Leadership and Change
School of Management
University of Bath
Bath BA2 7AY, UK
r.vince@bath.ac.uk
44(0) 1225-384419
Facilitator Epistemology of
Practice Theme (2)
Confirmed
David Knights
Professor of Organizational Analysis
and Head of School of Management
Keele University
Keele, Staffs ST5 5BG, UK
d.knights@keele.ac.uk
+44 (0)1782 6583603
Facilitator Epistemology of
Practice Theme (2)
Confirmed
Chair of Leadership
Development Theme (3)
Confirmed
Craig Crossley
Metrics CI Consultant
Schwan's Shared Services, LLC
The Schwan Food Company
65173 San Jacinto Ln
Desert Hot Springs CA 92240
Craig.Crossley@schwans.com
507.537.8063
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Name
Role
Commitment
to participate
Jonathan Gosling
Director Centre for Leadership Studies
University of Exeter
Crossmead, Barley Lane, Dunsford Hill
Exeter EX4 1TF, UK
Jonathan.Gosling@exeter.ac.uk
+44(0) 1392 413024
Facilitator Leadership
Development Theme (3)
Confirmed
Murray Dalziel
Director
University
of
Management School
Chatham Street
L69 7ZH Liverpool, UK
Murray.dalziel@liv.ac.uk
+44-151-795 3021
Facilitator Leadership
Development Theme (3)
Confirmed
Tom Cummings
Professor and Chair Department of
Management & Organization
Marshall School of Business
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0808, USA
tcumming@rcf.usc.edu
213-740-0733
Co-chair of Exemplars of
Impact theme (4)
Confirmed
Susan Mohrman
Senior Research Scientist,
Centre for Effective Organizations
University of Southern California
3415 S. Figueroa Street
Davidson Conference Center 200
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0871
smohrman@marshall.usc.edu
(213) 740-9814
Co-chair of Exemplars of
Impact theme (4)
Confirmed
Andrew Pettigrew
Dean and Head
School of Management
University of Bath
Bath BA2 7AY, UK
A.M.Pettigrew@bath.ac.uk
+44 (0) 1225 383052
Facilitator Exemplars of
Impact Theme (4)
Confirmed
Liverpool
4
Name
Robin Wensley
Professor of Policy & Marketing
Warwick Business School
The University of Warwick
Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK
Robin.Wensley@wbs.ac.uk
+44 (0)24 7652 3923
Role
Commitment
to participate
Facilitator Exemplars of
Impact Theme (4)
Confirmed
Organizer and Co-Chair CoElena Antonacopoulou
creating Knowledge Theme
Professor of Organizational Behavior
(5)
University of Liverpool Management
School
Chatham Street
L69 7ZH Liverpool, UK
e.antonacopoulou@liverpool.ac.uk
+44-151-795 3727
Confirmed
Jean Bartunek
Professor of Organization Studies
Boston College
Department of Organization Studies
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA
bartunek@bc.edu
617-552-0455
Co-chair of Co-creating
Knowledge theme (5)
Confirmed
Fran Ackerman
Professor of Management Science
Department of Management Science
Strathclyde Business School
40 George Street
Glasgow, G1 1QE
fran.ackermann@strath.ac.uk
+44 141 548 3610
Facilitator Co-creating
Knowledge Theme (5)
Confirmed
Billie T. Alban
Alban & Williams, Ltd
400 Seabury Drive
Bloomfield, CT 06002
AlbanB@aol.com
860-242-9662
Facilitator Co-creating
Knowledge Theme (5)
Confirmed
5
Name
Role
Commitment
to participate
Barbara Bunker
Professor Emeritus
Department of Psychology
362 Park Hall
University of Buffalo
Buffalo, NY 14260-4110
bbunker@buffalo.edu
(716) 645-3650 x. 362
Facilitator Co-creating
Knowledge Theme (5)
Confirmed
Colin Eden
Professor of Management Science and
Strategic Management
University of Strathclyde
199 Cathedral Street
Glasgow, G4 OQU
UNITED KINGDOM
colin@gsb.strath.ac.uk
+44 141 553 6155
Facilitator Co-creating
Knowledge Theme (5)
Confirmed
PDW Overview
Statement of Relevance to the Conference Theme
The Practice Theme Committee is of strategic importance to the Academy of
Management and spans across all Divisions and Interest Groups of the Academy. It
aims to:
1. Develop greater awareness of what practice means and how it can usefully
inform our scholarship in terms of both research and teaching.
2. Identify and profile exemplar initiatives that bridge the gap between theory and
practice and engage practitioners and academics in the co-creation of knowledge.
3. Create a platform for ongoing engagement with practitioners so that the
knowledge we discover is relevant and has impact.
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This year’s theme “The Questions We Ask” encourages us to self-reflectively examine
the assumptions behind current questions that inform our practices in research and
teaching. It also invites us to self-critically acknowledge the forces barring untapped
questions. This PDW seeks to embrace the challenge that a practice perspective offers
to engage with questions such as:
•
What is practice and why does it matter in Organization Science?
•
How do theory-driven questions compare to practice-driven questions? How can they
be connected if the knowledge generated is to have impact?
•
What research methodologies are better suited for investigating organizational and
management practices? How can practice as a methodology shape future
management research and develop new ways of learning and teaching?
•
What knowledge (episteme, techne, phronesis) most influences our actions? When
is phronesis (practical judgment) most critical? Can it be developed, for example, to
influence leadership practice?
These questions are central to the PTC’s agenda and reflect the five thematic priorities
that it has identified and is currently pursuing. This PDW is designed to support the
development of these five thematic priorities and to engage academy members in a joint
effort to advance a practice-relevant approach to management scholarship.
The five thematic priorities are:
1. Practice Research
This theme focuses on the implications of a practice perspective in management
research. It explores both the ways in which social practice theory (Bourdieu, 1990;
Reckwitz, 2002; Antonacopoulou, 2008) that spans from philosophy, sociology and
praxiology can usefully inform our understanding of management phenomena. It also
explores practice as a methodology and problematizes the kind of questions that
practice-driven research poses and its implications for theory development.
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2. The Epistemology of Practice in Management Learning
This theme explores a practice perspective and its implications for learning and
teaching. It specifically explores the pedagogical underpinnings and methods of
practice-based education and examines the implications of this approach when teaching
practicing managers (among other on MBA programs). This theme also embraces
different traditions such as constructivism (Gergen, 1995); reflective action (Schon,
1983); situated learning (Lave and Wenger, 1999) to explore the ways in which
knowledge and experience can better constitute each other and support the
development of Mastery (Raelin, 2008).
3. Leadership Development for a Practice Orientation
This theme examines the role of executive education in Business Schools and
Corporate Universities in developing leadership. The multiple ways in which we have
come to understand leaders, leadership and leadership development is critically
appraised. The objective is to distil more clearly ways in which future leadership
development can provide a more informed understanding of leadership as a practice.
4. Exemplars of Impact
This theme focuses on project IMPACT. This project aims to identify current examples in
management scholarship (across research, teaching and leadership development) as
evidence of the collaborative relationship between theory and practice. By profiling
exemplars that reflect evidence of engagement with practice that makes a difference the
objective is to articulate more clearly what impact can management scholarship have on
management practice and ways in which this impact can be delivered and sustained.
5. Co-creation of Knowledge
This theme focuses on project GNOSIS (the Greek word for knowledge) which
emphasises the co-creation of knowledge. This means that the focus of this project will
be to create fora which bring academics, business practitioners and policy makers
together, to co-create knowledge for action (see Antonacopoulou, 2007, Cummings,
2006). This means that through an engaged dialogue founded on the principles of
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relational scholarship of integration (Bartunek, 2008), the GNOSIS project will seek to
identify ideas and issues that are of interest to both academics and practitioners so that
they can be further explored through collaborative activities (Shani et al. 2008).
The PDW is intended to engage members of the Academy in active dialogue around
these thematic groupings and in doing so to shift the focus from debating (Pfeffer and
Fong, 2002; Starkey & Madan, 2001) toward enacting ways in which management
scholarship can have an impact on management practice
Description of the Format of the PDW
This PDW is intended to create space for fruitful debate. It is therefore organized in such
as way as to allow maximum time for participation by all those attending and contributing
to this event.
The PDW is expected to last two hours and thirty minutes (150 minutes). There will be
an introduction by Prof. Elena Antonacopoulou outlining the main themes followed by a
Master Class presentation by Prof. Chris Argyris illustrating ways in which practicerelevant management scholarship can be developed and the impact that it can have on
management practice. The Master Class entitled “Learning to Advance Practice
Relevant Scholarship” will be interactive and is expected to generate a series of
questions that will then inform the discussion during the round tables in relation to each
of the PTC five thematic priorities.
Each thematic round table will be resourced by prominent scholars who will be chairing
and facilitating the discussion. The objective of the round table discussions is to focus on
developing pragmatic ways in which practice-relevant scholarship can be developed that
informs our future approach and activities in:
•
management research
•
management learning and teaching
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•
leadership development in Business Schools and in relation to the approaches
followed in Corporate Universities
The round table on the IMPACT Project will focus on identifying current exemplars in all
the above aspects of management scholarship so that these can be suitably profiled in
future PTC activities as evidence of what practice-relevant scholarship that makes an
impact might look like.
The round table focusing on the GNOSIS Project will be focusing on a specific theme
that the co-chairs and facilitators have identified as relevant to both practitioners and
academics. The ensuing dialogue that they will seek to foster during this round table will
seek to generate questions that can usefully be further explored through research,
teaching and learning activities. One possible theme that consistently engages both
Academics and Practitioners is the need to better understand and develop ways of
engaging with organizational change as planned or emergent, small or large scale,
incremental or radical.
The table below summarises the proposed structure of the PDW:
Proposed Date: Saturday, 9 August 2008
Proposed time on the program: 13:30 – 16:00 pm
Activity
Time allocation
13:30 pm Introduction of the PTC agenda and PDW objectives
and themes – Elena Antonacopoulou
10 minutes
13:40 pm Master Class – “Learning to Advance Practice Relevant
Scholarship” – Keynote Speaker: Chris Argyris
45 minutes
14:25 pm Q and A session between Keynote Speaker and PDW
participants
15 minutes
14:40 pm Round-table Dialogue in thematic groups led by chairs
and facilitators
45 minutes
15:25 pm Plenary presentations from round table discussions
30 minutes
15:55 pm Summary of key issues for action
5 minutes
Total time for the symposium
150 minutes
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It is the explicit intention of this PDW to create communities of academics and
practitioners in each of the thematic groupings. In doing so, the participants will have the
opportunity to become actively involved in the Practice Theme Committee and help
deliver the agenda for action that this PDW will seek to develop.
Statement
I have received signed statements from all intended participants agreeing to participate
for the entire workshop, AND that these participants are not in violation of the Rule of
Three + Three.
Elena Antonacopoulou, AAPDW Organizer.
References
Antonacopoulou, E.P. 2007. Actionable Knowledge. In S. Clegg, and J. Bailey,
International Encyclopaedia of Organization Studies, London: Sage.
Antonacopoulou, E.P., 2008. On the Practise of Practice: In-tensions and ex-tensions in
the ongoing reconfiguration of practice. In D. Barry and H. Hansen (eds) Handbook
of New and Emerging Approaches to Management & Organization, London: Sage.
(forthcoming).
Bartunek, J.M. 2008. Academic-Practitioner Collaboration Need not Require Joint or
Relevant Research: Towards a Relational Scholarship of Integration, Academy of
Management Journal, Forthcoming.
Bourdieu, P. 1990. The Logic of Practice. Cambridge: Polity.
Cummings, T.G. 2007. 2006 Presidential Address: Quest for an Engaged Academy,
Academy of Management Review, 32(2): 355-360.
Gergen, K.J. 1995. Social Construction and the Educational Process. In L.P. Steffe & J.
Gale (Eds.), Constructivism in Education. 17-40. Hillsdale, NJ: LawrenceErlbaum.
Lave, J. and Wenger, E. 1991. Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation.
Cambrige, UK: Cambridge University Press.
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Pfeffer, J. and Fong, C.T. 2002. The End of Business Schools? Less Success Than
Meets the Eye. Academy of Management Learning and Education Journal, 1(1):7895.
Raelin, J.A. 2007. Toward an Epistemology of Practice. Academy of Management
Learning and Education, 6 (4): forthcoming.
Reckwitz A. 2002. Toward a Theory of Social Practices: A Development in Cultural
Theorizing, European Journal of Social Theory, 5, 2: 243-63.
Schon, D. 1983. The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. New
York: Basic Books.
Shani, A.B. Adler, N., Mohrman, S.A., Pasmore, W.A. & Stymne, B. (Eds) 2008.
Handbook of Collaborative Management Research, Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Starkey, K., & Madan, P. 2001. Bridging the relevance gap: Aligning stakeholders in the
future of management research. British Journal of Management, 12: 3-26.
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