Cultural learning process: lesson from microhistory

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianyuan Yu ◽  
Albert J. Mills
Keyword(s):  
Learning Process ◽  
Critical Incident ◽  
Cultural Learning ◽  
Extensive Reading ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Knowledge Accumulation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Historical Accounts

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the cultural learning process (namely, the development, practice and enhancement of cultural intelligence (CQ)) of a successful entrepreneur – Harold Bixby, a Pan American Airways expatriate, as reflected in the memoir of his experiences in China during 1933–1938. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a microhistory approach as a methodology for studying history and the past while ultimately requiring evaluations informed by the present. This paper first identifies the literature gap on CQ development and the need to study historical accounts of the past in assessing the CQ development process. This study then outlines the four key foci of microhistory as a heuristic for making sense of on-going and past accounts of selected phenomena. Findings This paper finds that specific personality traits (namely, openness to experience and self-efficacy), knowledge accumulation through deep cultural immersion (namely, extensive reading/study, visiting/observation and interacting/conversation), critical incident and metacognition all contributed to Bixby’s CQ development, which was a time-consuming process. Originality/value The study contributes to debates around cultural learning and historical organization studies by providing a rich, qualitative study of CQ assessment and CQ development through microhistory. This study highlights the importance of cognitive CQ and the function of extensive reading/studying in the process of knowledge accumulation. This paper draws attention to critical incidents as an underexplored way of learning tacit knowledge. Moreover, this study suggests metacognitive CQ can be enhanced through meditative and reflexive teaching and research practices. These findings have significant implications for cross-cultural training programs.

Intersectionality as a matter of time

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerry Hendricks ◽  
Nick Deal ◽  
Albert J. Mills ◽  
Jean Helms Mills
Keyword(s):  
Research Process ◽  
Civil Aviation ◽  
Workplace Diversity ◽  
History Plays ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Production Of Knowledge ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historical Accounts ◽  
Past Experiences

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to draw attention to the heuristic value of intersectionality by historicizing it as a framework appropriate for the use of studying discrimination and discriminatory practices in organizations over time.Design/methodology/approachUtilizing a fusion between amodernist historiography vis-à-vis the nascent ANTi-History approach and intersectional complexity, the authors draw upon historical narratives from archival materials British Airways to empirically examine the utility of, and turn to, intersectional history in historical organization studies.FindingsAnalysis of archival materials and commissioned corporate histories revealed subjectivities of socially constructing historicized intersectional identities. This suggests that certain identities have been and continue to “enjoy” privilege while others are marginalized and/or neglected through serial interconnected historical meanings. These processes of privileging and marginalization rely on the way a nexus of meaning is configured.Research limitations/implicationsThe research process relied and is dependent on limited archival materials within a single organization (British Airways) and industry (civil aviation). The critique herein should not be misinterpreted as judgment of the airline itself as an exemplar of discriminatory practices but rather for its longevity as an ongoing concern; its rich, colonialist history within the United Kingdom and accessibility of data. Archival traces are housed within a semi-public corporate archive which means those traces available for study have been professional and rhetorically curated.Practical implicationsFrom the perspective of workplace diversity, our aim has been to reveal to diversity professionals and activists not only the role of history in shaping discrimination but also, in particular, to be alert to the processes whereby the production of knowledge of the past takes place. The authors hope also to have drawn attention to the power of organizations in the generation of discriminatory historical accounts and the need to further explore how such accounts are produced as knowledge of the past. Finally, the authors introduce the notion of “nexus of meaning” to suggest that in the complexity of intersectionality, the authors need to explore not only how people experience different and combined forms of discrimination but also how those experiences are shaped in a complex series of meaning that owe much to past experiences.Social implicationsThe research directs attention to the nexus of meaning that constitute intersecting identities.Originality/valueThe research attempts to historicize intersectionality as a qualitative framework worthy of consideration in management and organization studies. From the perspective of studying discrimination in organizational life, the aim of this paper is to bring forward the role history plays in shaping discrimination as well as the processes whereby the production of knowledge of the past takes place. Attention is also drawn to the power of organizations in the generation of discriminatory historical accounts and the need to further explore how such accounts are produced. This study introduces the nexus of meaning analytic that understands how the experiences of different and combined forms of discrimination are shaped by meanings of the past.

The role of non-corporeal Actant theory in historical research

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-76
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Hartt ◽  
Albert J. Mills ◽  
Jean Helms Mills
Keyword(s):  
New Deal ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Vice President ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Past ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
The New Deal

Purpose This paper aims to study the role of non-corporeal Actant theory in historical research through a case study of the trajectory of the New Deal as one of the foremost institutions in the USA since its inception in the early 1930s. Design/methodology/approach The authors follow the trajectory of the New Deal through a focus on Vice President Henry A. Wallace. Drawing on ANTi-History, the authors view history as a powerful discourse for organizing understandings of the past and non-corporeal Actants as a key influence on making sense of (past) events. Findings The authors conclude that non-corporeal Actants influence the shaping of management and organization studies that serve paradoxically to obfuscate history and its relationship to the past. Research limitations/implications The authors drew on a series of published studies of Henry Wallace and archival material in the Roosevelt Library, but the study would benefit from an in-depth analysis of the Wallace archives. Practical implications The authors reveal the influences of non-corporeal Actants as a method for dealing with the past. The authors do this through the use of ANTi-History as a method of historical analysis. Social implications The past is an important source of understanding of the present and future; this innovative approach increases the potential to understand. Originality/value Decisions are often black boxes. Non-Corporeal Actants are a new tool with which to see the underlying inputs of choice.

It’s about time: theorizing amodern time in historical organization studies

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Durepos ◽  
Terrance Weatherbee ◽  
Albert J. Mills
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Past ◽  
Actor Networks ◽  
History Approach ◽  
Chronological Time

Purpose This paper features a critique of the treatment of time in modern and postmodern historical organization studies. The authors reply to the critique by drawing on Lefebvre’s notion of rhythm to theorize time in an amodern condition. The purpose of this study is to call on historical organization studies scholars to theoretically engage with time. Design/methodology/approach After a pointed literature review of the treatment of time in modern and postmodern historical organization studies, an ANTi-History approach to time is developed through an exploration of how rhythm can inform key ANTi-History facets. Findings New insights on key ANTi-History facets are developed in relation to time. These include seeing the past as history through rhythmic actor-networks, a description of relationalism informed by situated rhythms, a suggestion that the performative aspect of history is rhythmic and an illustration of what one might see if they watched an amodern historian at work. Originality/value Lefebvre’s concept of rhythm has been largely neglected in historiography and historical organization studies. Rhythm offers a way to understand time in relation to situated actor practices as opposed to the universal clock or chronological time.

scholarly journals The critical incident technique reappraised

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 276-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Bott ◽  
Dennis Tourish
Keyword(s):  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Critical Incident ◽  
Critical Incident Technique ◽  
Theory Building ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Thick Description ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Nonprofit Boards ◽  
Organization And Management ◽  
Rich Data

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer a reconceptualization of the critical incident technique (CIT) and affirm its utility in management and organization studies. Design/methodology/approach Utilizing a case study from a leadership context, the paper applies the CIT to explore various leadership behaviours in the context of nonprofit boards in Canada. Semi-structured critical incident interviews were used to collect behavioural data from 53 participants – board chairs, board directors, and executive directors – from 18 diverse nonprofit organizations in Alberta, Canada. Findings While exploiting the benefits of a typicality of events, in some instances the authors were able to validate aspects of transformational leadership theory, in other instances the authors found that theory falls short in explaining the relationships between organizational actors. The authors argue that the CIT potentially offers the kind of “thick description” that is particularly useful in theory building in the field. Research limitations/implications Drawing on interview material, the authors suggest that incidents can be classified based on frequency of occurrence and their salience to organizational actors, and explore the utility of this distinction for broader theory building purposes. Practical implications Principally, the paper proposes that this method of investigation is under-utilized by organization and management researchers. Given the need for thick description in the field, the authors suggest that the approach outlined generates exceptionally rich data that can illuminate multiple organizational phenomena. Social implications The role of nonprofit boards is of major importance for those organizations and the clients that they serve. This paper shed new light on the leadership dynamics at the top of these organizations and therefore can help to guide improved practice by those in board and senior management positions. Originality/value The CIT is a well-established technique. However, it is timely to revisit it as a core technique in qualitative research and promote its greater use by researchers. In addition, the authors offer a novel view of incidents as typical, atypical, prototypical or archetypal of organizational phenomena that extends the analytical value of the approach in new directions.

Exploring situated ambiguity in students’ entrepreneurial learning

2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elin Kubberød ◽  
Inger Beate Pettersen
Keyword(s):  
Critical Incident ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Cultural Learning ◽  
Master's Students ◽  
Entrepreneurial Learning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Phenomenological Perspective ◽  
Group Interviews

Purpose Building on entrepreneurial learning research, the purpose of this paper is to argue that the students participating in foreign entrepreneurial education programmes can have realistic entrepreneurial learning experiences. This research addresses two specific questions: how situated ambiguity induced by a foreign culture may contribute to contextual entrepreneurial learning in education, and whether ambiguity induced by cross-cultural situated experience can stimulate critical reflection and important learning outcomes in entrepreneurship and increase entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE). Design/methodology/approach The authors adopted a phenomenological perspective in the research, and used focus group interviews and the critical incident technique to investigate Norwegian master’s students’ experiences of entrepreneurial learning in a long-term practice in an American startup. Findings The empirical findings reveal that the students perceived the foreign cultural learning setting as imbued with ambiguity and uncertainty. However, as the students enhanced their understanding of the culture and entrepreneurial milieu through observations and co-participating, they managed to adapt and develop new strategies and methods to cope with the new environment. Eventually, the students became more entrepreneurial and developed their ESE. Practical implications The research demonstrates how educators can design educational programmes that approach real entrepreneurial learning contexts. Nevertheless, the research also displays several ethical dilemmas that educators need to address. Originality/value The study delineates a new concept for educational designs called situated ambiguity, which reinforces the essence of situated entrepreneurial learning with cross-cultural learning. This concept offers a promising avenue for educators to approach real entrepreneurial learning in both theory and practice.

Mute, mutation, and mutiny: on the work of feminist epistemology

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta B. Calás ◽  
Linda Smircich
Keyword(s):  
Business Schools ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Past ◽  
Organization And Management ◽  
Analytical Potential ◽  
History Of ◽  
Women Scholars ◽  
Feminist Epistemologies ◽  
Edith Penrose

Purpose This paper aims to bring to the fore the importance of feminist epistemologies in the history of the organization of management studies since the 1980s by following various intellectual moves in the development of feminist theorizing as they cross over to organization studies, including their analytical possibilities for reclaiming historically the voices of major women scholars, especially in doctoral seminars. The paper narrates these epistemological activities by mobilizing and reconsidering from the past to the present, the notions of “unmuting,” “mutating” and “mutiny.” It ends in a reflection addressing the state of business schools at present and why the field of organization and management studies needs “mutiny” now. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a narrative approach in which the voices of its authors appear to be central as they consider and reconsider over time their understanding of “unmuting,” “mutation” and “mutiny” as notions with analytical potential. This approach is influenced by Foucault’s “history of the present” but with contingencies brought about by feminist interpretations. The application of these notions is demonstrated by reclaiming and clarifying the epistemological underpinning in the works of three major women scholars as included in a doctoral seminar: Mary Parker Follett, Edith Penrose and Rosabeth Moss Kanter. These notions are further redeployed for their potential in institutional applications. Findings At present, the findings are discursive – if they can be called so, but the main motivation behind this writing is to go beyond discourse in the written sense, and to mobilize other activities, still in the realm of epistemological and scholarly work. These activities would legitimize actual interventions for changing business schools from their current situation as neoliberal entities, which mute understanding of major problems in the world, as well as the voices of most humans and non-humans paying for the foibles of neoliberalism. Originality/value The paper demonstrates the necessity of developing approaches for interventions in knowledge producing institutions increasingly limited by neoliberal premises in what can be said and done as legitimate knowledge. In doing this, the paper articulates the importance of keeping history alive to avoid the increasing “forgetfulness” neoliberalization brings about. The paper, in its present form, represents an active act of “remembering”.

Bring Your Own Devices classroom

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 323-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janak Adhikari ◽  
Anuradha Mathrani ◽  
Chris Scogings
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Information And Communications Technology ◽  
Adoption Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Past ◽  
Learning Practices

Purpose Over the past few years, technology-mediated learning has established itself as a valuable pathway towards learners’ academic and social development. However, within the adoption stages of information and communications technology-enabled education, further questions have been raised in terms of equity of information literacy and learning outcomes. For the past three years, the authors have been working with one of the earliest secondary schools in New Zealand to introduce a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy. In this paper, the authors present the findings of a longitudinal investigation into the BYOD project, which offers new insights into the digital divide issues in the context of evolving teaching and learning practices across three levels, namely, digital access, digital capability and digital outcome. Design/methodology/approach This study is an empirically grounded longitudinal case research conducted over a three-year period in one secondary school in New Zealand. This research has included a number of methods, including surveys, interviews and classroom observations, to gather qualitative data from various stakeholders (teachers, students and parents). Findings The findings from the study of the BYOD project inform of digital divide issues in the context of evolving teaching and learning practices across formal and informal spaces. The authors explored how the BYOD policy has influenced existing divides in the learning process across three levels, namely, digital access, digital capability and digital outcome. The result sheds light on key issues affecting the learning process to contextualise factors in the three-level digital divide for the BYOD technology adoption process in classroom settings. Research limitations/implications The study presents findings from an ongoing investigation of one secondary school, an early adopter of the BYOD policy. While the authors have followed the school for three years, more in-depth studies on how teaching and learning practices are evolving across formal and informal spaces will be further qualified in the next stages of data collection. Originality/value The study contributes to new knowledge on how digital inclusion can be supported beyond mere access to meaningful use of technology to reinforce student learning and their overall skill development.

Taking an eventful historic turn down the cultural memory lane

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholous M. Deal ◽  
Milorad M. Novicevic ◽  
Albert J. Mills ◽  
Caleb W. Lugar ◽  
Foster Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Memory ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Memory Studies ◽  
Positioning Theory ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Organizational History ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Past

Purpose This paper aims to find common ground between the supposed incompatible meta-historical positioning of positivism and post-positivism through a turn to mnemohistory in management and organizational history. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the idea of creative synthesis and positioning theory, the authors interject concepts from cultural memory studies in historical research on business and organizations to encourage management historians and organization theorists interested in joining the dialogue around how the past is known in the present. Using notions of “aftermath” and “events,” the idea of apositivism is written into historical organization studies to focus on understanding the complex ways of how past events translate into history. The critical historic turn event is raised as an exemplar of these ideas. Findings The overview of the emergence of the controversial historic turn in management and organization studies and the positioning of its adherents and antagonists revealed that there may be some commonality between the fragmented sense of the field. It was revealed that effective history vis-à-vis mnemohistory may hold the potential of a shared scholarly ethic. Originality/value The research builds on recent work that has sought to bring together the boundaries of management and organizational history. This paper explains how mnemohistory can offer a common position that is instrumental for theorizing the relationships among the past-infused constructs such as organizational heritage, legacy and identity.

Connecting the past with the present: the development of research on pedagogy in entrepreneurial education

2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (9) ◽  
pp. 1061-1086
Author(s):  
Jonas Gabrielsson ◽  
Gustav Hägg ◽  
Hans Landström ◽  
Diamanto Politis
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Cognitive Structure ◽  
Entrepreneurship Education ◽  
Core Journal ◽  
Entrepreneurial Education ◽  
Research Topics ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Knowledge Accumulation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Research Theme

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to explore knowledge accumulation in research on pedagogy in entrepreneurship education, with particular attention to how core journal outlets, core topics and core scholarly works have developed over time.Design/methodology/approachThe authors combine a systematic literature review technique and bibliometric analysis to depict the development of this stream of research in the period 1995–2018.FindingsFindings from the analyses suggests that research addressing pedagogy in entrepreneurship education has developed into a coherent research theme over the past decade, with a noticeable cognitive structure in core research topics and core works, as well as a number of core journal outlets for debates and dissemination of findings.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is anchored in a bibliometric research tradition and influenced by the strengths and weaknesses of this approach.Originality/valueThe paper provided contributes to the understanding of knowledge accumulation in research addressing pedagogy in entrepreneurial education.

scholarly journals Heritage of the Past: Addressing Philippines Ecological Footprint and Local Wisdom Through Copra-Making Practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-102
Author(s):  
Roel V Avila
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Ecological Footprint ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Ecological Footprints ◽  
Pedagogical Strategy ◽  
The Past ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Historical Accounts

This article emerged from the author’s apprehension regarding the lack of social sensitivity caused by the failure to connect the environment to the school lessons. Furthermore, creating balance and harmony within society and environment seemed impossible to realize in this sense. As in the Philippines in this case, schools often negated the significance to connect the environment to schools. From author point of view, the fact that the Philippines has strong ecological footprints and the local wisdom which can be traced through copra-making industry should not be discharged. The author examined this ecological intelligence which manifested inherently among the kinfolk of copra-makers by elaborating the indigenous cultural practices of the rural folks in the Philippines and making sense of those practices with metaphorization to advocate and conduct more connection in the classroom. As a result the highlighted indigenous processes that provided as a model in contextualizing sociological, cultural, and historical accounts as an ethno-pedagogical strategy of integrating nationalism in social sciences teaching.

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