Losing Touch? A Case Study on Students' Learning Barriers Within an Experiential-Learning-Based Course

The research aimed to discover learning barriers that educators unconsciously raise in students of the organisation development master’s course at Corvinus University of Budapest within an experiential and transformative educational setting. The research follows the interpretive and critical traditions of organisation studies and applies the concept of responsible research and innovation (RRI) in its research design. This article aspires to present a case that can be used by management educators working with experiential pedagogical approaches in higher education. Research results displayed a lack of emotional security and a lack of common vision and understanding as the main obstacles to students’ transformative learning through the experiential learning process. Results suggest dialogical practice for building trust and understanding to eliminate alienation in student-teacher relationship and to improve learning quality. Finally, limitations and further research directions are discussed.

Extending Theoretical Understanding for Defining the Capabilities of Big Data Analytics in Organisations: a Thematic Analysis

Big Data Analytics (BDA) have been proliferated to academic researchers and industry practitioners over the past few years. As a prominent data-driven decision application, the BDA capabilities in organisation have been recognised, but limited studies have successfully attempted to communicate an authentic understanding on BDA capabilities that may enhance the current theoretical knowledge. While big data have been defined in various ways with its characteristics of shared definitions, it is important to explore the classification of BDA and its capabilities considering its advantageous opportunities. This study conducts a review study adopting the well-known PRISMA methodology, integrating a thematic analysis approach using NVIVO12. The study analyses 70 elected sample articles for generating new insights of BDA, informing through organisation development theory and leading to this an empirical research model is outlined for further validity assessment. It is anticipated that the findings would be contributing to address dynamic clarity and relevance of adopting BDA application.

ASSESSING THE ACADEMIC WRITING SKILLS OF FINAL YEAR ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE (ESL) EDUCATIONS STUDENTS TO DETERMINE THEIR PREPAREDNESS AS LANGUAGE TEACHERS: A PRACTICAL APPROACH AT A UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

The schooling system plays a significant role in teaching basic literacy skills such as reading and writing, yet students from al schooling backgrounds find it challenging to uphold an acceptable standard of academic writing in higher education in comparison with their advantaged peers. The fact that universities have adopted English as the medium for teaching and learning purposes makes it difficult for students to demonstrate the ability to write in their own words, as they are second or third language speakers. Student success at institutions of higher learning depends largely on the adequate mastery of reading and writing skills required by the discipline. The article assesses the academic writing skills of final year education students completing their studies at a University of Technology in South Africa. Thisstudy was necessitated by the realisation that students at both undergraduate and post-graduate level are struggling to express themselves through writing in the academic language which is critical for them to succeed at university. The article draws on a writing process skills questionnaire administered to fourth year students and English lecturers in the Department of Education and Communication Sciences. General academic writing conventions such as organisation, development, building an argument, grammar, and spelling were examined through an academic essay. The results highlight the poor writing skills and lack of mastering of academic writing skills of students.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A GREEN ORGANISATION IN THE CONTEXT OF NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIC DOCUMENTS AND INICIATIVES

The article emphasizes the aspects of organisational development in the context of green organisation, de- scribing the importance of changes in an external environment for the development of the organisation. Purpose – the purpose of the article is to analyse the relevance of green organisation development at the national and international levels by examining it through the prism of strategic documents and initiatives. In order to determine the development directions of the green organisation on the basis of strategic documents and initiatives. Research methodology – the methods of critical analysis of scientific literature, strategic documents, initiatives and synthesis as well as abstrahation have been applied. Findings – main findings of the research proved that development of green organisation is relevant in the context of key international and national strategic documents. Also the definition of the development of green organisations is proposed by authors. The analysis of strategic documents and initiatives at the national and international levels has shown that their impact on the development of a green organisation can be both direct and indirect. Research limitations – the limitation of this reseach is that mainly key international and national strategic documents were analyzed. Analysis of other strategic documents can be stated as a direction for future research. Practical implications – the results of the research could be used as a basis for the promotion of the development of green organisations at the national and international level both directly and indirectly. Originality/Value – the originality of this research can be defined by complex approach to analysis related to the impact of actual legal regulation to the development of green organisations.

Middle leaders translating knowledge about improvement: Making change in the school and preschool organisation

This article deepens the knowledge of middle leaders’ impact on school improvement and organisation development. More precisely, it focuses on how middle leaders from comprehensive schools and preschools translated improvement strategies and tools from a municipal course on leading school improvement into their own organisations. It is based on interviews with middle leaders, teachers, and principals at two schools and two preschools. Translation theory is used as a theoretical frame. The findings show that the middle leaders translated improvement strategies based on local needs, and for several reasons: for clarification and reduction of roles and improvement areas; structuring improvement work; engaging and involving colleagues in school improvement; and developing a professional culture. When taking the role of translators, the middle leaders became central to progressing the developmental elements of local school organisations. The study recommends investing to provide middle leaders with improvement strategies and an understanding of translation theory to enable translations that aid the development of school organisations.