Another look at research

Abstract

The traditional academic view of research is to derive new knowledge, generally involving studious inquiry and a search for new theories in order to contribute to an existing academic wealth of knowledge. This is alongside the primary objective of publishing peer reviewed articles in academic journals and the publication of relevant texts.

Keywords

austerity course development leadership learning communities research

It is widely acknowledged that informed academic research can contribute significantly to teaching as well as to the student experience, and indeed many students apply to academic institutions and programmes because of their strong research base.

However, the conventional approach to research may take another direction which may include drawing on the actual experiences and professional knowledge that students bring to their master’s in public administration (MPA) studies. MPA students bring with them a wide breadth of real experience that academics can use as a basis of research to enrich teaching and learning, making courses more ‘exciting’.

This paper intends to explore the practice of using course participants’ own experiences to inform course content and increase the currency and value of teaching, whilst at the same time developing students to be better equipped when faced with the challenges they encounter as public managers. It will do this by analysing the benefits course participants bring through their practical management experiences, especially in relation to internal and external situations. The aim is to develop case studies from this, which will not only inform teaching and learning as well as course content, but also significantly add to the development of MPA students and their potential to deal with the realities of modern day-to-day public management and ultimately for them to be in a position to challenge current practices and assumptions. Increasingly, students on public management programmes have to cope with sensitive and conflicting issues, on a daily basis, and find solutions. The current austerity climate in the UK and changing government policies makes this even more acute. By working with academics who themselves have professional experience of work in the public sector, course participants will be encouraged and supported in the safety of the classroom to articulate the ‘problem’. Working within learning communities in the classroom, participants will be helped by using academic ‘tools’ to focus discussion towards formulating solutions and to try to challenge, and ultimately change, existing practice. The safe classroom environment provides a good opportunity for course participants to exchange experiences and to share anxieties, to articulate real concerns and to try to reach solutions, and to know that they are not alone in facing similar challenges and dilemmas in a politically-charged public sector. By engaging in critical thinking about the purposes and practices of their work, both management practices and managers’ thinking will be assessed and enriched (Quinn and Wennes, 2008). Whilst it is acknowledged that there are already in existence several developmental initiatives such as the Common Purpose and Transcend programmes and professional CPD courses developed by professional bodies – such as the Chartered Management Institute and NHS Education in leadership and management skills which offer safe learning environments with like-minded participants – this paper concentrates on the value academic master’s courses can bring to the professional life of current public sector managers. The professional world of the 21st century is looking at a more expressive process and practical approach to MPA programmes. Engaging with the reality of professional experiences may make a useful contribution to this.

Background and context

Changing circumstances, global recession along with other external factors – such as changing government policies and legislation, changing labour market demands and requirements and the ongoing effects of austerity measures – question not only the relationship between state and society, but also increasingly in some respects the idea of a public sector. This poses serious questions for public management educators about the direction, content and process of management programmes for public service professionals (Ahmad et al., 2013) and, further, questions their relevance, and even existence, in an under-funded sector. Public sector managers face new risks and challenges every day and have to deal with the difficulties of managing in turbulent and changing times, whilst at the same time having to maintain the credibility and legitimacy of the service(s). This is forcing organisations and public service leaders to look at their approach to service delivery and the management of people, and raises dilemmas and questions for public management students.

Within this context of growing pressures, cutbacks to public and welfare services, significant crises and challenges confront public sector organisations and those managing and leading them. In a period of economic constraint there is obvious questioning of the cost of public management education programmes and their relevance (Oldfield and Van den Berg, 2013). However, conversely, as Oldfield and Van den Berg suggest, it can be argued that there is an increased need for MPA-type programmes, not only to increase students’ potential employability, career development and job security at a time of ongoing employment vulnerability, but also, as this paper argues, to help in the transformation of public management practices and behaviour, and to encourage and increase the confidence, knowledge and skills of the student-manager precisely at these times.

This situation poses exciting but significant challenges for public management educators in the development and direction of their programmes. One of the key elements in the development of public management programmes is the rethinking of the approach to ‘teaching’ and learning (Ahmad et al., 2013) combined with the introduction and development of innovative and exciting new learning tools. At the centre of this is the need for reflective practices in order to bring about changes to organisational behaviour and public sector management practices, especially in an ever-challenging public sector environment. Public management educators are in a position to develop new approaches to learning on MPA courses, and, if there is a belief in the value and relevance of these programmes, then arguably there is a duty to develop and implement these new approaches.

Developing the arguments

In general, course participants enrol onto post-graduate academic public management programmes to increase their knowledge and confidence and to be able to apply academic theory in an appropriate and credible manner to a workplace context. The intention is for their own management practices to improve as a result of the learning process and by applying, in a meaningful way, relevant acknowledged academic theory. In this way, public managers’ self-esteem and confidence is also hopefully increased, along with their ability to analyse, challenge and ultimately change, so that lessons from the classroom can indeed translate into making a positive impact on the public sector (Raine et al., 2008).

There has been much ongoing debate amongst academics about the difficulty of combining the rigours of academic theory and maintaining academic credibility alongside organisational relevance. It may be argued that these are often competing demands. Research looks at the different approaches to management education and the benefits as well as the challenges of these. There is, however, much less research on the issues facing practicing managers and the best ways to support them. Busy professional managers as learners bring their own considerable experiences and discreet set of challenges to the classroom, and these can potentially be put to good use both for the student-practitioner and for the development and currency of course content.

At post-graduate level, learning in the classroom takes place not only between lecturer and student but also between student and student and then between the student and lecturer. In this way, it is suggested that the learning and teaching goes full circle and the art of learning from experience and learning from each other takes on a greater significance in the overall learning process and pedagogical approaches, for students. Learners work in (peer) learning groups to support and challenge each other (Raelin, 2009) and ultimately develop themselves. Course participants develop by working both on real organisational management issues and their own personal and academic development. The classroom can and must create a safe learning environment and space to explore real management practitioner dilemmas, as well as a real opportunity for reflection. In such a supportive environment those articulating the activity/problem feel less isolated and vulnerable and realise they are not the only ones facing similar challenges and dilemmas.

Whilst recognising the requirements of contemporary education to suit the needs of hard-working and increasingly stressed public managers, educational practices should reflect the needs and requirements of public sector managers working in a rapidly-changing and an extremely demanding environment. In seeking to address this, one way is to consider an alternative method of developing research. This is to use the student-professionals’ experience as the basis of research and to develop case studies evolving from their experiences. The aim is to develop up-to-date and relevant course content that students can relate too, to enable them to make the most use from it for their intended purposes, resulting in genuine reform, and ultimately trying to make a real difference in terms of public sector management thinking and practice.

This paper seeks to address:

How management education can be applied to promote progressive educational practice by examining and analysing challenges facing public sector managers and helping them to better understand the issues confronting them, with the help of the academic tutor acting both as a ‘friendly’ external lens and a directional sign poster, and with the contribution of peers in the learning community.

How management educators can use experiential and action-based learning and learner-focussed learning to develop programmes for practising managers which will be relevant and relate to the workplace and challenge workplace practice.

How, through a combination of approaches discussed, management education programmes can help produce a change in managerial behaviour and organisational development particularly in public sector organisations. And, further, how through MPA programmes educators can develop course participants’ confidence, competence and skill to develop their own professional management practices to meet current and future public sector management challenges in a meaningful and effective way.

The discussion focusses on public sector organisations because that is the focus of MPA programmes (and students), and also because of the unique features of public sector organisations and demands on public services. Public management has a significant impact which, according to Quinn, is not only an administrative impact but also has social, political, cultural and ethical consequences (Quinn, 2013).

The paper is intended to offer another approach to teaching and learning from a pedagogic perspective rather than set itself as an example of public sector co-production (Bovaird and Loffler, 2011) in course development, although it may be that it hints a little at knowledge creation co-production.

Putting theory into practice

Reflection, reflexivity, transfer learning, experiential learning

The focus is on creating a different approach to student-practitioner learning by directly using the student’s considerable professional experience of workplace issues and developing case studies which will be examined in learning communities in an established safe and trusting classroom experiment. The objective is for the student-practitioner to ‘participate in studies both as subjects and objects with the explicit intention of bringing about change in the setting under study’ (Raelin and Coghlan, 2006: 671), or at the very least to develop a progressive strategy to challenge and ultimately bring about change.

Teaching and learning continually has to and should address new challenges. Course curriculum and content should continue to develop to enhance the currency and relevance of our programmes, thereby keeping them attractive and sought for, which is particularly relevant in times of austerity (Oldfield and Van den Berg, 2013). Of great importance to educators is to actively engage students and to increase their commitment to both management education and to the development of public management practices. Educators must also help and support students in believing in their own ability to challenge, question, and ultimately bring about contemporary change to managerial and organisational behaviour and practice. It is necessary for students to consider the relevance and significance of applying theory to actual practices and current managerial situations in order to be able to develop managerial behaviour and practice and to ‘shake up’ organisational approaches.

As such, MPA programmes are attempting to develop students’ ability to analyse situations and develop responses together, in a considered way that utilises the learning communities’ own practitioner expertise and knowledge. This is done by using a series of student-centred action learning approaches: active participant involvement, experiential learning, collaborative enquiry, critical reflection, reflexivity, problem solving and transfer learning.

The pedagogic or androgogic approach is firstly on developing learning communities. These will essentially be within the ‘classroom’. In order for this to work students have to feel safe and have to trust the rest of the learning community including the tutor. There has to be mutuality of participation from the learning community and a willingness to engage and be involved, combined with support for the group member who is articulating the problem/question/challenge. This is supported by the findings of Pedersen and Tangkjaer (2013) who refer to the creation of learning communities built on participation exploration and critical reflexivity. There is also the necessity to create a safe learning space environment (Page et al., 2008) as well as psychological safety (Ry Nielsen, 2013) in order to be open and honest and meaningfully explore the question/problem.

Reflexivity as a keystone of mid-career education can ensure that public managers develop integrative and innovative capacities. (Quinn, 2013: 15)

Mintzberg emphasises the importance of reflection (Mintzbeg, 2004; Schön, 1983) to consider and develop management practice, and promotes the value of reflection and reflective reports (Mintzberg and Gosling, 2002). Central to the working (and hopefully success) of the learning community is the requirement for both individual and group reflection and reflexivity, using reflection and reflexivity as a core tool in public management education (Quinn, 2013). As Broussine and Ahmad put it:

Developing reflexive pedagogic practice will enable students – mid career public managers to be more proactive but also to work in accordance with ethical and professional values as they respond to the dilemmas they face, not least as a result of unprecedented public expenditure cuts. (Broussine and Ahmad, 2013: 18)

This is so central to the issues student-practitioners are facing in their professional workplaces and what they need to explore within the learning community. Developing reflexive practice as a core tool is key to the consideration of the issues being examined in the learning community. The objective is to provide a range of ideas on how to shape reflective learning practice which leads to personal learning, subject learning and critical learning (Hedberg, 2009) and ultimately personal management development. Cunliffe and Jun (2005) argue that the practice of critical reflexivity is of particular importance to management education because by thinking more critically about our own assumptions and actions we can develop more collaborative responsive and ethical ways of leading organisations (Broussine and Ahmad, 2013).

Putting this into action: The models and tools

The learning community

The learning community is a supportive community (Pedersen and Tangkjær, 2013) and is dependent on joint mutuality of participation and the safety of the classroom learning environment. The aim is to enhance learning and support through the group process based on the experiences of the learning community using reflection and reflexivity within the trust and safety of the learning community. It is a collaborative process. The role of the tutor is as part of the learning community as well as providing support to the presenter, acting as a friendly ‘external’ (to the workplace) lens and helping the facilitation and running of the process.

The process is circular (see Figure 1) and is developed as follows within the learning community:

Bring the issues into the classroom → analyse real organisational problems → research literature → use tools (learning logs, reflective reports, etc.) → discuss, question, argue, consider → reflect be reflexive → consider solutions, proposals → reflect – circular loop → don’t jump to conclusions

Figure 1.

The process.

The models

Developing the model further produces a model of classroom experimentation (Adriansen and Knusden, 2013)

As the models and classroom experiment have so far been developed the aim is to strengthen and develop course participants’ own skills and competencies to manage in a challenging and political public sector environment and to produce proposals for workplace change.

Changing workplace behaviour and actions is ultimately the objective and the key to that is putting into practice the workplace proposal or action plan that has been collaboratively and carefully nurtured in the classroom experiment. It requires careful handling, much support to the individual and close monitoring. To actually apply this in the workplace would require a further development of the model (Figure 2) to include the workplace and further reflection from the learning community. Whilst this would add to the completeness of the process it would also bring further challenges and has not yet been developed in this ‘classroom experiment’ so at this stage is beyond the scope of this paper. Table 1 identifies the level and activity of the group learning community. Table 2 identifies and develops the six essential elements to enable to the learning community to ‘operate’ or work in the classroom.

Figure 2.

Experimentation in the safety of the classroom.

Table 1.

Group learning communities.

Level	Participating group
One	Owner(s) of problem/issue/concern
Two	Classroom learning community, including tutor

Table 2.

Developing the ingredients for the learning community classroom experiment: The co. co. mixture.

The six essential ingredients……
Collectivism	Learning community – group process
Comfort	Safety of classroom environment
Confidence	Personal and professional development
Cooperation	Mutuality of participation
Collaboration	Peer learning and development New practices and learning tools
Co-production	Impact

The case studies

Public service managers increasingly have to make difficult decisions concerning the allocation of scare resources and services. Business values are held in tension with a public service ethos, and marketisation, commissioning and outsourcing have introduced fundamental shifts in the provision of public and welfare services (Page et al., 2008), and in relationships between what is assumed as the public sector and the local community, as well as between the staff working in these organisations, the organisation and the public. Recent cuts in public sector budgets in the UK and the aftermath of the austerity climate have increased tensions and conflicts for public sector managers. Examples from the outline case studies below illustrate these points.

Course participants on the Executive MPA at London South Bank University (LSBU), senior and middle public sector managers from a range of public sector organisations, including the NHS, mainly in London, have shared their experiences of significant workplace challenges, and serious conflicting questions as they have presented themselves.

Case study one

A very experienced senior nurse manager in a large inner city London hospital.

Context: New public network governance in the NHS

New formal NHS networks have emerged from recent reforms aimed at efficiency. These are inclusive, involving private and social enterprise, third-sector and voluntary providers and service end-users (patients and carers). Networks function across hierarchical, organisational, geographical and clinical boundaries, relying on collaboration to bring patient needs and a more holistic and preventative approach to achieving real healthcare outcomes into focus, rather than any individual service objectives. Governance structures map accountability for both cost containment and improved quality of delivery.

Conflicting power dynamics develop hierarchies where key participants hold both position and professional power which can be exercised passively, merely by non-attendance. An imbalance between the responsibility for decisions and the level of power and legitimacy needed to be able to influence those decisions detracts from making progress. In a traditional hierarchical arrangement there is not only greater clarity but both responsibility and power are situated together. Often the reality is that individuals uphold the relatively ‘paralysed’ state of the network which means they or their organisation can never be held to account.

Question/problem

Network governance, where does the buck stop and who takes responsibility?

But where is the real decision making and accountability. How can the issues of cross-sector management be resolved?

What can be done?

Case study two

Senior executive manager in a UK central government department.

Organisational context

This department is one of the largest UK government departments, employing around 76,000 people, with a budget of approximately £9 billion. The department works collaboratively with many other government agencies. For 2014–2015, the department’s priorities are to:

use the skills of the public, private and voluntary sectors.

improve the way their services are run and put the needs of their clients first.

The challenge

How is it possible for the department to deliver its priorities in the wider context of the promise of ‘good and fair’ treatment and equal access to services at a time when its budget is being significantly cut by almost a quarter? And are public managers being forced to ignore equality at the public’s peril in such austere times with it costing them more in the long term? This case study wants to suggest answers to these challenges by looking at the department’s ‘X’ Project Initiative.

Question to consider

How ‘X’ Project Initiative can guarantee that equalities will be the central consideration in the programme considering the commissioning-out of services, severe departmental budget cuts and the need to ensure that the programme is efficiency driven.

Outcomes, evaluations, challenges and concerns

The students on the Executive MPA explain the context of their individual organisations and then set out the questions and issues facing them. The challenge is resolving the often conflicting situation that they see they are facing. These are then sympathetically yet rigorously considered and reflected upon in the learning community. This takes a lot of time and effort and to some extent risk – despite the acknowledged relative safety of the classroom. In respect of what we are trying to do, we are moving from teacher/academic-focused (cognitive knowledge) to student-centred learning and valuing the student as a practitioner with considerable professional experience, and a teaching tool to develop the currency of our course content. One of the challenges for us is to maintain the academic rigour and credibility of our course whilst at same time promoting the importance of student-practitioners’ experience as a valuable method of learning, and not simply producing a training workshop trying to find a quick fix solution to workplace problems and public sector changes. However, if we believe in the value of the students’ experience and the desire to develop and support them in their professional roles to enable effective performance as public managers, this approach is what we need to develop and promote.

This change in approach to learning and course development is exciting but comes with benefits and challenges for both tutor and course participant. One of the significant challenges for the classroom experiment is to maintain confidentiality and to preserve the anonymity particularly of the organisation but also of the personnel in the case study. This may be possible to contain amongst the learning community in the safety of the classroom, but there is a real possibility that organisations or projects get identified and exposed in wider outside discussions. The benefits and challenges are summarised in Table 3.

Table 3.

Summary: Benefits and challenges.

Benefits from tutor perspective	Challenges from tutor perspective
Practical relevance and interest of course content and integration of real workplace issues, theory and workplace action making our courses relevant and current	Time to do it meaningfully Difficulty Where to insert this considerable element into the course content to make if most effective and meaningful Still experimenting Need to get more of teaching team involved If it evolves/works should be greater element of programme
Using student professional experience Work study – study work – meaningful and real	Being too adventurous/idealistic Not wanting to raise unrealistically high expectations Maintaining confidentiality and anonymity
Recognition of reflexivity as a substantial tool for learning and intended outcome of changing managerial behaviour	Not being able to sufficiently support when back at the workplace Don’t want to create a feeling of abandonment or isolation
Real engagement Students actively involved	Developing mutuality of participation Wanting to share Wanting to participate (both levels) Not getting bored if it’s not about them What to do about those who are less enthusiastic or feeling vulnerable
Safety of the classroom accepted so far and the establishment of trust	Creating a genuinely safe classroom from amongst all the learning community Takes time Exposure
Actually trying to get outside ‘university walls/ sanctum’ Using real-life situations	Trying to create a genuinely exploratory environment and a supportive framework
Trying to introduce and develop change and reality	Time
Small is good Working inside the classroom experiment	Do we want to go further
Learning from each other, respecting our students’ valuable professional experiences and working as a learning community	Maintaining academic credibility Not evolving into a quick fix consultancy
Creating trust and respect	Working with a new and different group
Adding value	Staying grounded and realistic
Benefits from a course participant perspective	Challenges from course participant perspective
Great opportunity and exciting	Hard, hard work, lot of effort Time consuming
Feel really bringing reality into the classroom and trying to find solutions that will work	Personal exposure Vulnerability
Working as a group and with likeminded people	We know this group – we have grown together Not necessarily like this in the workplace
Safety of the classroom and opportunity trying out things	Being unrealistic
Time – to reflect and to consider	Time is not what we have And after all there is other work on the course and other assignments
Really trying to bring about change	Very difficult Am I making myself difficult at work? Am I exposing myself and the workplace?
Adding to our course making it more of our own	But we have to leave
Changing and challenging the established work hierarchy	Exposure, vulnerability, have to continue to work
This has made a difference as to how I think and reflect	Will it really make a difference in the workplace and will it be sustained?
This has been both challenging and creative	What now?

Reflecting on the classroom experiment

The outcome of the classroom experiment so far shows that it is important to focus on the professional problems and dilemmas that the course participants bring, and the reflection should not only focus on theories and methods taught but also problems in their (own) field and the practice of the students (Van der Meer and Marks, 2013: 53). This is central to what the whole process and experiment is about. It is essential that the participant-practitioners react and reflect. However, it is hard to introduce and follow through change in behaviour and practice, even when the rationale and evidence for change is there and well supported. So it may be that a more incremental approach to change is needed, and of course higher level engagement will be really necessary for this to work. It can be difficult to confront personal practices and assumptions even within the relative safety of the classroom experiment and within a trusted group.

Some concluding thoughts

Of course promoting the classroom learning community and developing case studies is only one of the approaches being used as a means to makes MPA courses relevant and current. Alongside this it should not be forgotten that students study relevant contemporary modules which analyse the political, economic, legal and sociological context. By acknowledging the difficult climate that public managers work in and the issues confronting participants/professional practitioners and in wanting to make MPA courses relevant and of value, this paper has attempted to show how public management education programmes can develop in a meaningful and relevant way to help the course participants confront and challenge difficult and often conflicting managerial problems and situations. The experimentation is driven by the students’ own mini project/workplace challenge by using their own specific experiences and to develop these into case studies which will be explored in the safe classroom learning communities.

The public sector is a special ‘place’ and the actions and behaviour of public managers are more visible and impact more widely and diversely in respect of ethical, social equality and political considerations than, arguably, the actions and behaviour of private sector managers. The nature of public organisations and the values and behaviour of public managers and leaders of the public sector have significant implications for society. At the end of the day, MPA courses cannot solve all the problems and challenges facing public organisations, nor are they intended to do so, but they can create a safe environment for discussion and analysis and they can develop more skilled, knowledgeable and informed future public sector managers. The intention is to develop MPA students in respect of their capability and confidence to perform effectively as professional public managers in a challenging, politically filled and changing public sector context. It is a difficult, risky and slow process that takes time, but which is worth doing if educators are committed to public management education and public service management. In this way MPA courses may also be seen as of value not only to the individual but also to would-be funders of MPA courses, particularly in times of economic constraint.

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

With thanks:

To my colleagues for over 10 years contribution and discussions with what is now the Copenhagen Forum. References and research from our publications, which have helped form the basis of much of the ideas here.

To my course participants on XMPA at LSBU and particularly those who have willingly contributed their case study.

To my colleagues in Perry Library LSBU.

Declaration of conflicting interest

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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