Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Critical Realist Action Research and Humanistic Management Education

  • Practice Perspective
  • Published:
Humanistic Management Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In line with its institutional commitments and in order to strengthen the relevance of its business education program in addressing the persistent social challenges facing the Philippines, Mission University (not its real name) revised its Master of Business Administration (MBA) curriculum in 2012. A core change in the curriculum was the incorporation of action research training and the requirement for graduation of implementing and defending an action research project. The introduction of action research, which is based on critical realist philosophy of science, was intended to enable the university’s MBA graduates to become reflexive and humanistic agents of change in their work contexts through the application of observation, critical reflection, collaborative analysis and action and scholarly skills. The implementation of the action research requirement is beginning to yield positive results based on the types of projects implemented by the students and their resulting sense of efficacy in the workplace. Challenges in implementation include the need to further hone student skills in pursuing more emancipatory projects and the need to further orient faculty in the critical realist philosophy underlying action research, as distinct from traditional positivism.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. For the rest of the paper, “action research” will refer to “insider action research”.

References

  • AIM-Hills Program on Governance. 2009. Corporate governance trends in the 100 largest publicly-listed corporations in the Philippines. Makati: Asian Institute of Management.

  • Alford, Helen, and Michael Naughton. 2001. Managing as if faith mattered. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amann, Wolfgang, Michael Pirson, Heiko Spitzeck, Claus Dierksmeier, Ernst von Kimakowitz, and Shiban Khan 2011. Humanistic management education: Academic responsibility for the 21st century. In Business schools under fire: Humanistic management education as the way forward, eds. Wolfgang Amann, Michael Pirson, Heiko Spitzeck, Claus Dierksmeier, Ernst von Kimakowitz, and Shiban Khan, 3–15. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Anjum, Rani Lill, and Stephen Mumford. 2010. A powerful theory of causation. In The metaphysics of powers, ed. Anna Marmodoro, 143–159. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Archer, Margaret. 1995. Realist social theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Archer, Margaret, Doug Porpora, Claire Decoteau, Philip Gorski, Daniel Little, and Timothy Rutzou. 2016. What is critical realism? Retrieved from Perspectives: A Newsletter of the Theory Section of the American Sociological Association. http://www.asatheory.org/current-newsletter-online/what-is-critical-realism. Accessed 29 Dec 2016.

  • Bartunek, Jean M., Robert M. Krim, Raul Necochea, and Margaret Humphries. 1999. Sensemaking, sensegiving, and leadership in strategic organizational development. Advances in Qualitative Organizational Research 2: 37–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • BBC News. 2002, Enron's J Clifford Baxter: A profile. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1784945.stm. Accessed March 29, 2018.

  • Bennis, Warren, and James O'Toole. 2005. How business schools lost their way. Harvard Business Review: 96–104 https://hbr.org/2005/05/how-business-schools-lost-their-way. Accessed 2 January 2017.

  • Berggren, Christian, and Jonas Söderlund. 2011. Management education for practicing managers: Combining academic rigor with personal change and organizational action. Journal of Management Education 35 (3): 377–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhaskar, Roy. 2005. The possibility of naturalism: A philosophical critique of the contemporary human sciences. 3rd ed. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhaskar, Roy. 2008. A realist theory of science. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bloom, Gordon, and Michael Pirson. 2011. Unleashing a rising generation of leading social change agents: An emerging university pedagogy. In Business schools under fire: Humanistic management education as the way forward, ed. Wolfgang Amann, Michael Pirson, Heiko Spitzeck, Claus Dierksmeier, Ernst von Kimakowitz, and Shiban Khan, 246–256. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bradbury, Hilary, and Peter Reason, eds. 2015. The SAGE handbook of action research. 3rd ed. Los Angeles: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coghlan, David, and Teresa Brannick. 2010. Doing action research in your own organization. 3rd ed. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coghlan, David, and Teresa Brannick. 2014. Doing action research in your own organization. 4th ed. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cruver, Brian. 2002. Anatomy of greed: The unshredded truth from an Enron insider. New York: Carroll and Graf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, Victor J., and Tim Rogers. 2009. There is nothing so theoretical as good action research. Action Research 7 (1): 31–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Habito, Cielito. 2012. Economic growth for all. Inquirer.net. June 25. http://opinion.inquirer.net/31439/economic-growth-for-all. Accessed 25 June 2012.

  • Holland, Kevin. 2011. Insights from the W. Edwards memorial conference. In Business schools under fire: Humanistic management education as the way forward, ed. Wolfgang Amann, Michael Pirson, Heiko Spitzeck, Claus Dierksmeier, Ernst von Kimakowitz, and Shiban Khan, 95–103. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Houston, Stanley. 2014. Critical realism. In The SAGE encyclopedia of action research, ed. David Coghlan and Mary Brydon-Miller, 219–222. Los Angeles: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • International Labour Office. 2012. Decent work country profile: Philippines. Geneva: ILO http://labstat.psa.gov.ph/dews/Resources/Summary/wcms_190710_dw_philcountryprof.pdf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaworski, Joseph. 1996. Synchronicity: The inner path of leadership. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, Phil, and Joanne Duberley. 2001. Understanding management research: An introduction to epistemology. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khurana, Rakesh. 2007. From higher aims to hired hands: The social transformation of American business schools and the unfulfilled promise of management as a profession. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krim, Robert. 1988. Managing to learn: Action inquiry in city hall. In Human inquiry in action: Developments in new paradigm research, ed. Peter Reason, 144–162. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, Kurt. 1948. Resolving social conflicts: Selected papers on group dynamics. New York: Harper & Brothers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lord Acton Quote Archive. 2017. Retrieved from Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. http://www.acton.org/research/lord-acton-quote-archive. Accessed 8 January 2017.

  • McLean, Bethany and Peter Elkind. 2006. Guilty conscience. Retrieved from Fortune Magazine: http://archive.fortune.com/2006/03/20/magazines/fortune/enron_fortune_040306/. Accessed 22 March 2006.

  • Mezirow, Jack. 1990. How critical reflection triggers transformative learning. In Fostering critical reflection in adulthood, ed. Jack Mezirow, 1–20. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mezirow, Jack. 1997. Transformative learning: Theory to practice. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education (74): 5–12.

  • Mintzberg, Henry. 2004. Managers, not MBAs: A hard look at the soft practice of managing and management development. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, Heidi. 2008. Congress grills Lehman brothers’ dick Fuld: Highlights of the hearing. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/10/06/dick-fulds-grilling-highlights-of-the-house-committee-hearing/. Accessed 6 October 2008.

  • Navarro, Peter. 2008. The MBA core curricula of top-ranked U.S. business schools: A study in failure? The Academy of Management Learning and Education 7 (1): 108–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neck, Christopher P., and John Milliman. 1994. Thought self-leadership: Finding spiritual fulfilment in organizational life. Journal of Managerial Psychology 9 (6): 9–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ordinario, Cai. 2013. MAP: The poorest provinces in PH. Rappler.com. http://www.rappler.com/business/27276-poorest-provinces-philippines

  • Pedler, Mike, and John Burgoyne. 2008. Action learning. In Sage Handbook of Action Research, ed. Peter Reason and Hilary Bradbury, 2nd ed., 319–332. London: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Reason, Peter, and William R. Torbert. 2001. The action turn: Toward a transformational social science. Concepts and. Transformation 6 (1): 1–37 Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2345/4251.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schein, Edgar. 1999. Intrapsychic processes: ORJI. In Process consultation revisited: Building the helping relationship, 86–100. Reading: Addison-Wesley Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spender, John Christopher, and Jeroen Kraaijenbrink. 2011. Humanizing management education. In Business schools under fire: Humanistic management education as the way forward, ed. Wolfgang Amann, Michael Pirson, Heiko Spitzeck, Claus Dierksmeier, Ernst von Kimakowitz, and Shiban Khan, 257–272. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Spitzeck, Heiko. 2011. A developmental model for humanistic management education. In Business schools under fire: Humanistic management education as the way forward, ed. Wolfgang Amann, Michael Pirson, Heiko Spitzeck, Claus Dierksmeier, Ernst von Kimakowitz, and Shiban Khan, 410–422. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Stein, Mark. 2007. Oedipus rex at Enron: Leadership, oedipal struggles, and organizational collapse. Human Relations 60 (9): 1387–1410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teehankee, Benito. 2011. Corporate governance. In Essentials of investments in the Philippine capital markets, ed. Rhoderick Santos, 2nd ed., 155–192. Las Piñas: Southville.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teehankee, Benito. 2013. Institutionalizing faith-based management education in a Catholic university. Journal of Catholic. Higher Education 31 (2): 287–302.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toyoda, Akio. 2010. Full text of Toyoda’s prepared testimony for Congress. Japan Times. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20100225a3.html. Accessed 25 February 2010.

  • Villanueva, Delano. 1997. Social and political factors in a model of endogenous economic growth and distribution: An application to the Philippines. South East Asian Central Banks (SEACEN): Kuala Lumpur.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winter, Richard, and Carol Munn-Giddings. 2001. Action research as a form of social inquiry: A ‘theoretical’ justification. In A handbook of action research in health and social care, ed. Richard Winter and Carol Munn-Giddings, 255–274. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. De La Salle University, 2401 Taft Avenue, Malate, 1004, Manila, Philippines

    Benito Teehankee

Authors
  1. Benito Teehankee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Benito Teehankee.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The author states that there is no conflict of interest regarding this paper.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Teehankee, B. Critical Realist Action Research and Humanistic Management Education. Humanist Manag J 3, 71–90 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41463-018-0033-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41463-018-0033-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation