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Re-Imagining Business Schools of the Future as Places of Theorizing

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The Future of University Education

Part of the book series: Palgrave Critical University Studies ((PCU))

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Abstract

In university Business Schools there is a long tradition of teaching “best practice” through which students learn to apply theory derived from exemplars of successful business models, practices and theories. This approach has been further reinforced by the contemporary obsession with “employability”, “production of able and ready graduates” and Business Schools’ adoption of similar performance indicators. Most, if not all, institutions would claim that by the end of a programme of study their students will know what they should do. However, most institutions would be less confident in claiming that their alumni, in the pressure cooker of challenging business situations, will be able to resist the temptation to do what they could do and perhaps should not do. In this chapter, we argue that one of the reasons for this is the emphasis on the application of theories to the exclusion of theorizing. The implication is that theory is not developed by theorizing in Business Schools but is something that is sourced from elsewhere and then “used”, consisting of models or concepts imported from other disciplines that students, academics and researchers are encouraged to “apply”. We argue that Business Schools should engage in and contribute to the intellectual practice of academic theorizing and not merely to be places of reproduction, application and enumeration of theories.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Business and Law, University of West of England, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol, BS161QY, UK

    Hugo Gaggiotti

  2. Faculty of Business and Law, University of West of England, Coldharbour Lane, Frenchay, BS161QY, UK

    Peter Simpson

  3. Faculty of Business and Law, University of West of England, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol, BS161QY, UK

    Svetlana Cicmil

Authors
  1. Hugo Gaggiotti
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  2. Peter Simpson
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  3. Svetlana Cicmil
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hugo Gaggiotti .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Lincoln Business School, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, United Kingdom

    Michał Izak

  2. Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom

    Monika Kostera

  3. Institute of Culture, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland

    Michał Zawadzki

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Gaggiotti, H., Simpson, P., Cicmil, S. (2017). Re-Imagining Business Schools of the Future as Places of Theorizing. In: Izak, M., Kostera, M., Zawadzki, M. (eds) The Future of University Education. Palgrave Critical University Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46894-5_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46894-5_11

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-46893-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-46894-5

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