Critical Engagement What is it and how to develop it within OUBS students? An AL guide.

This guide has been produced by members of the Critical Engagement working group (B700/B713 sub team) and is intended to supplement existing material produced by the course team

Critical engagement a working definition There has been much debate about what is actually meant by critical engagement. The following is offered as a working definition Critical engagement: a process of approaching course materials in a questioning fashion, asking whether course ideas (aka theory) are relevant and useful to a managers (or case) context, and if so, using them to challenge and extend the managers ways of thinking about the context and their professional practice. We shall know that this process has taken place if students demonstrate both an understanding of a selected concept/theory and reflective use of this concept/ theory to identify and explain issues that have arisen in a given situation and suggest new ways of thinking about (and where appropriate changing) personal and organisational management practice. We think that this is important because the MBA has always been conceived of as a professional rather than purely academic qualification, and a key aim is to enable our graduates to function effectively as middle and senior managers in complex and rapidly changing contexts.

Critical engagement and learning The learning process we envisage requires students to apply an idea / model to a concrete situation to help understand the situation better and to create options for the practitioner and, where possible, take action Identify where a model works and its limitations Distinguish between research based models, thought only models (clearly both are potentially useful) and to be able to critique the soundness of any research based model

Recognise that a model may still offer useful ways of thinking about a scenario irrespective of any research labels Recognise that many models are constructs and that they are not presented as empirical realities Understand the difference between correlation and cause and the nature of experimental method in social science Embed reflective thinking before, during and after practice in order to improve management thinking and action to facilitate further reflection

Even when they have understood the intended learning process, for most students critical engagement will require encouragement, practice and feedback to develop the necessary skills. It can be seen as part of the adult learning process. Blooms taxonomy (Figure 1 below) provides a useful way of visualizing the relationships between the key intellectual skills valued in education and adult learning. The complexity of skills increases as learners move up the staircase from the base to the top

Evaluation Synthesis Analysis

Application

Comprehension Knowledge low Level of complexity high

Figure 1: Levels of intellectual skill (adapted from Bloom, 1956) Bloom created this framework for understanding the learning activities of course participants as there is evidence that people can know and think about a subject at different. Research suggests that more of the learning is retained when you work at the more complex levels. In the lowest two levels the content that is learnt is simply understood. The more complex, interesting, and useful thinking comes once we move into application and beyond. At post graduate level

study, this higher level thinking is important. The relating of course learning to practice, through application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation is exactly what students are, or will be, doing. In Table 1, set out below, are described the characteristics of thinking at the various levels and how they might be seen during a course of study. The higher levels are shown at the top of the table; the lower levels at the bottom.

Level of Complexity Evaluation

Definition course participant appraises, assesses or judges the value

How this is seen in practice, e.g. in assignments course participant identifies learning about self, others or the organisation as a result of analysis, shows understanding of the relative importance of an idea and its components, criticises theory or supports it course participant makes links between two or more course ideas, redesigns diagrams to better fit a real situation, makes recommendations for action, develops a plan or suggests changes to an existing way of working course participant uses course ideas to structure events or situations in the workplace, uses annotated diagrams, compares and contrasts, points out differences course participant uses course ideas to explain events, judge the effects of actions or interpret the causes of events course participant summarises events, writes a prcis of the text, paraphrases, explains course participant quotes from the text, copies a relevant diagram, refers to an author, encloses relevant documents, writes a list

Synthesis

course participant combines ideas in a new way

Analysis

course participant breaks the material down into its component parts and relates assumptions, evidence, events to structure course participant selects, transfers and uses ideas in situations that are new, unfamiliar or have a new slant course participant translates, interprets information, grasps the meaning, identifies key points course participant remembers or recognises information / ideas / events in the approximate order and form in which they were learned

Application

Comprehension

Knowledge

Table 1: Different levels of thinking in practice

Although the skills in Figure 1 and Table 1 are arranged in a hierarchical way, all are important as lower levels are prerequisites for higher levels - one cannot usefully apply an idea unless one knows and understands it, and much of the thinking done involves simultaneous use of skills

from several different levels. Consider the skills involved in addressing management problems and analysing practice in the light of learning. One of the intended outcomes of the MBA is the extension and development of these higher order thinking skills.

The meaning of critical in this context Because critical can have so many meanings it is important to unpack it in the context of MBA teaching and learning. Here we are using being critical to mean evaluating ideas or practice it is the opposite of accepting things uncritically. It means taking a constructively critical stance; it does not imply being negative or destructive. Students need to consider two aspects here: the concepts being applied to their reality their perception of the reality.

Useful questions for students to ask (and for you to encourage them to ask) in relation to these two aspects are outlined below

Questions related to the concepts being applied Where is the author coming from and why should I accept what they say? Are they consultants/gurus selling their latest theme, e.g. Tom Peters? Is the concept just asserted or is it based on sound research (academic articles will usually state the number of sites used etc)? Does the theory come from a particular discipline, e.g. psychology, economics if so; does this give only one perspective on your issues? Does the theory recognize all the levels at which an issue can be analysed, i.e. Society, Organisation, Group, Individual (SOGI) or does it focus on just one level? For example motivation theories tend to focus on the individual and the organisation but a persons demotivation may be rooted in factors outside work, in wider societal issues or problems in the team/group. Does the theory recognise the impact of STEEP factors and national cultures? We teach ideas about team roles and learning styles focused on the individual but to what extent might the styles and roles be affected by the STEEP factors and national culture?

Thus applying concepts to reality involves taking a constructively critical stance to the theory to see where it comes from, what it can do and, importantly, its limitations.

Students (and tutors!) need to take a similarly robust approach to reality because our reality is not as rock solid as we might assume. It may more accurately be described as our perception of that reality. Put another way the elements in our experience are interpreted through our own individual mental constructs; what we see as fact is filtered through our own mental frameworks. So the reality to which concepts are applied needs to be subject to examination too.

Questions about the reality being examined Am I offering as fact something that is really my perception and/or opinion? Have I provided evidence for my judgments (and if not, clearly identified something as an assumption or personal opinion)? Have I simply narrated (described) what happens perhaps with bits of suitable theory bolted on, or have I compared experience/reality with all aspects of the theory? The second approach, using all parts of the theory, is more rigorous and can force us into examining aspects we might otherwise gloss over. Have I recognized that I am part of the situation and I play some part in what is described? It can be easy to pass over our own part in what is happening.

Taking this more rigorous and critical approach should help avoid some of the more common pitfalls involved in applying concepts to reality. Some of the ways in which this can go wrong are outlined below.

Where applying concepts to reality often goes wrong

If theory and reality are treated in an uncritical fashion, without the above questions being asked, you are likely to find:
Projection attributing your own faults to others. This is a well-recognised human tendency. For example, in a TMA which is heavily critical of the level of management above the person writing, the tutor might rightly ask But how do your staff perceive you? The them and us syndrome where we are right and they are wrong. For example when listening to some managers from the voluntary sectors you could form the opinion that all the failings of non-profit organisations are caused by them - the organisations management committee! Bolstering use of words like clearly, surely and use of rhetoric to support an assertion which is unsupported by any firm evidence. Assuming others see things as we do e.g. all the department feel as I do, that Bias of various sorts e.g. availability bias assuming events are more frequent if they come to mind easily. A variation on this was the overestimation of time taken on a particular task in the retail sector it was in fact a very small amount of time but an immensely tedious job. Another form of bias is confirmation bias seeing only factors that confirm our initial view and discounting other information. Privileging our own capabilities while being critical of those of others. For example on the second level course B822 (Creativity, Innovation and Change) there is an exercise where students rate both themselves and their organisation on various aspects of creativity. The feedback on the activity notes Interestingly many individuals score themselves higher than their organisations in this type of inventory, yet the organisations themselves are collections of individuals

Students need to be encouraged to be alert to these tendencies and helped to minimize them.

Another part of critical engagement is the art of critiquing a concept. If your background/ experience is in a scientific or deterministic field then this can be quite an odd notion and a potted how to is offered below.

The skills of critique The process of systematically identifying the tenets of an author's argument, the associated assumptions and whether the argument presented needs to be robust. In helping students to develop these skills you may find it helpful to suggest the following approach: In identifying the underlying assumptions the objective is to examine whether they support the tenets of the argument, their strengths and weaknesses and if there are any omissions. If there are assumptions missing, consider how important these are, and whether they undermine the basic tenets of the author's argument. In establishing whether there are weaknesses and omissions, it is common practice to examine other authors' perspectives on the same topic and whether these perspectives offer greater insight and if so to what degree. In considering other perspectives it would be important to identify: - the different assumptions used - any new data available - flawed interpretation of existing data - in what way the new perspective improves upon previous arguments.

A useful aide memoire for students to enable them to analyse a situation, look at the implications of that analysis and to consider what actions they may take as a result is shown in Table 2, which is based on a posting to CEG SCR by OUBS tutor

Table 2 What? / So what? / Now what?

Element What?

Activity Mapping:

Comment

Using a course model to identify A model may have to tweaked or adjusted and map a situation to fit a situation / sector but that is perfectly legitimate the models are meant to be Mapping can be achieved easily tools to thinking and can be adapted to be by taking a generic model and more useful. Hence the importance of then mapping / annotating it customising a model rather than assuming with own evidence / examples. the generic approach solution will fit all.

So what?

Analysis: Deciding what messages, Students may not always find new lessons lessons, insights etc. (if any) this and insights but need to look at the mapping reveals. mapping carefully and test their thinking before deciding this This requires students to go beyond description. To analyse This analysis should help the student and critically evaluate the So identify the additional insights arising from use of the model the so called light bulb what is this telling me? question must be addressed. moments

Now what?

Action Planning: Identifying what actions if, any, This action might include more investigation you or others should take based or action to improve a situation or both on the insights and where Students need to Identify who should do possible taking action what, by when and how. They also need to This is where SMART think about any organsiational constraints recommendations should be which may prevent full implementation of developed. the proposals.

What now?

Back to mapping: Reviewing the outcomes of the actions by mapping the new situation with the model or a more appropriate one This is where the student should step back and reflection what changes might be made to personal practice Hence we have a cycle of mapping, analysis, action, back to mapping and further review

Facilitating students critical engagement A number of approaches are offered here which are intended for use in either face to face tutorials or online only activities. It is intended that this toolkit will be added to as the body of knowledge amongst the AL population grows.

Promote the use of diagramming. Encourage students to take the generic models in the course and to then map / annotate them with evidence. In this way students are both showing understanding and application plus they gain the added bonus of saving on word count! An example is shown below

Feedback
Quick Slow
STFC Knowl Exchange

High

Tough guy, macho

MCS - CEO

Bet-your-company

Risk

MCS Cust Service

STFC Fac Dev & Opps

MCS Software Dev

STFC Science Progs

Low

Work hard play hard

MCS Fin & HR STFC Corp Plan & Comms

Process Culture
STFC Corp Services

STFC - CEO

STFC Finance

Deal and Kennedy Matrix for STFC and MCS Global Ltd.( with grateful thanks to previous B713 students) Note: an extended diagramming guide is available from

http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=1290 (Students are now being referred to this from B830 as well. The full tutorial takes about 12 hours, but they can dip in and out)
Encourage Peer discussion on what is meant by Critical Engagement Invite students to discuss the whole idea of critical engagement and what it means to them. Invite them to recall a key concept/ model which has struck then as being important in some way. Invite each student to a) describe the model b) identify how and where it might be used with examples b) reflect on how the model selected has changed their thinking and approach to being a manager

Then draw out from the group the key frameworks which hold a theme together e.g. motivation. Identify the material which might support it. This needs to be done as a brainstorming activity to solicit as much as possible from the whole group. Then using the common reserve of models invite the group to select material to support the themes and justify them: you may need to cap the number of models if you wish so that some selection must be made. The group can then be challenged to reflect on what they lose when making this selection and how they can compensate for / evaluate the loss, Once justified, ask them to identify the interlinkage of the material and how these improve the development of the picture to give an holistic view. This leads to some material being dropped and the selection of other models. Thus the students are engaged in a select / test / accept / reject cycle. At some point stop the exercise and compare again the starting point of a simple list of materials to highlight differences, Extract the learning points.

Encourage students to experiment with reflective writing Encourage students to keep a learning diary for the duration of the course and beyond. The contents of this diary could be used to address the reflective components of the B713 TMAs and could also be a useful resource for B830 studied at a later date.

Design tutorials with critical engagement in mind Try to build into each tutorial (online or f2f) time for students to share stories of their engagement with course ideas and give examples of its impact on their professional practice and use this material to reinforce the value of a critically engaged approach to the course for their development as a practicing manager, and for their subsequent career success. Aim to reinforce the value of applying course material to everyday practice

Encourage self assessment of TMAs Invite students to self assess their own TMAs. Invite them to do this under three headings : up to three key strengths , up to three key learning points ( re. TMA quality and/ or course contents in its own right or applied to work) and up to three points for improving the TMA. The focus of such an activity is not grade related but is in the spirit of the reflective practitioner. An area which can be explored is the benefit of improved report writing in work situations. .

Phil Bunnell, Steven Ettles. Jane Jones November 2008, updated September 2009.