“On Commitment”: Should They Bother With An MBA? A Study Of The ‘Learning Commitment’ Of Student-Managers Undertaking A ‘Corporate’ MBA Programme
Working Paper
Black, Kate
Abstract
Whilst MBA programmes have become the cornerstone of manager-education across private, and more recently, and public sectors, the transferability of this classroom-based learning to the workplace has been much debated. This paper offers a new lens to this debate and empirical data to support it. Whilst there is a taken-for-granted assumption that student-managers will be deeply committed to their learning, using the much under-researched lens of ‘learning commitment’ this paper asserts that manager-education holds organisational value only if the student-managers demonstrate a ‘learning commitment’.
Using a mixed-methods approach: initial questionnaire survey (N=54) and subsequent in-depth interviews, focus is upon a case-study local authority to examine the employer-value of their Corporate MBA programme.
Initial findings reveal how these student-mangers typically undertake the programme to secure career progression or enhance job security, adopting a predominantly instrumental approach to their learning which, this paper contends, derives far lesser organisational value. However this picture is not quite so clear-cut; thus the complexity of factors influencing their ‘learning commitment’ are subsequently explored.
The findings have impact for both clients and University-providers in considering the processes of selection, and the design of accredited manager-education programme delivery and content to ensure their alignment with the realitities of manager practice. Further, they have a direct impact in enhancing research participants’ understanding of their learning, enabling them to reflect further upon their practice and to thus help them in becoming better and more commited lifelong learners. As economic insecurity plagues all organisations, the findings are further expected to have an impact across the wider fields of HRM/HRD.
Introduction
This working paper reports the initial findings of research which examines the value of a Corporate MBA (C-MBA) programme delivered by a post-92 University in partnership with a local unitary authority (LA) in North-West England.
In this age of austerity, the comprehensive spending review (2007) and recent Browne report (2010), UK public-sector budgets are being ever-tightened, placing them under “pressure to do more with less” (Bennington & Hartley 2009:10); the requirement to demonstrate ROI in their manager-education – in this case, the C-MBA programme - is thus increasingly important.
Whilst considerable work has been undertaken and criticism levied at the efficacy of this qualification, conclusions by some suggesting it is “wholly out of touch with the real world and the needs of practicing managers” (Rubin & Dierdorf 2009:209), this paper offers a highly under-explored lens, that of ‘learning commitment’, to this debate (Noe et al. 2010; Tsai et al. 2007). Contributing empirical data, this paper thus explores the organisational value of C-MBA study as a function of the LA’s student-managers’ ‘learning commitment’.
Whilst empirical research considering psychological constructs typically adopts a phenomenological approach collecting only qualitative data, this research assumes a mixed-methods approach using questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews to answer the following four specific research questions:
Why do student-managers from a Local Unitary Authority undertaking the C-MBA commit to further accredited formal education?
Why do student-managers from a Local Unitary Authority undertaking the C-MBA commit to further accredited formal education?
What is the degree of learning commitment demonstrated by these student-managers and how this is manifested?
To what extent does their reason for engagement with the C-MBA impact upon their level of learning and therefore its potential organisational value?
What are the implications of this for the individual student-managers, for the LA and for education-management practice?
In doing this, the paper contends that whilst managers may be motivated to undertake further learning for career advancement or to secure their current roles, or directly solve work-based problems this “exchange” or “use” value (Saunders 2006) triggers only ‘surface’, or at best, ‘strategic’ and habitual learning (Kember et al 2002; Biggs 1999; Entwistle 1988), with limited employer-value. Real organisational value is created only through ‘deep’ learning and critical reflection, enabling managers’ long-term retention of theoretical concepts they relate to work-place problem-solving and their challenging taken-for-granted organisational assumptions. This requires ‘learning commitment’ in the passage towards ‘self-actualisation’ (Marton et al. 1993). Without ‘learning commitment’ such manager-education programmes may be ineffective in their purpose of improving organisational performance.
Examining the two theoretical frameworks of reflective thinking and learning approaches concurrently, for which little empirical work has been undertaken (Phan 2006), in its exploration of this lens of ‘learning commitment’ this paper generates new perspectives to the debates over the value of manager-education, challenging the dominant manager-education pedagogy with its emphasis upon curriculum over practice. The findings hold significance for these individual student-managers, for their LA and other MBA students’ employer organisations, for researchers and practitioners of HRD and for education-management practice in understanding the relationships between manager development, performance and organisational value, informing human resource development practice in terms of student-manager selection, also programme/organisational induction and in fostering effective manager-education.
This article is structured as follows. Firstly, it focuses upon the role of the MBA programme per se and the situational context - the development of the C-MBA programme for the case-study local authority. Secondly, in order to derive an understanding of this under-researched construct, it examines the concept of ‘learning commitment’ and its role in assessing the organisational value of manager-education. The research design is then discussed. Fourthly, in analysing the findings of the research, focus is upon factors that may facilitate or inhibit the ‘learning commitment’ and thus organisational value derived through these student-managers undertaking the C-MBA. Finally conclusions for practice are drawn and areas for future research arising from this exploratory study are identified.
The MBA and the Local Authority C-MBA programme
Organisations across the advanced economies invest large sums of money in HRD, especially for their key occupational group, the managers. The stimulus for this international interest lies in the accepted belief that, as organisations strive for survival, human capital is a key means to competitive advantage (see for example, Hamel & Prahalad 1994; Senge 1990). Within the current economic climate, and with ever rapid changes in the way things are done, why they are done and whom they are done by, it is only through learning new skills, competencies and a proficiency to innovate, that managers will improve their own performance and that of their teams, sustaining organisational growth. Furthermore, with the ever-increasing flux, instability and insecurity characterising the C21 workplace, no longer guaranteed a ‘job for life’, managers themselves are acutely aware of the demands upon them for higher performance and a greater need for multi-skilling. As such, these individuals are taking charge of their own development, seeking to continuously update their skills in order to survive. This drive for ongoing learning has been augmented in the UK through such government initiatives as the 2006 Leitch Review of Skills and 2009 Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning.
Manager-education has therefore become a major growth area in formalised learning provision within higher education (HE). Accordingly, 18% of all students and 26% of all post-graduate students within UK HE, for example, undertake studies within the Business and Management field, amounting to 11% of all academic staff. Within this context the MBA has evolved as an internationally-recognised brand, the key method of higher level manpower planning. With uptake of this qualification continuing to rise exponentially, UK enrolments increasing to over 18,000 in 2008/9 (HESA 2010), it is the fastest growing postgraduate degree programme globally.
Traditionally the preserve of private sector managers, there has been recent recognition that public sector managers also need specialist education to enable them to lead and manage more effectively. As such, for some public sector organisations, MBAs have become a key element of their manager CPD and a pre-requisite for senior level appointments. Whilst the current expected decimation of the public sector might indicate significant reductions in training and development budgets, Andalo (2010) reports in the Guardian Professional, Local Authority, Union and CIPD views, that in light of the pay freeze, training and development opportunities will provide the “new dosh” to secure manager commitment and loyalty whilst enabling them to develop the skills necessary for them to lead their teams through this current adversity. Development of human capital has therefore become an increasingly important high-level strategic issue (CIPD 2010) and de-investment in public sector training and development (T&D) is expected unlikely; MBAs are expected to remain the key tool in this.
The Corporate MBA programme for the case study local authority
The case-study local authority (LA), a metropolitan borough in North-West England, employs a workforce of approximately 11,000 full/part-time and casual staff. In 2005, following review, a decision was made to provide development opportunities for its experienced middle-level managers in the form of a C-MBA programme. The espoused rationale for this programme was two-fold: to enhance the performance of the existing middle-managers and to encourage recruitment of better applicants to management posts within the authority. It was presupposed that the programme would encourage participants to forsake the LA’s characteristic prescriptive, operations-focussed style, shifting the mindset towards the more collaborative and creative way of thinking conceived fundamental to the LA achieving its ambitious, cross-cutting strategic aims for economic, environmental and social regeneration. The programme was developed from the framework of the University’s existing Executive MBA, but customised to meet the needs of the specific LA. Classroom-based delivery is at the University, in once-monthly one-day sessions, with 5 sessions per 20 credit module. The focus of these student co-led sessions is to provide theoretical grounding across the module topics but also group activities and assignments relating this to work-place issues and problem-solving; reflection upon experience is therefore the central consideration of all learning. Alongside, devised group projects and student-managers’ dissertations, which are joint mentored by University tutors and a senior manager from the LA, examine issues and problems plaguing the LA.
Student-managers are selected by the LA, although final admission to the programme is decided by the University. Future collaborative practice is encouraged through ensuring individuals are drawn from across the different directorates. Further, all participants are organised into ‘learning support groups’ by the University to further foster collaborative thinking, working and reflection.
‘Learning commitment’ and manager learning
The transferability of predominately procedural knowledge gained through MBA classroom learning to vocational practice has been widely questioned (see for example see for example Rubin & Dierdorf 2009; Brocklehurst et al. 2007; Welsh & Dehler 2007; Gabriel 2005; Mintzberg 2004; Currie & Knights 2003; Cheng 2001). These studies have typically considered such structural elements such its ‘commoditisation’ (Welsh & Dehler 2007), the ‘relevancy’ and ‘circumscription’ of the MBA curriculum (Rubin & Dierdorf 2009; Bennis & O’Toole 2005), resultant manager performance (Clarke 2008; Watson 2006), resultant salaries (Gerhart & Rynes 2003, 1991), delivery design and pedagogy (Currie & Knights 2003; Arbaugh 2000) and academic rigour (Chen & Klimoski 2007). Little consideration, theoretical or empirical, has been made however of the psychological aspects of (C-)MBA learning on resultant organisational value. Indeed, a notable omission in this debate is the importance of student-managers’ ‘learning commitment’ (Noe et al. 2010; Tsai et al. 2007:161), the construct to which this paper now turns.
Whilst their consideration is beyond the scope of this paper, an ever-increasing literature across psychology, social science and HRM has considered the construct of commitment per se, and especially within the workplace (see for example, Blau et al. 1993; Meyer & Allan 1991, 1984; Blau 1985; Morrow 1983; Kanungo 1982, 1979); it remains however complex and multi-faceted. However, the notion of ‘learning commitment’ remains much under-theorised, with definitions somewhat lacking (Noe et al. 2010; Tsai et al. 2007:161). With ‘commitment’ being a psychological and social intrinsic attachment to an activity (Kanter 1968) corresponding to the potential benefits individuals perceive they will receive, ‘learning commitment’ may be better defined as a ‘want or willingness to develop professionally and to be successful in it’. Referring to both antecedents and product, as well as to the process of becoming committed or to the state of commitment itself (O’Reilly & Chatman 1986), it may be differentiated from ‘motivation’ to learn by its longevity and endurance. Whilst Tsai et al. (2007) define a 5-item scale to measure ‘learning commitment’, this provides little evidence of the personal willingness to develop or the long-term binding-force prevalent in this definition.
Levels of ‘learning commitment’ will differ therefore depending upon how certain factors are recognised and evaluated by an individual (Brown 1996:232); that is, the personal meaning that they attach to the commitment focus in the context of personal and professional developmental and socialisation factors (see for example Curry 1983; Riding 1997). There are however important and inter-related common factors, notably: a deep personal investment, a desire to develop personally, to be inspired and thus to grow.
‘Learning commitment’ and the perceived learning benefits provided by manager-education can be related conceptually to Saunders’ (2006) purposes of learning: for “exchange”, “use” and “self-actualisation”. In the context of MBA-learning, the former describes learning that is undertaken for such purpose as improving career prospects, whereas “use” describes learning that is undertaken to aid the learner in securing their current roles thus maximising their value to their organisation – a possible key to survival.
In light of this, ‘learning commitment’ may be partially explained by the learners’ ‘approach to learning’ (Biggs, 1993; Entwistle & Waterston 1988); that is, their intentions or motives prior to engagement (Marton & Säljö 1976a, 1976b). Humans typically have an instinct to becoming moderately competent (Winch 1998) however their tendency to expend the energy for deeper learning, demonstrates a commitment rather than just a moderate competence. The constructivist approach considers therefore that learning is not wholly related to individuals’ ability but to their approach, which varies according to their perception of the needs of the task (Laurillard 1997) (Figure 1).