Enabling Knowledge Creation by Becoming Knowledge Activists
Maria Jakubik Principal Lecturer HAAGA-HELIA University of Applied Sciences Ratapihantie 13, 00520, Helsinki, Finland Phone +358 404 887 154
[email protected]
Abstract In today’s knowledge economy there is an increased interest in learning and knowing. However, the role of business schools and educators in the process of what we will refer to in this paper as ‘becoming to know’ remains problematic. This qualitative research seeks to answer the question: Can international business teachers better enable knowledge creation processes of their students and colleagues by becoming knowledge activists? The paper contributes to the current debate about the challenges, purpose and changing role of business schools and educators in enabling knowledge creation processes. Drawing on the knowledge activists concept of Knowledge Management (KM), 22 face-toface interviews and personal experience, the paper proposes a number of special actions teachers can take to fulfil the three roles (catalysts, coordinators and merchants of foresight) and six purposes (initiating and engaging, rationalizing, communicating, integrating, educating and representing community members) of knowledge activists to enable knowledge creation. The process of becoming knowledge activists, however, is not without difficulties. Future research could find out more about the challenges of becoming and being a knowledge activist and could also explore other knowledge creation enablers, like inspiring a knowledge vision, managing conversations, creating the right context and diffusing local knowledge. Keywords: enabling knowledge creation, knowledge activists, knowledge management (KM), knowledge workers, problem-based learning (PBL), teachers’ practices.
2009
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1. Introduction Why and how do management educational practices need to change? In today’s knowledge economy there is an increased interest in learning and knowledge creation. Current debates (e.g., Cornuel 2007; Ghemawat 2008; Hay 2008; Maerki 2008; Starkey and Tempest 2008) about the challenges of business schools, about their search for clear purpose and identity and about their role in creating academic, personal and public or social value through developing knowledgeable and employable business managers, underpin the need for further contributions in this area. Some very critical voices (Jörg, Davis and Nickmans 2007) even claim that the field of learning and education is in crisis and therefore, a better understanding of the complexity of learning and pedagogical reality is necessary. Others argue that ‘the processes of knowledge formation … are not at all well understood’ (Desforges 2001: 33 in Jörg et al. 2007: 3, emphasis original). Recently, McCuddy and ReebGruber (2008) urge that education should be revolutionized as there is a pressing need for its transformation. They propose to move beyond the teaching-centred and learning-centred models and have a new educational model that is based on an evolutionary paradigm. They call for a ‘development-centred paradigm’ where the focus is on the process of development of human beings. Therefore, I argue that educators have challenging roles in the process of what we will call ‘becoming to know’, and this calls for better understanding. This paper contributes to the current debate about the challenges, purpose and role of educators in knowledge creation. I seek to contribute to a better understanding of the changing roles and purposes of teachers in learning and knowledge creation processes by examining whether the concept of ‘knowledge activists’ that has emerged in business is relevant in an educational context. In this paper I will find out if international business teachers from two Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) can better enable knowledge creation of their students and colleagues by becoming knowledge activists, i.e., significant others in secondary socialization where managerial role-specific knowledge is created and skills are developed. My standpoint here differs from the position of Berger and Luckmann (1991 [1966]) who summarize the role of ‘significant others’ (ibid.: 151) in primary and secondary socialization, i.e., in learning about our objective and subjective reality, by stating: it is necessary to love one’s mother (i.e., significant other, added by the recent author), but not one’s teacher. … The teachers need not be significant others in any sense of the word. They are institutional functionaries with the formal assignment of transmitting specific knowledge. … The same knowledge taught by one teacher also could be taught by another (Berger and Luckmann 1991 [1966]: 161-162, emphasis added).
On the contrary, I argue in this paper that by becoming knowledge activists, teachers could become ‘significant others’ in knowledge creation processes, namely, in the secondary socialization processes (ibid.: 157-166) where emotions, care and love are important. Caring is vital in education (Gabriel and Grey 1999). Caring from those who are responsible for managers’ learning is essential because it ‘may help managers to look at more than individual careers and to sustain the idea that managers can contribute to the enlightened and socially responsible running of organizations’ (Vince and Elkjaer 2009: 4). However, it is obvious that
2 not all teachers are knowledge activists and to become one is not a journey without difficulties. As the former Dean of the Yale School of Management, Podolny (2007) points out, regardless of significant changes in managerial work, management education has not changed significantly. Consequently, the need for changes in how we educate managers is necessary. Concurring with Podolny, Hay claims that as the pattern and nature of managerial careers has become more fluid, plural, unpredictable and dynamic ‘The continuing renewal of knowledge is seen as critical to maintaining personal employability’ (Hay 2008: 372, emphasis added). I argue that continuing renewal and acquisition of new knowledge require change in our ways of teaching and learning (e.g., Jörg, Davis, and Nickmans 2007; McCuddy and Reeb-Gruber 2008). ‘Good teaching is founded on a clear understanding of the sort of knowledge and skills that will be needed for individuals to succeed in the contemporary world’ (Hay 2008: 375). There are differences between ‘learning to control and manipulate the environment (instrumental learning), learning to understand the meaning of what is being communicated (communicative learning) and learning to understand oneself and one’s perspectives (emancipatory or reflective learning)’ (Mezirow 1991: XV). Not all learning is transformative. … Transformative learning involves reflectively transforming the beliefs, attitudes, opinions, and emotional reactions that constitute our meaning schemes or transforming our meaning perspectives (sets of related meaning schemes) (Mezirow 1991: 223, emphasis added).
My point here is that educating future managers who would have innovative capabilities requires a different kind of relationship between the learner and the teacher. It is not enough just to transmit existing knowledge to the students (cf., Berger and Luckmann 1991 [1966]: 162). In this paper I argue that teachers who are able to become knowledge activists significant actors in knowledge creation - would better enable knowledge creation and could better help the personal growth of their students. Instead of just being ‘institutional functionaries’ (cf., Berger and Luckmann 1991 [1966]: 162) a teacher’s role is more complex in the learning and knowledge formation processes. I concur with Mezirow (1991) that: The educator helps the learner focus upon and examine the assumptions – epistemological, social, and psychological – that underline beliefs, feelings, and actions; assess the consequences of these assumptions; identify and explore alternative sets of assumptions; and test the validity of assumptions through effective participation in reflective dialogue (Mezirow 1991: 223-224).
The topic of this paper is current as creating new knowledge and being innovative are both imperative for business managers (cf., Podolny 2007; Hay 2008). I claim that business teachers could play an important role in developing these capabilities of students. According to Hamel (2007: 40-41), in the 21st century there are three main business challenges such as (1) ‘dramatically accelerating the pace of strategic renewal in organizations’, (2) ‘making innovation everyone’s job, every day’ and (3) ‘creating a highly engaging work environment that inspires employees to give the very best of themselves’. Hamel (2006 and 2007) calls for urgent innovation of management itself: management innovation is anything that substantially alters the way in which the work of management is carried out, or significantly modifies customary organizational forms, and, by so doing, advances organizational goals (Hamel 2007: 19, emphasis original).
To achieve innovation of management, business education and educators – that is the focus of this study – would need more attention. The role of business educators is essential in this
3 process as their current students will be managers of the future. Teachers and business schools could play an important role in educating students who would be able to reinvent current business models and create evolutionary advantages for their companies. Therefore, business teachers cannot ignore in their practices the complex and dynamic reality of learning and new knowledge creation – the significant changes in managerial work and career. They cannot ignore that finding, capturing and utilizing existing knowledge, and more importantly, the innovative ability, the ability to question and constructively destroy existing business models, the ability to learn and create new ways of managing, continuous creation and co-creation of new knowledge and the journey of becoming to know have all become vital for both educators and businesses. Becoming to know, co-creation of knowledge and enabling knowledge creation are current issues not only in education but also in Knowledge Management (KM) as well. A study of the KM literature shows that while in the 1980s the focus was on content of knowledge by locating and capturing existing knowledge, in the early 1990s knowledge sharing and transfer processes were emphasized to minimize costs and increase efficiency by not inventing the wheel again. However, in the late 1990s and early 2000s the need for new knowledge and innovative capability led to focus on the context and enabling factors of knowledge creation (e.g., Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995; Nonaka and Konno 1998; Nonaka, Toyama and Konno 2000; von Krogh and Grand in von Krogh, Nonaka and Nishiguchi (eds.) 2000: 13-15; von Krogh, Ichijo and Nonaka 2000; Mische 2000; Davenport and Prusak 2000). This research is positioned in this latest phase of KM. I argue that business teachers, by becoming knowledge activists, can play crucial role in management innovation by developing their students’ innovative skills and capabilities. The KM literature indicates five necessary ‘enabling conditions’ that promote knowledge development: (1) intention, i.e., an organization’s aspiration to its goals, love, care, trust and commitment, (2) autonomy, (3) fluctuation/creative chaos, (4) redundancy and (5) requisite variety (Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995: 73-83; Nonaka, Toyama and Konno 2000: 2529). Mische (2000) argues that ‘Learning involves the application of existing knowledge and the discovery of new knowledge or how to adapt knowledge to new situations’ (ibid.: 187, emphasis original). He classifies the inhibitors and enablers to knowledge transfer and learning into five categories: (1) environmental, (2) cultural, (3) human, (4) technological and (5) leadership enablers (ibid.: 188). Regarding this study the cultural, human and leadership enablers are relevant. The cultural enablers are high energy and passion, learning is ‘fun’ and rewarding and learning involves failure and high urgency. Human enablers include high energy and intelligence, being extremely confident, constructively confrontational and individualistic. Leadership enablers are protective and encouraging, enabling and sponsoring/advocating (Mische 2000: 188). Davenport and Prusak (2000: 24) argue that knowledge sharing requires trust, technology enables new knowledge sharing behaviours, knowledge sharing must be encouraged and rewarded, management support and resources are essential, knowledge initiatives should begin with a pilot program, quantitative and qualitative measures are needed to evaluate the initiative and knowledge is creative and should be encouraged to develop in unexpected ways. Similarly, von Krogh, Ichijo and Nonaka (2000: 5-11) identify the following five knowledge creation enablers: instil a knowledge vision, manage conversations, mobilize knowledge activist, create the right context and globalize local knowledge. In this paper I focus only on one of these enablers, namely, on the roles and purposes of knowledge activist as I seek to answer the main question:
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Can international business teachers better enable knowledge creation processes of their students and colleagues by becoming knowledge activists?
The two sub-questions that help to answer the main research question are: Do teachers consider themselves ‘institutional functionaries’ who ‘transmit’ their knowledge or do they see themselves as fulfilling the catalyst, coordinator and merchant of foresight roles of knowledge activists? How could teachers fulfil the six purposes of knowledge activists (i.e., initiating and engaging, rationalizing, communicating, integrating, educating and representing the community members) in their practices and relationships?
The rest of this paper is organized as follows: After clarifying the concept of ‘knowledge activists’, as it is defined in the KM literature, I briefly describe the research method and implementation. Next, by drawing on the ‘knowledge activists’ concept, I present the findings of the 22 interviews, along with my own reflections. In the discussion part of this paper I answer the main research question and, by drawing on the findings of the study and on my own personal experience, I propose a number of specific actions that teachers can take to become knowledge activists. I discuss the quality of the study, its practical implications, possible contributions and novelty value. Finally, I indicate the limitations of the study that provide an agenda for future research.
2. Concepts Can the ‘knowledge activists’ concept help to answer the research questions? Before presenting the concept of ‘knowledge activists’ (von Krogh, Ichijo, and Nonaka 2000), I refer to a concept of knowledge worker (Drucker 1965 [1959]) because teachers are considered to be knowledge workers. A knowledge worker is anyone who works for a living at the tasks of developing or using knowledge. A knowledge worker is a person who transforms business and personal experience into knowledge. Usually a knowledge worker is found to be innovative, creative and he or she is fully aware of the organizational culture. A knowledge worker can be thought of as a ‘product’ of values, experiences, processes, education and training (Managing knowledge workers – web source). From this research point of view it would be important to see what makes knowledge workers, as the most important assets of the 21st century, productive. In one of his latter books Drucker (2001) describes six major factors of knowledge-workers productivity such as the following: • • • •
Knowledge worker asks the question, ‘What is the task?’ not ‘How the work should be done?’ Individual workers take responsibility for their own productivity. Knowledge-workers have to manage themselves. They have to have autonomy. Continuing innovation has to be part of the work, the task and the responsibility of knowledgeworkers. Knowledge work requires continuous learning, and continuous teaching on the part of the knowledge-worker.
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Knowledge-worker productivity is not primarily a matter of quantity of output. Quality is at least as important. A knowledge worker needs to be treated as an ‘asset’ rather than a ‘cost’. It requires that knowledge-workers want to work for the organization in preference to all other opportunities (Drucker 2001: 142, emphases original).
Nevertheless, while all teachers could be considered knowledge workers not all teachers are knowledge activists. Who are the knowledge activists? What are their purposes and roles? Knowledge activists play an important role in enabling knowledge creation where the focus is on creating new knowledge and innovation. Knowledge activists are defined by their purposes and roles in this process. Von Krogh, Ichijo, and Nonaka (2000: 148) argue that the six purposes of knowledge activists are: (1) (2) (3) (4)
initiating and focusing knowledge creation; reducing the time and cost necessary for knowledge creation; leveraging knowledge-creation initiatives throughout the corporation; improving the conditions of those engaged in knowledge creation by relating their activities to the company’s bigger picture; (5) preparing participants in knowledge creation for new tasks in which their knowledge is needed; (6) including the perspective of micro-communities in the larger debate on organizational information.
Knowledge activists can have three possible roles (ibid.: 149), such as: (1) catalysts of knowledge creation; (2) coordinators of knowledge-creation initiatives; and (3) merchants of foresight.
Each of these roles requires special skills such as motivational, interpersonal, narrative, intervention, analytical, networking, and leadership skills (ibid.: 173). In this paper I will investigate if the above-mentioned three roles and six purposes of knowledge activists are relevant to business teachers and find out whether business teachers could better enable knowledge creation by becoming knowledge activists. After establishing the authentic and current need for this research, and clarifying the concept of knowledge activists, next, I briefly present how I collected the empirical data and implemented this research.
3. Research method How was the research designed and implemented? This qualitative research is based on empirical material I gathered by 22 face-to-face interviews with international business teachers. I conducted the interviews during September and October 2006, before the merger of two private Finnish universities of applied sciences (UAS) in January 2007. The scope of this research was limited to two English language international business (IB) programmes, i.e., IB programmes A and B, in two schools, as well as the language and accessibility of teachers. Because these two programmes are relatively small the findings could be generalized only in relation to them. At the end of this paper I discuss this together with other shortcomings of the research.
6 I sent the interview request to 38 teachers, of which three were not available, e.g., on maternity or research leave. I collected the data during 22 face-to-face, semi-structured interviews, meaning that almost 63% of international business teachers were interviewed. The interview allowed me to have themes regarding questions and the flexibility to ask additional questions to clarify data, as well as to explore not only the ‘what’ and ‘how’, but also the ‘why’ questions as well. First, I recorded and then transcribed the interviews; this resulted in more than 24 hours of audio material and more than 400 pages of text material. The empirical material was analyzed manually. The profile of the interviewees showed that the majority (64%) of them were female. 87% of the interviewees were more than 40 years old (41-50 years 55% and more than 50 years 32%). The majority of the teachers were Finns. There were only two foreign nationalities. As it was expected, the competences of the teachers showed the domination of business (77%), compared with languages (14%) and methodology (9%). Teachers had on average 11.5 years of teaching experience and eight years of work experience in the given school. The interview questions (appendix 1) were designed around four themes: (1) who the teachers are (self-identification); (2) what the teachers do (practices); (3) relationships and belonging of teachers; and (4) forthcoming organizational changes. In this study I will analyze findings of the first three themes because here the focus is on teachers’ role and purposes and not on the issues related to the merger of the two UAS. Theme one is related to the main research question because it helps to identify if the teachers associate themselves with the three roles of knowledge activists, i.e., catalysts, coordinators and merchant of foresight, or if they see themselves as ‘institutional functionaries’ who ‘transmit’ their knowledge. Themes two and three are about teachers’ practices and working relationships and, therefore, they could help to identify how the teachers could fulfil the six purposes of knowledge activists
4. Findings What are the findings and reflections? Applying the roles and purposes of ‘knowledge activists’ to educational practitioners I present the findings of 22 interviews, together with my personal reflections.
4.1. Roles of knowledge activists The goal of interview theme one (appendix 1) was to help answer the question if teachers consider themselves ‘institutional functionaries’ who ‘transmit’ their knowledge or if they see themselves as fulfilling the catalyst, coordinator and merchant of foresight roles of knowledge activists. The findings of how teachers identify themselves show that many of them (77%) have mentioned ‘teaching’ or ‘being a teacher’ as an important part of their identity. The majority of them (16) connected teaching to work or doing it as a job, i.e., seeing themselves as ‘institutional functionaries’. Four interviewees did not mention teaching at all in their
7 introduction. They felt a stronger affiliation with their roots – being Finnish-American, Mexican, etc. or with their families, e.g., being a spouse, parent, etc. However, there were two extreme cases. One teacher did not like to be identified as ‘teacher’: ‘I do not call myself a ‘teacher’. … I do not like to see myself as a ‘teacher’ … I like to work as a teacher but I do not want to be called a ‘teacher’. Only one teacher felt that she was fulfilling the roles of catalyst, coordinator and merchant of foresight in learning processes: I am a learning process facilitator, helping students to learn about business and about professional behaviour. … The focus is not anymore on teaching; the focus is on students’ learning processes, meaning that my responsibility is to organize naturally the environment in the classroom for tutorial sessions, and furthermore the triggers, the learning tasks are so that they challenge the students to check the sources… (emphasis added).
Answering the interview questions of theme one (appendix 1) – regardless if teachers identified themselves weakly or strongly with this profession – teachers liked to be teachers for different reasons. For example, one teacher emphasized the challenging and changing character of the work: In this job there are new courses, new challenges, and the students are changing. There is always new material and something new is taking place, so you do not get bored. … At this job you really do not have any limits: you can improve, you can change your approaches, you can change your materials, and you can improve everything … There is no limit, and that is something I really like.
Others mentioned negative issues and feelings like struggle, stress, frustrating occasions, difficulties, poor salary and not having enough interest and in commitment to the subject. One teacher, who had been on leave of absence and who later left the school, has found it very stressful to be a teacher because of dealing with uncertainties. Sometimes students are difficult: Students are expecting specific information and I think they should learn more skills, I found these frustrating occasions in my teaching. I do not like when I have to teach something I do not believe in myself … some subjects I do not like to teach. I have disliked it because it is stressful, constantly struggling with new information, to thinking, ‘Do I have the right information? Do I know enough?’ I think there is a lot of stress.
Only a few teachers have indicated that being a teacher is independent work, an independent profession. The majority of teachers have pointed out that being with young people and interacting with students was rewarding for them and only a few teachers indicated that being a teacher is independent work, an independent profession. the students are very nice and they are eager to learn, it is rewarding to be a teacher, flexible working hours, a teachers’ work is very independent, in the end you are alone in the classroom. I also learn all the time, teachers learn so much from the students. I like young people and it might be that I feel myself young when I teach them. I like young people and I hope they keep me young. I like the interaction with people. I love learning, I like to exchange, I like to learn from other people, give back. I like interacting with students. I like the sparkle in their eyes when they finally discover what I am trying to say to them. It is a nice feeling. It is good to talk with young people to be in touch with reality
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The findings of interviews show that the typical tasks of teachers include: planning; preparation for lectures; preparing and updating the teaching materials, handouts exercises and triggers; searching for good sources; reading business magazines in the library; lecturing, elearning; tutorials; reading and assessing exams, exercises and assignments; grading; listening to student presentations; office work and administration; counselling hours; e-mailing; organizing events; hosting and attending seminars and meetings and travelling between school campuses. However, the best moments of teachers’ practices are social interactions with students and colleagues. ‘We feel that the best times of our workweeks are the times that we spend in the tutorials with our students. These few hours are the highlights of our work.’ (Helelä and Fagerholm 2008: 20) Findings related to the first sub-question indicated that – even though there was only one teacher who explicitly identified himself as a ‘learning process facilitator’, i.e., having the role of catalyst – there were several others who have indicated that it is ‘rewarding to be a teacher’, to interact with ‘young people’, to see the ‘sparkle in their eyes’ and to help students to learn about business and professional behaviour. In this way they have the ‘merchant of foresight’ role in their knowledge creation. Being a teacher is a complex, evolving, constantly changing and interdependent job that requires good coordination of tasks. Interactions with colleagues, students and management, as well as doing office work all require coordination skills. From my personal experiences – being an educational practitioner for more than a decade now – I remember the most exiting moments as those when I created something together with my colleagues and students, like the new curriculum of a study program and new courses and events, e.g., business plan events. This social connectedness, collaborative knowledge creation, and co-creation of something new gave us the opportunity to have an impact and be merchants of foresight, catalysts and coordinators at the same time. I enjoyed being a coordinator for programs and integrated study modules of several teachers because of my hunger for social interactions and, of course, because of my beliefs that collective minds lead to better results. During our collaborative practices, like having regular meetings, assessing students’ work together and reflecting together with students on our courses during evaluation seminars, we developed our collective feelings and thinking, e.g., giving greeting cards to each others on Valentine Day, having the same rules and approaches, etc. For example, tutors agreed on common principles of practices (Helena and Fagerholm 2008: 15), e.g., creating the right learning environment by arranging the desks in the classroom, having the right facilities and tools, post-it papers and markers, etc. Also important is a positive atmosphere, trust in our students and the delegation of some tasks. For example, in very exceptional cases we asked older students to lead the tutorial session. Additionally, things such as professional behaviour, being on time to class, observing classroom rules, avoiding lecturing in tutorials, etc. are all important.
4.2. Purposes of knowledge activists The aim of the second and third interview themes (appendix 1) was to help to answer the question as to how teachers could fulfil the six purposes of knowledge activists in their practices and relationships: initiating and engaging, rationalizing, communicating, integrating, educating and representing the community members. Next, I demonstrate how the practices and relationships of teachers could be related to the six purposes of knowledge activists.
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(1) Purpose of initiating and engaging I noticed that the old fashioned way of lecturing, i.e., teacher-centred education, oneway communication, monologues, etc. was not popular among the School B teachers, who followed the problem-based learning (PBL) approach, i.e., a learning-centred education. They preferred to have more interactive learning sessions where practical problems are discussed and solved in seminars, workshops, debates and tutorials. As one of them put it, he likes sessions ‘when monologue becomes a dialogue’: I do not prepare lectures so much anymore. I have some lectures that I keep and I of course prepare them but more important is that I prepare the tutorials. And also after the tutorials I give feedback, I grade the students, and I think about their performance
From the interviews it emerged that PBL-teachers gave less importance to traditional lecturing and more to providing feedback, tutoring, mentoring and being involved in the learning practices of students. Engaging students and colleagues in teaching material development was mentioned mainly by PBL teachers. Few teachers indicated that the focus has changed from content development toward process development: all my teaching material is more about the process than really about the content. Of course, in PBL the content is mostly in forms of triggers and when I give some lectures then I do have some contents. … other materials about the process, how it should work in their learning … I have improved them ever since, obviously I add some new materials from some students and colleagues.
In the traditional way of teaching students are passive, they accept everything, they do not have a critical attitude and they do not ask questions. Therefore, the teacher feels quite relieved by this new way of learning, i.e., PBL: it is good! I can always say if I have a very difficult question which I do not really know then I say ‘OK. I do not know. I do not have professional expertise in this area but I will find out’. Why not! I do not need to be some kind of a God who is telling the truth (emphasis added).
My view on the initiating and engaging purposes of teachers is that it is a must for collaborative learning and knowledge creation. Only few teachers mentioned that things like giving feedback to students, tutoring their thesis work, mentoring and work placement mentoring were part of their tasks. However, these could be considered as engagements as well. By being engaged in everyday practices with others, being connected to others, participating, and exploring and experiencing our reality we learn and create knowledge. On the one hand, as a teacher, my role is to provide opportunities for the engagement of students. I have experienced how students get motivated and take responsibility for their learning when they organize events and prepare for debates. Reading the students’ reflections on their learning, these moments of engagements are almost always mentioned as a positive learning practice. On the other hand, teachers themselves need to be engaged in different communities, e.g., competence groups, conferences, company projects, etc., because this is an excellent way to enrich their teaching practices. New ideas, initiating new tools, methods, topics, and projects could all come from being engaged with people. However, only a few teachers mentioned doing research work and research projects, attending training and seminars, doing development work, developing on-line courses and interactive assignments, working on a textbook, pedagogical strategy development work and team work.
10 (2) Purpose of rationalizing Collective planning of courses and teaching materials was mentioned by seven teachers. They valued cooperation, discussions, informal meetings, reflections and feedback from their colleagues. Two examples for cooperation were mentioned: one is the business plan module, where eight teachers worked together, and the other one is the IB programme, where the curriculum is based on the PBL approach. When I asked directly about sharing with colleagues almost all teachers said that sharing is an everyday practice; cooperation with colleagues is frequent. Sharing is more intensive between teachers in the same office. Sharing materials, exams, grading together and planning modules with colleagues was mentioned. One teacher was very proud that her evening students have shared materials with her. However, there were some negative experiences with sharing materials: I know some of my colleagues they do not give anything they have done because it is ‘their’ material. I think that is not nice. I feel bad when I share and some others do not share. I have had some very, very bad experiences.
Some teachers share materials and they tutor new colleagues. However, only giving materials to new teachers might not be enough, as they feel often very lonely. A new teacher told about his experiences when he had the first lecture with one group: I tried to learn everything by heart but I failed totally. I was very shy to be in front of the class. I had no self-confidence, I was very nervous. Then I tried to learn something by heart from somebody’s old material that was not even mine. So it was an impossible task. … I am so new; I started last year. Everything was new (emphasis added).
Another teacher – and I agree with her – would prefer discussions of experiences with colleagues instead of sharing materials with them: I could share anything, I mean. I can discuss; that is sharing also. My main wish has been all these years that we could share and discuss. At least discuss! I do not need that much sharing of materials … but discussion of experiences would be beneficial, what teachers are doing, how successful it is … I think it would be good for everybody. … But we do not have this at all! The culture is missing! ... I am on my own here (emphasis added).
There were more teachers among the PBL-teachers who feel good at work when colleagues work together, when they achieve something together, when they share knowledge with other teachers, e.g., a benchmarking trip was mentioned, when they have contacts with others and when they are not so dependent on one person. Interesting findings in the teaching material development process were that two teachers referred to their intuition, experience, and instinct. Several (seven) teachers pointed out that they receive important input, as feedback, from their students. Teachers learn from students who have fresh ideas and business experience. They also learn from colleagues’ daily practices, information, administration, teaching and pedagogical practices, good practices, problem solving, conflict management, tutoring, e-learning, subject matters, attitude, caring about students, acceptance and tolerance. One School B teacher emphasized: I learned a lot from XX , i.e., the name of the person, about how to run this kind of a course. Now I know the process. Even though XX would describe to me the process it would not be the same. Experiencing and doing it together was a very good way to learn (emphasis added).
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management organized all kinds of training sessions and in those sessions we learned from others, we learned to be a member of the team, or a discussion leader or an observer. You learn all the time by participating (emphasis added).
Teachers had difficulties in expressing what others (i.e., students and colleagues) might have learned from them. However, they mentioned the followings as important: efficiency, time management, how to be well-organized, technical skills, documenting, managing difficult students and groups, new ideas, subject matters, values, cultures, openness, willingness to discuss even difficult issues, being enthusiastic, way of teaching and sharing information, knowledge and feelings. As I indicated earlier, my view on rationalizing the purpose of teachers is not connected only to sharing materials and documentation, but more to sharing thoughts, having meaningful dialogues at meetings and developing common practices and principles to conduct our tasks more effectively. As an example, the rules and steps for conducting tutorials that we developed together help us all, as they provide guidelines and structure for the learning process. If teachers follow these common principles, rules or ‘voluntary standards’ they help themselves in conducting effective learning sessions but, most importantly, they help their students – as they become familiar with the process – to become effective and efficient learners and to focus on the essentials. (3) Purpose of communicating An important finding was that more than half of teachers from School B mentioned that they have frequent meetings and discussions with their colleagues, they are planning new courses together and they meet their colleagues quite often: numerous meetings, meetings with colleagues and discussing the content of the classes and events took place during tutorials and lectures. We talk also about those problematic cases, or challenging cases we have among students.
A teacher from School A was frustrated that she cannot communicate with her colleagues as she would have wanted to: I found it very difficult that I have no one to discuss and share my experiences and feelings in teaching with. … There is no culture of doing things together (emphasis added).
Communicating with managers was highly criticized: management talk about resources …We are only costs! We are not the assets of this house. We are only costs! And when you ask about how to teach it is measured based on the contact lessons, XX is checking that, and XX is even checking our comings and goings (emphasis added). the lack of ability in the organization to discuss things that are important. I think the leadership in our educational organization is very outdated; it is not focusing on the right things, on the change of the paradigm to learn. It makes me very frustrated and dissatisfied because I feel so sorry for the possibilities that are there but not used because people are unwilling to change their thinking, their attitudes. And they are also scared (emphasis added).
Communicating with managers is important but students are the most important in the sense of job satisfaction of teachers. As teachers put it:
12 for me the most satisfying moments are when students give good feedback. although I was also praised by managers, it is not so important to me. I do not find it as important as the students. Probably, sometimes I think is it not so sincere if they and a boss say something. I do not know if he knows exactly what I am doing, but if the students say something, it is so sincere because they mean what they say.
The communicating purpose of teachers should be obvious from their practices. However, in my view it requires certain conditions like trust, openness and a safe environment. From the teachers’ interviews I got the impression that these conditions do not exist in all educational institutions and that these are barriers to fulfil the communicating purpose of knowledge activists. (4) Purpose of integrating A teacher’s goal is to link practice with theories and to find new and interesting examples for the students. Therefore, they are developing their courses and teaching materials by looking for up-to-date cases from different sources (textbooks, Internet, magazines, TV, company contacts, etc.) and they are continuously collecting materials related to their topics. Two teachers mentioned writing their own textbooks. Continuous development of the course content and materials was generally mentioned. The teaching material is developed gradually and it is updated with new cases and examples. Teachers follow the news and trends about international companies in order to integrate them into their teaching. New ideas are coming from sources such as pedagogical studies, new textbook, work related research and developing new curriculum. Two teachers from School A pointed out their efforts to develop courses and modules together with other teachers. However, one of them had negative experiences: I know the needs of the integrations among the teachers but I found it very difficult and frustrating and waste of time. I think the change has to come from the management. … I am quite frustrated in the way how the school works and the organization works…. So, there is no manager involvement in our school so we are quite free doing whatever we want to do. But I am interested in my own work and I want to improve it. I found it very difficult that I have no one to discuss and share my experiences and feelings in teaching. … There is no culture doing things together (emphasis added).
It was an interesting finding that while only a few School A teachers mentioned collective development of the course plans and materials then, almost all PBL-teachers mentioned cooperating, working together with colleagues, learning from each other and the feeling of belonging to a group: I have found my colleagues the most cooperative. I have never felt that I have been interfering with their work. They have been helpful all the time. I think the best practices are probably the best way to learn from each other, sharing those best practices (emphasis added). I have learned so much from my colleagues. It is like I can now compare it with my profession before, before it was like I had my own classes. I feel like there is a big, big, big difference. I have learned so much from my colleagues and I feel they have learned from me too. We are a good team. When somebody has very good ideas I usually write them down and participate in them; then we take it further together. And I get much more self-confident. This self-confidence is a very, very important thing (emphasis added). I like to work with my colleagues because somebody always knows something that I didn’t know before.
13 Integrating new colleagues into the PBL community is important but problematic, too. New colleagues’ contribution is valuable, especially when they come with extensive business experience. One new teacher said: I think that I, as a newest teacher in my group, have brought some new ideas. I have criticized, if that’s not too strong of a word, some exercises that did not really reflect the real business world and so we have updated some of the exercises. That has been my contribution to this group.
Another new teacher had positive experiences: As I started only a year ago, I think my colleagues were very helpful. At the beginning, when a new teacher starts, all the teachers help you and my colleagues are very cooperative. … So my colleagues are very helpful and it helps a lot.
A PBL teacher was critical when she has mentioned the relationship to new colleagues: we have these newcomers and they do not take things seriously, they do not know that things should be integrated with different students, topics and issues. But they are learning.
Advice to new teachers on how to succeed in schools included the following: find your own ways to work with people; be honest and open; get to know your students, colleagues, and subjects; check the general practices (managers do not like it if you miss your contact lessons); take the initiative to find out how things run at the organization; read our quality handbook; be relaxed and don’t be frightened; take into account the level of your students; be yourself; give what you have; ask questions; listen; keep your eyes and ears open and ask questions. Additionally, School B teachers pointed out the following: cooperate from the beginning; have a cooperative attitude towards colleagues and students; see students as valuable co-learners; help students learn by doing; talk to everybody and listen to others; concentrate on your subject; take teachers’ training and learn pedagogy; chose a personal development journey; do not lecture too much; be positive; get feedback; learn from bad lectures; do not believe all that students say about your teaching; learn how to cope with students’ complaints; seek advice and help from your colleagues; take the minimum number of hours in the beginning; in the first year try to pretend that you are good even you are not; do not apologize for not knowing; everybody makes mistakes – accept that you can not be wholly professional from the beginning; be merciful to yourself and accept that you are not perfect; manage your stress; take it easy and relax with the administration and keep one day ahead. In my view, the integrating purpose of teachers brings up at least two issues: integrating theory and practice in teaching and integrating new colleagues into the community. Based on interviews, I came to understand that integrating theory and practice in educational practices was not a problem in these two business programmes. However, integrating new teachers was criticized. My personal experience with new teachers’ integration is that the best way is to get them involved. For example, I try to engage and invite new teachers, as many times as possible, to my courses just to attend tutorials, lead debates, give presentations in specific areas, and so on. We discuss with them before the session and reflect on their experiences after. They seem to appreciate this. One new teacher asked me for help him with a students’ team problem. The students wanted to split the team because for many reasons (cultural, attitude, age, technical skills, communication problems, etc.) they could not work together. However, after sitting down with the group, talking through the conflicts, and agreeing on working principles together (the new teacher, the students and I), the group decided to finish the assignment together. The new teacher thanked me several times and told
14 me that he learned for the future how team conflicts could be solved by involvement of all students. My view is that integrating new colleagues by involvement works well. (5) Purpose of educating School B teachers gave less importance to traditional lecturing and they emphasized more the importance of students asking questions, the teacher being there and facilitating the learning process by giving feedback and by not dominating too much: I do not have to speak so much. Now, when I speak, of course, it is needed, but I am mostly just there. But I’ve noticed that just my presence is what matters the most, not so much what I actually say. But when I am there they have that secure feeling that they are doing OK. And of course I give them new triggers. Students talk and they learn; then I might help them to find questions and I make sure that we have the people out there. I evaluate them and I give them feedback. Then they evaluate each other; later, I give them feedback
One teacher felt that learning is more than just knowledge ‘transfer’, it is educating, helping students to develop skills and capabilities and helping them to grow (cf., McCuddy and ReebGruber 2008): I think we are here for their learning and tutoring, and also for modelling how to make research, how to find new information and how to use it, so it is kind of knowledge building. Not only knowledge, but also self-confidence and maturity so that they really think that they have learned something which is valuable for their future.
Another has commented that learning is not only acquiring knowledge but it is a social interaction with others during which one develops (cf., ibid.): I realized that it is not only that they learn professional behaviour here but they also learn to trust themselves, work together with other people and they learn to relate to other people. It is like a human growth process. Then I said, ‘Wow!’ That was great! I have been helping somebody!
The educational purpose of teachers should be obvious in schools. However, some teachers do not want to be involved in students’ personal development and growth. They focus more on the content of their courses and they are really good experts in their field. I noticed that students appreciate the subject knowledge of those teachers, but they are looking for more than that. The majority of students do not want only to study the subjects and get the credits, but they want to belong to a community, they want their teachers to care about their development, they are hungry for feedback on how to develop, they argue, express their opinions, and even challenge the accepted theories. In my view, teachers, by paying more attention to the development of students’ social skills, critical thinking, communication skills and professional attitude, could provide them with values useful in their working career. One student, when she has reflected on her personal growth and professional development throughout her studies mentioned that she has gained many valuable skills and attitudes when learning together with other students and working in many tutorial teams and project groups: In my personal life, I can use the skills. PBL builds the mind from wider perspective. Even my mother notices that I am more open and not afraid to speak my opinion. I used to be very shy. PBL gives you the ability not only to speak but speak in the right way. I have seen how people can be successful when they know how to speak in the right way, even when they don’t have any extraordinary knowledge (Helelä and Fagerholm 2008: 95).
15 (6) Purpose of representing the community members Only a few (five) teachers mentioned developing connections with businesses, with ‘real life’, and organizing company visits for the students. However, bringing practical examples into teaching, e.g., cases, readings and examples, was mentioned by several teachers. Nevertheless, in my view, the purpose of representing community members and their views in different forums, e.g., department or competence groups meetings, conferences, exhibitions and foreign exchange periods, is crucial because this is the way that good practices can be communicated and shared. I have personally tried to promote our PBL community by participating in research projects, conferences, publishing papers and implementing our PBL practices during my foreign exchanges. For example, I gathered qualitative feedback from American summer university students on the PLB approach in 2007. Adult students found the PBL way of learning valuable as they look for direct benefits, so that they could apply their learning directly to their work, in things like organizing and holding meetings and project work. One of my students’ comment was: ‘In this course, I learned to learn’. This was her last course and she suggested that the opportunity of learning to learn should have been offered not at the end, but at the beginning of her studies. Another student put it this way: ‘This has definitely been one of the most unique and valuable learning experiences for me at the university’. From my students’ feedback and reflections I understood that they find my efforts to represent the practices of my PBL community valuable for them. I know that my PBL colleagues did the same in their foreign exchanges in Germany, the UK and other countries. In brief, findings related to the second sub-question showed how teachers can fulfil the six purposes of knowledge activists. However, it does not mean that all teachers had all six purposes of knowledge activists in mind. My initial goal of this research was to compare the two IB programmes of two Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS). However while I was analyzing the data, I realized that PBL teachers have formed a micro-community of their own. They, more than others, have done the following: • • • • • • • •
initiated and developed together new trans-disciplinary modules (initiating role); integrated new colleagues (engaging role); intensively shared not only their teaching materials but their experiences too (rationalizing role); preferred intense interactions during learning sessions with students instead of having traditional lectures (teacher-centred education) and interacted with their colleagues (communicating role); focused on the learning processes instead of the content (learning-centred education); focused more on complex and authentic problem solving that involved more integration of subjects and integration of theory and practice (integrating role); mentioned more often than others their mentoring and tutoring roles helping students to grow and develop skills (development-centred paradigm), not just subject related knowledge (educating role); talked proudly about their belonging to the PBL community (representing the community members’ role).
The challenge for this micro-community is for knowledge activist teachers to be able to connect their micro-community with other micro-communities of the school and/or businesses, and in this way to help establish a better enabling context for learning and knowledge creation.
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5. Discussion How can business teachers become knowledge activists and better enable the process of ‘becoming to know’? In this discussion part of the paper, after answering the main research question, drawing on the findings and my reflections based on personal experiences as educational practitioner, I propose a number of specific actions (table 1) and indicate some practical implications of the study. Next, referring to the research gap found during the literature review, I highlight the possible contributions to this current debate and indicate the novelty value of this qualitative research. Finally, I discuss some of the limitations of the study as an agent for providing an agenda for future research. I sought to find out about the everyday educational practices of international business teachers from two Finnish UAS, namely, about the changing roles of business teachers in enabling knowledge creation processes. The main research question of the study was if international business teachers could better enable the knowledge creation processes of their students and colleagues by becoming knowledge activists. To answer this question I drew on the ‘knowledge activists’ concept (von Krogh, Ichijo and Nonaka 2000) of knowledge management (KM). Applying this concept in educational context helped me in analyzing and synthesizing the findings of 22 interviews. I had two sub-questions – related to roles and purposes of knowledge activists – that supported the main question. Social phenomena could be explained in different complementary ways, for example, by comparing, developing, describing, predicting and theorizing (Mason 1996: 135-144). In explaining the social phenomenon of teachers becoming knowledge activists I sought to produce an explanation that combines various comparative, developmental and predictive features. The comparative character of my explanation comes from applying the ‘knowledge activists’ business concept in education, from comparing the practices of teachers from two international business programmes, and from comparing the PBL and non-PBL teachers’ practices. The developmental feature of my explanation is that I seek to illustrate the process of how teachers could become ‘knowledge activists’. My explanation is predictive because I argue that the role of teachers will change in the future from being the source of knowledge and from transmitting existing knowledge to become actively involved in knowledge creation processes, in close interdependence with students and colleagues. In table 1 below, based on the findings from the interviews and on my personal experiences as an educational practitioner, I propose a number of specific actions that teachers can take to become knowledge activists and fulfil the purposes and roles of knowledge activists in their practices. My answer to the research question is that teachers can better enable the knowledge creation of their students and colleagues by becoming knowledge activists, i.e., significant others, by implementing some of the proposed actions in their everyday practices.
17 Table 1. Proposed actions for teachers to become knowledge activists Purposes Initiating and Engaging
Rationalizing
Roles Catalysts
Coordinators
Merchants of foresight
• conversations with students and colleagues about recent issues • listening and reflecting • interactions with people involved in the learning process • contributing to curriculum development • having coffee or lunch breaks together with colleagues – sharing thoughts • developing new documentation, assessment forms, etc. • giving constructive feedback to learners to learn better
• initiating a project • inviting colleagues to participate in learning sessions • inviting students and mangers to be part of projects to become co-learners
• interactions with colleagues • developing new relationships (e.g., with business managers) • getting involved in strategy meetings of the school • contributing to the overall educational strategy development of the school • sharing stories • sharing both good and bad practices
Communicating • involving school managers in tutorials to
experience the learning session • involving school managers in entrance exam interviews to experience the process
Integrating
• inviting new teachers for tutorials to have an experience of the learning approach
Educating
• attending PBL seminars, conferences, workshops • sharing conference materials with other teachers • asking colleagues for new ideas • providing ideas for curriculum development • presenting and promoting good practices in events (meetings, conferences)
Representing the community members
• sharing assessment forms (rubrics) • sharing schedule, course descriptions • sharing learning related documents (e.g., memo formats, tutorial sitting templates) • using IT tools to facilitate learning (e.g., virtual team discussions) • sharing triggers, cases, course materials • sharing good books and sources with colleagues • calling for meetings if there is a topic to discuss • organizing workshops
• developing and teaching courses together with other teachers • inviting company managers to teach (e.g., guest lecturers) • organizing PBL training for new teachers • organizing workshops around the new ideas
• publishing books about PBL curricula and learning experiences • writing articles about collaborative learning • presenting project results to the staff and managers • organizing events with students managers and teachers (e.g., a Global Village event organized by language teachers) • discussing the school strategy in a teachers’ meeting • discussing the pedagogical strategy of the school • organizing learning session for school managers • telling the needs of teachers in managerial meetings (e.g., size of the groups, classroom needs) • inviting school managers to teachers’ meeting to listen to their needs • participating in strategy meetings of the school • participating in educational strategy development
18 There could be at least four practical implications of this study. First, knowledge activist teachers, through their students indirectly, can enable the future innovation of old managerial models (cf., Hamel 2007). Second, becoming a knowledge activist requires reflective dialogues and increased interactions, interactive lectures, discussions, debates, reflexivity and reflections. It requires that teachers focus on the growth of students (cf., McCuddy and Reeb-Gruber 2008), that they give up full control and manipulation of the learning processes and give space to students to take responsibility for their own learning. Third, frequent interactions would strengthen the community feelings, but bridging microcommunities is a challenge for knowledge activists. Finally, because of the proliferation of knowledge, besides transferring existing knowledge (cf., Berger and Luckmann 1991 [1966]), I argue that the focus needs to be on developing knowledge creation abilities and skills of students (emancipatory or reflective learning, cf., Mezirow 1991). The educational practitioners’ role today is more in enabling students’ learning and knowledge creation by consciously maintaining a variety of ways and tools for learning, i.e., extended epistemology, by providing opportunities for students to explore, experience and reflect on the complex and dynamic business reality. The literature review, found at the introduction of this paper, called for an urgent need for changes in the management education system and educational practices (cf., Podolny 2007). In this paper my proposition was that examining the roles and purposes of business educational practitioners through the ‘knowledge activists’ concept would reveal some important contributions to achieving the aim of business education, i.e., creating academic, personal and public or social value through developing knowledgeable and employable business managers (cf., Hay 2008). I had a new, different position from what Berger and Luckmann (1991 [1966]: 161-162) represented by arguing that teachers are ‘institutional functionaries’ who ‘transmit’ existing knowledge and do not need to become significant others. On the contrary, I argued that teachers can become significant others in the knowledge creation processes by becoming knowledge activists and can play a more active role in the development processes of students and their knowledge. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics and complexity of learning and pedagogical reality that is necessary in the recent phase of learning and education (cf., Jörg, Davis, and Nickmans 2007; Hay 2008; McCuddy and Reeb-Gruber 2008). Today we are experiencing a tremendous proliferation of learning theories. There are more than fifty different learning theories (Atherton 2005) and this can be confusing. I found the transformative learning theory of Mezirow (1991) relevant to this study because it focuses on human development, growth and becoming, and it shows how teachers can enable these processes. I argue that education is not only about teaching ‘to think’, but that education is more complex than this. It is about how we explore, sense and experience the world around us, how we act and practice in this world and how we feel and think. Briefly, education should enable us to evolve as human beings and it should facilitate our journey of becoming to know. Learning and knowledge creation processes are not fully understood and ‘the crisis concerning learning manifests itself by noticing that traditional ways of thinking on this complex topic have not been able to define learning adequately’ (Jörg et al. 2007: 2). This qualitative study provides some empirical evidence about the complexity of learning and pedagogical practices and demonstrates that teachers can have the same roles and purposes in knowledge creation as managers do in business. The possible novelty value of this paper can be in applying the concept of ‘knowledge activists’ of knowledge management (von Krogh,
19 Ichijo and Nonaka 2000) in a new context of education and in proposing a number of specific actions (table 1) as to how a teacher can become a knowledge activist. With this study I sought to contribute to the current debate (cf., Cornuel 2007; Ghemawat 2008; Hay 2008; Maerki 2008; Starkey and Tempest 2008) about the challenges, purpose and role of business schools and educators in knowledge creation, specifically, to a better understanding of the changing roles and purposes of teachers in learning and knowledge creation processes. I concur with Cornuel who argues that managers of the future will need to have acquired practical skills through their higher education … that will allow them to become the knowledge workers of the future. Learning processes will have to become real-world focused. … Bringing to the fore the capabilities, capacities and attitudes required for the next generation of globally responsible leaders requires more than relying solely on the cognitive acquisition of knowledge. Experiential, presentational, propositional and practical ways of learning must be integrated into the curriculum (Cornuel 2007: 90-91, emphasis added).
In other words, Cornuel urges us to have different and various forms and ways of learning. Similarly, Starkey and Tempest (2008: 385) call for broadening the base of our thinking about management and business ‘by broader exposure to the social sciences, the humanities and liberal arts’. They urge us ‘to engage more deeply with fundamentals of knowledge, with selfknowledge, wisdom, and leadership, self-development, integrative thinking, reflexivity, … creativity, imagination, inspiration’ (ibid.). Maerki (2008: 428) has the same view in having a broader exposure to social sciences that ‘there is a need to integrate social sciences such as psychology and sociology, as well as anthropology’ to better understand human behaviour. Concurring with all above I argue that there is a need for an extended epistemology of knowledge creation. I argue that teachers, by taking some of the proposed actions of this study (cf., table 1), can become knowledge activists and can better facilitate or enable the processes of various ways of learning and knowledge creation. Reflecting on the quality of the study (i.e., reliability, validity, relevance of generalization and ethical issues of findings) is important. I see several limitations of this empirical, qualitative research: First, such research had a limited focus as it is concentrated only on one enabling factor of knowledge creation, namely, on knowledge activists’ roles and purposes in knowledge creation. This research has fully ignored, or just scratched the surface of, other enablers, namely instilling a knowledge vision, managing conversations, creating the right context and globalizing local knowledge. Second, I find it difficult to apply conventional measures of reliability, i.e., standardized, neutral and non-biased data collection, to assess the reliability of this qualitative research. On the contrary, I would argue here that my selected data collection method, i.e., face-to-face interviews, was appropriate to the social phenomenon I study because it has given me rich information about teachers’ practices and therefore has helped to answer the research question. I collected data as carefully, honestly and as accurately as possible (tape recording, transcribing, etc.) to increase the reliability and accuracy of the research method. Because I collected my data during the fall semester of 2006, before the merger of two Finnish UAS, they show a snapshot of how teachers think about their roles and purposes in knowledge generation. They cannot show the change and transformation in how teachers think about their roles and purposes. Therefore, future research could repeat these interviews with the same teachers to compare the two data sets to show if changes have taken place after the merger. Third, concurring with Mason (1996: 148-149) I believe that in this study using triangulation, i.e., using a combination of methods to explore the same phenomenon, to
20 increase the validity of the data generation method, would be problematic because the phenomenon I study, i.e., enabling knowledge creation by becoming a knowledge activist, cannot considered to be an objective reality, rather it is a becoming ontology. However, it could be argued that the validity of the data I have collected regarding teachers becoming knowledge activists can be supported by the data that others have collected regarding managers becoming knowledge activists. The same phenomenon is examined in two contexts – education and business. The validity of my data analyses and interpretation can be considered to some degree questionable because of my personal involvement. My insider knowledge of colleagues and the PBL learning approach has, most probably, influenced my interpretations (table 1). My conclusions are not value-free and I consider this as a weakness of my interpretations of the findings. On the other hand, because education and pedagogical practices of teachers are complex processes, being part of the community can help to understand and interpret the findings. Having the views of an insider can also be considered as strength of the study because ‘education is a complex dynamic system’ and researchers’ involvement ‘in studies of social systems … a necessary element of the inquiry’ (Jörg et al 2007: 5-9). Fourth, the problem of generalizing the findings is a real challenge due to the limited number of interviews. The interviews involved only international business teachers of two schools. Therefore, generalizing the findings across the whole newly formed organization, with 10,000 students and 600 personnel, is not really possible. The value and wider impacts of my research can probably be better seen after the merger of two UAS, after teachers from two different international business programmes start developing a common curriculum for learning. There are questions regarding this transformation process: How will teachers learn from each other by working together? How will the PBL community of teachers sustain their values, approach and practices? How will teachers enable knowledge creation for themselves and their students? Will teachers become knowledge activists? Additionally, the study can be criticized by having too positive of a view on the journey of becoming a knowledge activist. This process, as the findings demonstrated, can be difficult, stressful and painful. One teacher has described her experiences and feelings during this change so: to learn a new way of working, cooperate with colleagues, write our own realistic triggers, create problems for the students, assess them in different ways and help them to see their strengths and weaknesses in learning and in becoming a professional in international business. So, then I had to start to focus on totally different things from that which I usually did – lecturing on content and thinking about assignments. But in this way of working we are focusing on totally different things, so I had to learn this. And actually it was painful to unlearn the old way of working. It is very painful and it is very difficult. But it just has to be done! I felt insecure: ‘Will this succeed or not?’ I was afraid that it would fail and the students would get angry because they are would not be learning anything and nobody is telling them what to do. So, there were lots of feelings involved when I think of it afterwards that I was not aware of at the time. But now afterwards when I think about it there was lot of fear … I think I had my old point of view that learning was very content focused, that it was very teacher focused, and I felt a kind of pressure to ‘know everything’. Now in PBL I can see that the point is totally something else; it is about the learners’ own work and what they understand, how they put things together, how they ask questions. So I can see that I had had a ‘wrong’ view of learning (emphasis added).
Reflecting on ethical considerations (e.g., Miles and Huberman 1994: 288-297), I argue that the study demonstrates that taking the ‘knowledge activist’ concepts from KM and applying them to education is valuable, as it directs attention toward enabling conditions of knowledge creation and creates practical value by providing good guidelines on how to become ‘knowledge activists’ and how to fulfil the six purposes and three roles of ‘knowledge
21 activists’. People participating in the study had full information about the legality, i.e., permissions from rectors, purpose, confidentiality and privacy of the study. The findings of the study were shared with teachers involved in the research to see their changing roles. There was trust between the interviewees and me. This trust could be demonstrated by the fact that some teachers shared with me very sensitive, private information that could not be revealed to others. This study could not hurt or favour any participants because I reported the findings in a way that ensured anonymity. I considered the issues of privacy, confidentiality, anonymity and protecting sensitive information in reporting. These limitations of the study set the agenda for future research. The process of becoming and being a knowledge activist is not without challenges. The change, i.e., transformation, in existing practices and becoming a different teacher is not easy, mainly because of uncertainty and stress related to giving up safe, old practices. I suggest that future research finds out more about the challenges of becoming and being a knowledge activist and that it explore other knowledge creation enablers, like inspiring a knowledge vision, managing conversations and creating the right context. The integration of new members into the community will also need more research. Another interesting research area could be to find out more about the challenges and ways of bridging micro-communities and diffusing the local knowledge inside and outside of schools to the wider business community. __________________________________________
Acknowledgements For providing me permission and support to conduct this research I thank the two rectors and the two international business programme managers. I am very grateful to the 22 teachers involved for their time and valuable contributions. During the face-to-face interviews, they shared with me important and interesting qualitative information about their lives, attitudes, values, practices, concerns, feelings and thoughts. Feedback on earlier versions of this paper from Professor Eero Vaara, Professor Karl-Erik Sveiby of Hanken School of Economics, Finland and feedback from Professor David Gijbels of Universiteit Antwerpen, Belgium helped me to produce a more concise and a better-focused paper.
Statements The same interviews were analyzed in a conference paper titled Evolving Relationships of Agents, Practices, and Organizations. Case: Becoming a new university of applied sciences. The focus of that paper was the process of becoming a new university of applied sciences. It was presented at the International Workshop Making Connections: Relational Analysis, Boundary Concepts and the Future of Organization Studies of Cardiff Business School, UK, April 2-3, 2007. An earlier version of the recent paper, which focuses on knowledge creation enabling roles and purposes of teachers, was presented at the 15th annual International Conference on Advances in Business Education and Training of Educational Innovation in Economics and Business (EDiNEB) in Spain June, 11-13, 2008.
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25 Appendix 1. Interview Design FACE-TO-FACE SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW Interviewer Maria Jakubik Interviewees International business teachers of two organizations Language English Date According to appointments during September-October 2006 BEFORE THE INTERVIEW Introduction of the interviewer (purpose, permissions from management) Conditions (confidentiality, anonymity, duration, right not to answer, permission for recording) STARTING THE INTERVIEW Personal data Date/time Place A B other (where) Name __________________________________________ Gender F M Age under 40 41-50 over 50 Organization A B Nationality Finnish Swedish other (what) Occupation full-time part-time Area of competence business language other (what) Working experience as a teacher years (total) years (at the present organization) DURING THE INTERVIEW Theme 1: Who the teachers are (identity) 1.1. Please introduce yourself briefly. 1.2. Tell about how you have become a teacher. 1.3. Do you like to be a teacher? Why? Theme 2: What the teachers do (practices) 2.1. Think of a typical working day and describe what you do. 2.2. How do you develop the content of your teaching material? (designing for learning) 2.3. How do you teach? (teaching-learning practices, teaching style) 2.4. Tell about a situation when you have developed something new? (document, method, practice) 2.5. What have you shared with your colleagues last time? Theme 3: Relationships and belonging of teachers 3.1. Could you describe a situation when you felt the most satisfied at you work? Why? 3.2. Could you mention a situation when you felt very dissatisfied at your work? Why? 3.3. Describe yourself as a colleague to others. 3.4. Who is a good colleague? 3.5. What have you learnt from others (colleagues, students)? 3.6. Could you please mention examples of what others learned from you? (problem solving) 3.7. Assume a new teacher is coming to your organization. According to your experience what would be your two-three tips to the new teacher to become successful in your organization? 3.8. How does the management of your organization support your work? Theme 4: Forthcoming organizational changes 4.1. How could the forthcoming organizational changes change your work routines? 4.2. What are your worries concerning your work in the new organization? 4.3. What would you need to make your performance even better than it is now? 4.4. How could the management of the new organization support you? 4.5. Tell about additional concerns you want to bring up related to the new organization. ENDING THE INTERVIEW Interviewer (thanking for time and input)
N.B. The highlighted themes are the focus of this study.
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