Yet how do managers acquire their knowledge and which media and tools do they use? An empirical study about the learning behaviour of managers was.
Knowledge and Learning Tools for Managers: An Empirical Study Dr. FRANK HABERMANN, KAREN SCHMIDT, Dr. TILMAN KUECHLER Competence Center Management Education IMC information multimedia communication AG Altenkesseler Str. 17/D3, 66115 Saarbruecken
GERMANY
Abstract: Management is a core competence in every company. Management is the key for turning good ideas into marketable products and making working processes effective and efficient. Yet how do managers acquire their knowledge and which media and tools do they use? An empirical study about the learning behaviour of managers was designed to answer these questions. This study comprises a wide-ranging online questionnaire, qualitative interviews with managers from DAX 30 companies, and the observation of how software tools are used. The study spanning 15 months was started in December 2003 and will be completed by the beginning of 2005. This article outlines how the study was designed and also provides first results. Key-Words: Corporate management education, corporate universities, learning behaviour, knowledge tools
1 Managers learn differently!? Managers clearly represent a separate – and also very widespread – species. Many people know managers or are themselves involved in management tasks. Entering the search key “manager“ to the search engine Google brings up over 60 million hits while the word “management“ results in over 150 million. No wonder that the term “manager” evokes an experience or (pre)judgment in almost everybody. This is well illustrated by the world-wide success of “Dilbert“, the cartoon series. The ongoing variation of the core message, i.e. “managers are inept, deal with it“, hits home with millions of readers. However, the fact is “management“ remains a key factor for companies wishing to achieve a competitive edge. The realization of marketable products from creative ideas and the achievement of effectiveness and efficiency in business processes are the product of management. Corporate success or failure is often ascribed to “the management“ or “the managers“. This firmly places managers in the corporate spotlight, both internally and in public. Managers place their stamp on corporate culture and live that culture. So what distinguishes good managers from bad, and how do they acquire their knowledge? Research into this subject takes in the fields of organizational development, human resources development, and organizational learning, for which a wide range of theoretical concepts has been developed. Approaches to systematizing these concepts can be found, for example, in Shrivastava [1], Dodgson [2] and Blackler [3]. The
relatively recent discipline of knowledge management is based on these comprehensive studies and focuses on the role of knowledge in the company as it affects competitiveness, while also dealing with the question raised by the above-cited research fields: “When the aim is to ensure the long-term performance of a company, what are the options for the planning, organizing and controlling corporate knowledge?“ [4], [5]. This article speaks about the question of how managers learn, and thus treats one aspect raised by the aforementioned field of research. The relevance of this question has not only been confirmed by a large number of theoretical studies, but at least in equal measure by corporate practice. Companies from almost all business sectors appointing a ”knowledge officer“ or ”learning officer“ and bringing in IT systems for the realization of manager portals and manager communities [6], [7], [8]. At the same time, the stable trend to start corporate universities follows from the realization that management expertise represents a high value, is achieved to a large extent “on the job“ and “from the job“, and that company and role-specific learning programs are required to maintain and develop that human capital [9], [10]. The results of previous studies on software environments for management education (e.g. see [11], [12], [13]) are to be empirically consolidated and detailed. An international survey of the Elena1 project, with its broader focus on training management, came to the conclusion that the required functionalities of 1
Elena – an FP 5 IST Project funded by the European Commission - is to demonstrate the feasibility of smart spaces for learning. More information at www.elena-project.org
software solutions for training management differ from company to company [14]. The reasons given are e.g. differences in internal practices, processes, and corporate culture. The way managers learn and how they get their information is affecting this culture essentially. The following outlines a study into the learning behaviour of managers. The study is aimed at identifying the learning requirements, situations, habits and tools of managers, thus acquiring expertise for designing appropriate software environments. The study comprises a wide-ranging online questionnaire, qualitative interviews with managers from DAX 30 corporations (the top-30 businesses based in Germany), and also usability tests in cooperation with selected corporate universities. The study planned to run for fifteen months, was started in December 2003 and will last until the beginning of 2005.
2 The Study Design The target group of the study are managers from large and medium-sized businesses. The study draws in the upper management levels, divided into three groups: • Executives: Board members and managing directors • Senior Managers: Area and department heads with responsibility for turnover and human resources • Emerging Leaders: Project, team and group leaders with a minimum of three years’ professional experience The study is long-term, spanning a period of fifteen months and comprising three time phases which logically and structurally follow on. The figure below shows the phase plan. Tasks Phase 1: Initialization
D E S I G N / P L A N N I N G
Phase 2: Consolidation
Observation of Use Qualitative Interviews
D E S I G N / P L A N N I N G
Phase 3: Specialization
D E S I G N / P L A N N I N G
Online Questionnaire
Qualitative Interviews
Solution Design/ Prototyping
Observation of Use Qualitative Interviews Time
Dec Jan 03 04
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec 04
Jan 05
Feb
Mar
Fig. 1: Phase plan of the study
The duration of each separate phase of the study is five months, including an one-month planning and conceptualization phase for each. The three phases are outlined in greater detail as following:
2.1 Initialization (Phase 1) The first phase of the study was aimed at two main goals: firstly, to develop and test the layout of the study as a whole; and secondly, to formulate initial suppositions for the study on the basis of theoretical knowledge (see Section 1) and evaluate them via a small random sample. Data gathering involved personal and telephone interviews (structured qualitative interviews based on an interview questionnaire) and observation (self-observation coupled with “thinking out loud” and also external observation by the test coach). The appropriateness of these modes of data gathering in respect of the study object was tested at Phase 1. The initialization phase was executed in cooperation with E.ON Academy GmbH. E.ON Academy is the corporate university of the E.ON group and is targeted at achieving systematic management development. The target group of the E.ON Academy are top-levelmanagers of all E.ON companies (E.ON Energie, Ruhrgas, Powergen, Sydkraft, LG&E). This field study was part of the partnership between E.ON AG and IMC AG for the future development of the CLIX® (Corporate Learning and Information eXchange) system. Alongside the existing product ranges CLIX® Enterprise (centred on the needs for personnel development in companies) and CLIX® Campus (specialized on processes in places of higher education), the partnership is aimed at creating a new product range able to meet the particular requirements of management education. This software product is called CLIX® Corporate University. A first version of the system has been online at E.ON since October 2003. Upon conclusion of the development partnership at the end of 2004, the system will be generally available. The piloted study layout is detailed as follows: 2.1.1 Qualitative Interviews The interviews were conducted with n = 25 managers. A random sample was taken of all levels of management (executives, senior managers, emerging leaders). Participants were recruited by E.ON Academy (appointments fixed by telephone with secretaries or participants themselves). The data-gathering phase comprised seven weeks. After fixing a meeting time by phone, a meeting confirmation was emailed and the interview questionnaire sent to the interview participants as advance information in relation to the interview. The interviews were generally done face-to-face in the offices of the informant, but also by phone (for business partners located abroad). 2.1.2 Observation of Use (Usability Tests) The main conclusion from the results of the interviews is to discover appropriate tools for supporting knowledge and learning needs according to the managers’ own estimation. The observation of use provides an insight
into how such tools need to be designed. In particular, observation is able to identify user habits and preferences not gatherable via qualitative interviews. To conduct the observation, an usability test was set up at the E.ON Academy. An one-hour standardized individual study was executed with a total of 24 managers from all E.ON companies. The following figure shows the sample for the observation in use. E.ON Manager no
Member of Academy Online? yes
Participant in E.ON Academy programs
Non-participant in E.ON Academy programs
Computer & Internet Affinity? very strong
strong
Senior Managers & Executives
A
B
Personal Startpage
A
Emerging Leaders
B
Course Room
A
B
Online Catalogs
Fig. 2: Sample of the observation in use
Bearing in mind the need to accurately measure the intuitive usability of a software system (self-explanatory aspect), a long introduction to tests was expressly avoided. Potential participants were required to satisfy the following participation requirements (constant holding method, low variability): – General Internet and PC skills – Experience as participant in a selected Academy Program – Experience in handling Academy Online In a pre-selection process, a total of 70 Academy Online members satisfying these criteria were identified. In view of the small size of random sample, the groups Senior Managers and Executives, which are similar in terms of age, Internet affinity and time availability, were merged into one group. The persons taking part in the study were, on one hand, the test participants, and, on the other hand, two co-workers of IMC AG (test coach and recorder). The tests were conducted in English and German and were executed according to plan. The test documentation in each study consisted of a task sheet, a protocol sheet and a questionnaire. The test systems applied were able to test both the current functionality of Academy Online (CLIX CU) and the solution concept prototypes. The following main topics were tested in this way: – Online catalogues: information search, catalogue display (table, tree) – Course room: learning path, auxiliary materials, participant lists, etc. – Start page (my Home): login, personal profile
2.2 Consolidation (Phase 2) To achieve expansion of our empirical basis and consolidation of the information obtained at Phase 1, Phase 2 started with a wide-ranging Internet questionnaire in cooperation with the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) and the Project Elena (FP 5 IST Project). The questionnaire was directed at n ≥ 500 managers from large and medium-sized business. The following applied for the random samples of the separate groups: nexecutives ≥ 50, nsen-managers ≥ 150 and nem-leaders ≥ 100. Panelists were recruited via online and press advertisements (e.g. specialist journal “IM Information Management & Consulting“ and management portals, such as “Competence Site“), newsletters and personal letter (address services). The focus of the study is the learning behaviour of managers, e.g. use of the internet, online learning media, conferences, seminars, specialist journals/publications, and online communities. Questions are designed for evaluating (1) relative frequency of use, (2) preferred use in various learning situations. Personal determinants (management level, size of company, business sector), previous media-specific experience (PC experience, elearning experience) and situational features were included in the questionnaire. Anonymity was maintained for the Internet questionnaire. At the end of the online questionnaire, participants were offered the opportunity of a thirtyminute phone interview. After contact data had been exchanged a meeting time was agreed by an interviewer. In total, a random sample of n ≥ 50 is targeted for these qualitative interviews, with an attempt to take all DAX 30 companies into account.
2.3 Specialization (Phase 3) The questionnaire will provide results which are indicative of managers’ requirements in appropriate learning environment design. The third phase of the study aims at selecting significant requirements and finding appropriate solutions. The solution concepts are implemented as prototypes and their viability tested via usability tests involving managers. Basis for the solution design is CLIX® Corporate University (CU), IMC´s software product developed in partnership with E.ON. So that logically consistent test scenarios can be embedded in an unified total system, the prototypes developed are integrated in the current release of the software product CLIX® CU. Possible test scenarios relate to the topics personalization, knowledge search, booking processes and approval of learning events, and also online collaboration and virtual communities. Recruitment for the usability tests is to starting from October 2004 on. The target is a random sample of
n = 50 managers. The population are the CLIX® Enterprise clients of IMC AG, such as Allianz, Bayer, DaimlerChrysler, KPMG, Nokia, TUI, UBS and Volkswagen, alongside potential customers for the new product CLIX CU, which will be available on the market from spring 2005, upon conclusion of the development partnership with E.ON (Release 2.0).
3 Five suppositions about the learning behaviour of managers – with first study results Prejudgments and previous studies about the “learning behaviour of managers“ were mentioned at the outset of this article, both giving rise to the formulation of suppositions, to be first investigated in a defined pilot scenario (see ”Initialization“ Phase above, Section 2.1) and subsequently from a broader standpoint (see above, “Consolidation“ Phase, Section 2.2). The online questionnaire is underway at the time of writing this article. For this reason, only first indications, either confirming or refuting the suppositions according to the completed Phase 1 and the second data-gathering Phase 2 (still currently under-way), can be provided. This extract from the currently running study is more an intermediary result, naturally only indicative in character and posing (for the time being) no claims as to its validity. The extracted sample is n=400.
3.1 Supposition 1: Managers are too busy to learn It is not possible to confirm the widely-held view that managers, never having time for anything, certainly have no time for learning.
15%
3.2 Supposition 2: Managers do not learn in the office The advantage of external conferences, companyinternal forums or seminars at business schools for managers is that they take place far from the office. This is at the same time the reason why such events are not attended much more often than once per year. But, managers are expected to stay “up-to-date“ and have understood that self-study is necessary (see fig. above). In spite of remarks to single contrary e.g. “too little time is devoted to office learning, it’s not a reason for working late“ and “learning is out at home; time is better spent with the family“, more than half of the interviewees do their learning most frequently in both, the office and at home. A small number of informants excluded home as a place for learning (10 percent). Only seven percent of the respondents voted the office as a place infrequently used for learning. 24 percent of the informants also use travel periods during business trips very frequently as learning times. (see figure below).
At the office
51%
At home
52%
On business trips
24% very frequently
34%
42% sometimes
… in researching information
66%
… in learning something explicitly and thoroughly
up to 1 hour per week at least 1 to 4 hours per week
Fig. 3: Time dedicated to self-study (400 respondents)
What becomes clear is that the managers’ understanding of ‘learning’ ranges from traditional forms of learning (seminars) to ‘information procurement’. Managers clearly place great importance on knowledge acquisition by personal initiative (self study). More than two out of three interviewees indicated dedicating a minimum of one to four hours per week.
infrequently
Fig. 4: Location preferences for self-study (400 respondents)
The most frequent stated reason for self study (73 percent) is the preparation of a project. Despite a general lack of time, more than half of the respondent managers learn for personal interest reasons. The figure below illustrates this view of the most important reasons for “self-study“.
73%
Personal interest in a topic 88%
11%
37%
For preparation of a project
34%
7%
41%
For creating a presentation For preparing a meeting
61% 52% 45%
Fig. 5: Main reasons for self-study (400 respondents)
Interviewees confirmed, that learning is done almost always in relation to a given situation, driven by an actual business need, e.g. for comprehension of a subject-related problem, or to make sense of new situations/problems.
3.3 Supposition 3: Managers are hostile to technology Anyone who imagines that managers always ask subordinates to gather their information and have all emails printed out by secretaries should take a closer look at the actual situation. Only one out of ten managers frequently assigns tasks of this kind to a co-worker. More than 80 percent of all interviewees conduct their own searches for the knowledge they need very often. Almost every manager has used an online tool in this connection, e.g. Internet search machines. All informants rate their own PC as an absolute necessity for their work. This picture is also reflected in the study about the most frequently used information media. It comes as no surprise that specialist journals and books are an important source of new information. This resource is very often used by 61 percent of the interviewed managers. Actually, the Internet is rated as the most frequently used source of information by almost all respondents (94%). In this regard there also is an unexpected result: the company’s own Intranet is given only very low importance in solving information needs for self study. The figure below illustrates this. 94%
Internet Professional journals/ Specialist books
61%
Research databases
26%
Newspapers
25%
Company intranet
24%
Fig. 6: Very frequently used information media for self study (statements of 400 respondents)
3.4 Supposition 4: Managers do not use e-learning The study also looked at the question: Do managers accept interactive (online) learning modules for selfstudy? Managers describe media available online for downloading (80%) or printing (53%) as very frequently used for learning. There is also a desire for online learning documentation as complementary to conventional modes of seminar (“classroom training“). Not so important are documents for download to PDA computers yet. Only 11% are using this kind of media for their self study yet. Didactically more complex, interactive learning modules are rated by almost 30 percent of the informants as appropriate for their personal learning needs (see Fig. 7).
Documents for download (PC)
80%
Documents for printing
53%
Interactive learning modules Documents for download (PDA)
29% 11%
Fig. 7: Very frequently used online media (statements of 400 respondents)
In general, managers take a critical position vis-à-vis interactive online learning media (Web Based Training, Computer Based Training). It is rated as very positive and also indispensable that such media include semantic links and optional more detailed information. On the other hand, the managers see a high risk in the potential loss of control regarding their own learning style and speed. Learning modules including test options for rating personal knowledge levels is regarded as particularly useful.
3.5 Supposition 5: Managers want to form a ”Virtual knowledge community“ Not least important for managers are their personal networks. Many corporate universities have recognized this fact and are aiming to bring managers who are spread across the different locations of the company together in a creative exchange. This is achieved, for example, by organizing internal forums on strategic topics or completing tailored-to-requirement case studies with business schools. The question remains: Do managers form virtual knowledge and learning communities? Questionnaire results to date show that currently Internet or Intranet communities are not common among managers. At the same time, there is an unexpectedly large interest (more than to thirds) for online networks and collaboration, such as virtual meeting rooms. (see following figure).
22% would try to use Online Communities
67% wish Online Communities maybe 22% no; 11%
11% do not wish Online Communities
yes; 67%
Fig. 8: Virtual knowledge and learning communities for managers (statements of 400 respondents)
A majority of informants wish to use online communities to remain in contact with other participants after
conclusion of a class-room seminar, e.g. in online expert forums.
4 Conclusion This article aims to identify how managers learn and how software for supporting the learning of managers needs to be designed. The special circumstances relating to the user group “Managers“ became apparent during the discussion about management information systems in the early seventies. Also today there are software topics, for example, “management portals“ and “business intelligence systems“, which are mainly directed at the special knowledge and user needs of managers. As one provider with long experience in the field of learning and knowledge management solutions, currently providing services to a majority of all DAX 30 companies, IMC is able to confirm that managers do in fact learn differently. These differences often are a question of detail. In fact, the results of the empirical study described here have shown so far that learning environments required by managers are not basically different from those of other employees. It has been shown that managers do a large part of their learning in the office, frequently using the Internet, and are open to (though generally lack in experience with) both e-learning and online knowledge communities. At the same time, the special aspects of the professional requirements in management also impact knowledge needs and learning behaviour. Managers thus clearly have a special awareness in relation to the planned design of learning processes, placing high quality demands on methods and media design. Moreover, the attention of managers on individual issues is extremely time-restricted. Intuitively, managers look for shortcuts and respond positively to options and any risks or chances to which their attention is drawn. The extent to which this information is significant in providing useful pointers for designing appropriate software tools will be revealed over the remaining period of the questionnaire, planned to run until October 2004, by March 2005 solutions will be created for requirements seen to be of special importance and will be tested as prototypes. The full results of our research in “Learning behaviour of managers“ will be documented and available as comprehensive study in spring 2005. References [1] Shrivastava, P.: A Typology of Organizational Learning Systems, Journal of Management Studies 20(1983)1, p. 7-28. [2] Dodgson, M.: Organizational Learning: A Review of some Literatures, Organization Studies 14(1993)3, p. 375-394.
[3] Blackler, F.: Knowledge, Knowledge Work and Organizations: An Overview and Interpretation, Organization Studies 16(1995)6, p. 1021-1046. [4] Quinn, J. et al.: Managing Professional Intellect: Making the Most of Best, Harvard Business Review 74(1996)3, p. 71-80, s. p. 71. [5] Allee, V.: The knowledge evolution: expanding organizational intelligence, Oxford 1997, s. p. 29. [6] Davenport, T., De Long, D., Beers, M.: Successful Knowledge Management Projects, Sloan Management Review 39(1998)2, p. 43-57. [7] Shrivastava, P. Management Classes as Online Learning Communities. Journal of Management Education, 23(1999)6, p. 691-702. [8] Scheer, A.-W., Habermann, F.: Cooperative Organizational Memories for IT-based Process Knowledge Management, in: Blay-Fornarino, M. et al. (ed.): Cooperative Systems Design: A Challenge of the Mobility Age, proceedings of the 6th International Conference on the Design of Cooperative Systems (COOP'2002), Amsterdam 2002 (Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications; 74), p. 209-225. [9] Meister, J.: Corporate Universities – Lessons in Building a World-Class Work Force, Revised and Updated Edition, New York 1998. [10]Kraemer, W., Müller, M. (ed.): Corporate Universities and e-Learning (German), Wiesbaden 2001. [11]Costa, c., Aparicio, M.: Developing Small WebBased Systems. in: Proceedings of the 3rd WSEAS Int.Conf. on Artificial intelligence, Knowledge Engineering, Data bases (AIKED 2004) Salzburg, Austria, 2004 [12]Habermann, F., Scheer, A.-W.: Knowing the Impacts of Information Technology: Towards an Organisational Memory System as a Tool for ITManagement, in: Sprague, R. (ed.): Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences, Los Alamitos CA 2000. [13]Sievert, H.: Will Management Education ever be virtual?, Professional Education within the Context of Current Developments in German e-learning, EURAM: Innovative Research in Management, Stockholm 2002, URL: http://www.bertelsmannstiftung.de/medien/ pdf/ACFmmjeqd.pdf. [14]Gunnarsdóttir, S., Kieslinger, B., Küchler, T., Simon, B.: From e-Learning to Learning Management: Results of an International Survey , Proceedings I-KNOW '04 - 4th International Conference on Knowledge Management (forthcoming).
