Managerial Learning as Co-Reflective Practice:
Management Development Programs – don’t use it if you don’t mean it

In this thesis, I develop a framework of managerial learning conceptualized as processes of
co-reflective practice. The conceptual framework of co-reflective practice is based on an empirically-grounded study of how participating in a management development program contribute to managerial learning. The program under study is situated in the corporate sector in Norway and is characterized as a long-term, external program with participants from different companies. The empirical study is mainly based on participative observation of the program activities and interviews with the participating managers.

The conceptual framework consists of three themes: program activities, processes of
co-reflective practice, and program outcomes. This framework is used both to explore outcomes from the program, and to explain the outcomes based on conceptualizing learning as processes of co-reflective practice that are triggered by program activities.

In the analysis of managerial learning, I first address the program activities by describing the simulated session activities and the real-life company interventions in the program. Based on this, I explore the participating managers’ perceptions of program outcomes; organizational change and individual change. The analysis shows that the program did not produce significant change of practice in the managers’ companies; managers explained this mainly being due to lack of local support and involvement from the company for the real-life project. However, the managers perceived individual change from the program in terms of changed vocabulary and identity.

The analysis point out that the participating managers learned from both the simulated session activities and the conduct of a real-life company project, as practice-based learning possibilities. The most important source to managers’ learning was conversation with fellow participants in the management program. While general knowledge provided by the consultants was not transferred back to practice, it functioned as a common language to collectively reflect on practice. This indicates that when viewed as a community of practitioners, the social, reflexive, and discursive processes in the program are important for the managers’ learning. These processes are conceptualized as co-reflective practice.

To analytically address the processes of co-reflective practice, I elaborate upon three interrelated characteristics: generating managementifacts, making sense of managing, and managerial identity work. These characteristics were developed to illuminate the interplay between managers’ identity construction and the community of practitioners’ generation and use of a shared conceptual repertoire to discuss the practice of managing. The concept of managementifacts is launched to highlight managers generating managerial language based on general knowledge in interplay with knowing-in-practice.

The social and situated aspect of these co-reflective practice processes can lead to increased distance to practice instead of changing practice, which can explain the difficulties of transferring knowledge from management programs to companies.