Spiegel im Spiegel: Teaching reflective writing in Management Education

Slides (with extra content) available at: tinyurl.com/spiegelimspiegel

CONTENTS

Rationale

Findings

Online extras

Conclusion

Overview of the study

Workshops

References

OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

RESEARCH FRAMEWORK

Offshoot of a three-year action research project based on embedding academic writing support within a disciplinary programme.

RESEARCH QUESTIONCan a TLA provide effective support for reflective writing in a disciplinary context using a normative, generic framework and disciplinary content?

FOCUS OF INQUIRY

Four one-hour writing workshops run in 2014 by a tertiary learning advisor (TLA) to support PG Management students in writing an assessed reflective journal on personal experiences of leadership.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Before and after course interviews with course lecturer.3 group interviews with a total of seven students.Transcripts coded and categorised thematically

RATIONALE

• Students lack relevant experience or instruction in reflective writing.

• Students are reluctant to expose limitations and blunders to an authority figure in an evaluative context.

• Students therefore tend to ‘default’ to more familiar discourses (e.g. narrative, essay or literature review).

I don’t want to talk about structure, because there’s nothing to talk about. Structure is an amorphous concept that takes shape, develops in context and in situ. If they haven’t written anything, there’s nothing I can do to help them. So, I say, ‘Go away and write something; show me what you’ve written; then we can talk about structure’.

The lecturer of the course in question was reluctant to provide students with explicit advice about how they should write.

We go to the lecturer and ask him ‘How are we supposed to do the assignment?’ and he says, ‘It’s your assignment; do whatever you want’. I was like, ‘I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing.’

This led to some confusion and anxiety for the mostly international or migrant students in the class.

WORKSHOPS

ASSIGNMENT QUESTION

STRUCTURE AND FOCUS OF WORKSHOPS

• I adopted a normative framework for each ‘vignette’ from a three-level generic model of reflective writing (van Manen, 1977; Jay & Johnson, 2002).

• I made notes on a selection of course readings about leadership.

• I wrote a model ‘vignette’, based on a personal story and ideas from course readings – with one descriptive paragraph, one analytical paragraph and two critical paragraphs.

• I used this as the basis for four one-hour workshops – one for each element of the model and the last one focusing on putting the vignettes together into a journal with an introduction and conclusion.

• Workshops were offered on Weds lunchtimes (and repeated on Thurs evenings) on four different weeks, spread through the 12 week semester.

• The workshops were optional, but the lecturer signed students up – and participated in the first workshop – to encourage attendance.

• Attendance ranged from 8 to 16 students for each workshop – about a third of enrolled students attended more than one workshop.

• During the workshops, students generally completed ‘guided discovery’ tasks, which were intended to highlight underlying discourse structure and imitable stylistic features of the model text (which was mostly presented to them orally).

FINDINGS

STUDENTS GENERALLY FOLLOWED THE GIVEN STRUCTURE QUITE CLOSELY IN THEIR OWN JOURNALS

It’s really useful. I keep putting the paper and my paper and just write according to your guide.

I think if I have the framework and guide, I wouldn’t go back to the lecturer and ask him again, ‘What do you mean?’ and things, because I already the framework, the instructions.

When I look at your model, and I start writing. But when I go back and read your model again, I feel like I copy your idea … It’s not very good for me.

But I think that even though we have the model, it’s not necessary that we imitate or get some point that you mentioned, … I think it’s different, but at least we have some guidance.

STUDENTS POSITIVELY EVALUATED THE NORMATIVE STRUCTURE FOR REFLECTIVE WRITING

It gave me good guidelines; that helped me feel at least I’m aligning my efforts with something, not just like swimming in the sea, you never know in which direction you are heading

I never thought that there’d be so much to write about. All I thought about initially was to talk about some Leadership experiences, and what I make of it, and that’s all. There’s no introspection; there’s nothing I actually thought about. But in the workshop, I came to know about the descriptive, the critical, the analytical part of a particular vignette. So the structure you provided us was really helpful, at least for me, to understand what the question is all about.

STRUCTURED APPROACH TO WRITING WORKSHOPS SEEN AS COMPLEMENTARY TO SOCRATIC APPROACH OF COURSE LECTURES

We take this paper because we want to be leaders, so he don’t want to tell us the directions, he wants us to lead by ourselves, to understand the factor of what is a leader.

The lecturer is more on making us think about certain things about Leadership and Management and yours is about facilitating us towards writing our essays. So I think although they are related, they are quite different with regard to the purpose. So getting ideas from both of you, actually helps a lot.

STUDENTS FELT THE DISCIPLINARY CONTENT MADE THE WORKSHOPS MORE EFFECTIVE

Last semester, when I came here [to see a tertiary learning advisor], the main problem for most of the students, not only me, was that we couldn’t find a person who is in the picture of our subject.

My time was really limited. I couldn’t spend a lot of time to work out in general and then to come to a specific area, which is why, most of the workshops run by the CTL at the beginning of the semester are talking about general things that I’m not really familiar with. I attended, for example, the report writing, about bullying in the workplace, but it doesn’t help me.

STUDENTS PERCEIVED THE TLA AS A WRITING SPECIALIST AND, AT THE SAME TIME, A FELLOW LEARNER WITHIN THE DISCIPLINE OF MANAGEMENT.

I would like to receive the workshop training from a person who’s qualified enough to teach. You are from the teaching and counselling, so that automatically gives you …

… Trust … It’s similar to having a GP. When you go to your own doctor, you trust him or her.

The fact that you did the assignment along with us, you shared your experiences, you did the exercise yourself. That actually helped. Because you not being, and we are also not Master’s or PhD’s in Management, so we, at least I, could identify with you, and when you had taken that much time and effort to reflect on your Leadership experiences, I had this confidence that even I could do it.

STUDENTS WERE SOMEWHAT IN AWE OF THE LECTURER AND PERCEIVED HIS APPROVAL AS CRUCIAL IN ESTABLISHING THE CREDIBILITY OF THE WORKSHOPS

If you talk with my professor, you discussed about the workshop before, it’s clear; but if you didn’t talk with him, so what he wants is one way, but what you want is this way, then it’s quite different.

Another point was that as he was there, … So he already knew what you said to us and then when I went to him, he could figure out my questions. But all in all, I felt confidence when I saw him there.

Always we have to go full of hand to him. I have to study before going there, because maybe this is a very rare chance to come and sit with him. I have to go there with full of understanding to say something.

THE LECTURER FELT IT WAS BEST THAT THE WRITING WORKSHOPS WERE RUN BY A TLA.

The alternative of me delivering something? I’m interested, but I think it’s better that you, as the expert, have some kind of input. The problem for the students is that they want to believe somebody, whereas I want them to take on multiple viewpoints and deal with that complexity themselves.

I think it’s useful that they have another voice that helps thicken their own journey somewhat … if they’re confused, that’s positive to me.

That’s your mandate, isn’t it? It’s to be useful and helpful to students, to give them tools to develop. I’m comfortable with that.

Having the seminars was really useful because it did give them a structure from which to work; and that’s really useful because that’s their angst: what structure will I use.

CONCLUSIONS

Students and staff perceived the TLA to have an appropriate expertise in writing development.

The TLA’s role as a learner within this discipline was also viewed as motivating for students.

The use of an explicit, normative structure provided students with a facilitative framework for their own writing and reduced their anxiety.

The lecturer and students perceived the TLA expertise and the pedagogy of the workshops as complementary to the teaching programme.

REGARDING THE RESEARCH QUESTION:Can a TLA provide effective support for reflective writing in a disciplinary context using a normative, generic framework and disciplinary content?

THE FINDINGS WERE POSITIVE

References

Boud, D., Keogh, R., & Walker, D. (1985). What is reflectionin learning? In D. Boud, R. Keogh, & D. Walker

(Eds.), Reflection: Turning experience into learning (pp. 7-17). London, England: Kogan Page.Dewey, J. (1933). How we think. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.Jay, J. K., & Johnson, K. L. (2002). Capturing complexity: A

typology of reflective practice for teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 18(73-85).

Van Manen, M. (1977). Linking ways of knowing with ways of being practical. Curriculum Inquiry, 6, 205 – 228.

Zeichner, K., & Liu, K. Y. (2010). A critical analysis of reflection as a goal for teacher education. In N. Lyons

(Ed.), Handbook of reflective inquiry (pp. 67-84). New York, NY: Springer

Online extras

Building metaphor for differences between traditional academic writing (e.g. essay) and reflective writing

Three concepts of reflection found in tertiary assignments (training, critical thinking, holistic)

Example short three-part reflective journal entry

Example workshop plan

Reflective writing checklist and evaluation task (used in a different Management course)

essay reflection

harmonious

strongstatic

classical

discordant

vulnerable

dynamic

post-modern

Reflection as a training tool

Aim

Example

• to provide evidence of achievement of professional competencies (and identify gaps for further development). [see Zeichner & Liu’s critique (2010)].

Online portfolio for a professional qualification. For each range of practice, students are required to write a

one-page self-reflection on their competency development during the year, referring to clinical placements, learning and research.

Reflection as a critical thinking tool

Aim

Example

• to provide evidence of critical application of theory to practice (in line with Dewey, 1933)

Reflective Journal for a PG Management course Your journal will focus on three vignettes from either your own

experiences as a leader, or your observations of other leaders in action with whom you have associated. Each vignette will contain a summary of the story which you want to highlight, and then a scholarly critique of that story using relevant leadership theories from class discussions.

Reflection as a tool for holistic processing of experience

Aim

Example

• to provide evidence of integration of professional and personal learning (e.g. Boud, Keogh, & Walker, 1985)

Weekly Journal for a professional qualification This journal is intended to encourage self-reflection and

integration of the material, and be a kind of private conversation between you and the lecturer/tutor. …. You should … include personal thoughts, impressions, questions, reactions, struggles, new ideas, ….. You will not be evaluated on your opinions, but on evidence and personal growth.

Example journal entry – part 1 (descriptive)

I was Training Manager of an organisation in London. There were 10 trainers in my team. I was concerned about the way they assessed the trainees’ projects. Too many trainees were failing and some complained that they didn’t understand why. As Head of Training, I saw it as my duty to solve this problem. So, I developed a new assessment system, based on 10 different criteria that trainees had to achieve. For each criterion, they received 0, 1, or 2 points – adding up to a maximum of 20. Any student who received 12 points or more out of 20 passed. I piloted this new system myself with a group of trainees and it worked like a dream. I made a few minor improvements and then presented the improved system to the other trainers, expecting them to adopt it immediately and enthusiastically. Instead, they complained that they found the new system confusing and time-consuming and continued to assess the trainees in their own way. I felt frustrated and disappointed that they couldn’t see the obvious logic of the new system and that I was powerless to make them. A short while later, I resigned.

Example journal entry – part 2 (analytical)

It was clear to me at the time that this was not a successful attempt at change leadership. But back then, my response was to personalise the failure in terms of my own shortcomings and those of my colleagues. What I did not have was a clear concept of leadership roles and methods or a framework for leading changes (such as ref). In retrospect, my story seems very much focused on myself as the originator and implementer of each of the few stages my story included. It makes me ask, ‘What kind of leader was I, and why? Another thing that strikes me looking back on this experience is my dependence on the rationality of my project alone. Even now, it convinces me. Why didn’t it convince my colleagues? Lastly, that word ‘powerless’ stands out. How can one be a leader and at the same time, ‘powerless’. It begs the question: Can one be a leader without power? Indeed, if not from the leader, where can the power be found to drive forward the difficult process of change?

Example journal entry – part 3 (critical)

My assumption that I needed to show leadership in order to achieve change is one which has been widely shared in Management. In fact, the ability to drive forward necessary organisational change has been seen as the primary function of leadership, as the leader first defines a future vision, aligns followers with that vision and provides them with the necessary inspiration for the change to be achieved (ref) . According to this view, my main error was an operational one: a failure to create, a ‘guiding coalition’ in which my main aim at the early stage would be to widen the circle of colleagues committed to the change (ref). This coalition-building strategy might also have addressed the powerlessness which I experienced in proposing my change. My approach had relied on the effectiveness of my claim to expert or referent power (ref), which I sought to exercise through a display of logic, expertise and example. The legitimacy of my claim might have been reinforced by showing respect for the opinions of my team at an early stage, since research has shown that followers who feel respected by their leader(s) are more likely to be open to their influence (ref).

However, I have become increasingly uncomfortable with this ‘operational’ model of change leadership. If ‘creating a coalition’ is reduced to a tactical stage in a change process which has, in reality, been determined from above, it seems to me both morally and practically impoverished; and as (ref) points out, “if it’s unethical or immoral, it is not leadership”. My failure, it now seems to me, was more of an ethical than an operational one: it was not a lack of leadership, but a lack of followership. Unknowingly, I had what (ref) describes as a narcissistic concept of leadership, in which the rest of my team were seen, essentially, as extensions of myself, functioning only to implement a change I had set in motion. If I had had a greater sense of followership, I might have avoided making decisions for the team and, instead, focused on empowering them to decide what the problem was and how to address it, limiting my role to helping my colleagues work in unison towards common, agreed goals (ref). My problem was not a lack of power, but the inability to see the power which was already there; distributed among my team members, rather than concentrated in myself. A more appropriate leadership style might have focused on nurturing the collaboration, trust and empowerment, which is characteristic of this context (ref) so that sustainable, bottom-up, emergent change may have been allowed to emerge (ref). My attempt to impose my change may actually have inhibited the power of my team to develop their own change.

Example workshop plan

Session 1: DESCRIPTIVE REFLECTION Intended Learning Outcomes:

Students can identify narrative elements in a Leadership storyStudents can identify three levels of reflectionStudents can structure the ‘vignettes’ in their Reflective JournalsStudents can construct a Leadership story for their Reflective JournalStudents can evaluate a Leadership story

ACTIVITY 1: What are the elements of a leadership story?

Tell the students a story of leadership (see paragraph 1 in Appendix A) – their task is to identify 3 or more elements of the story

Elicit / Summarise the story elements

Context / Problem / Response / Outcome(s)

Practice:

•Students prepare and then tell eachother stories about leading / trying to lead / being led in pairs / groups•Other students’ task is to identify the elements of the story and give feedback

ACTIVITY 2: What are the components of reflection?

Brainstorm:

•Students discuss question in pairs.

Analysis:

•In feedback, highlight the three levels – i.e.:

level 1: descriptive•select an experience that you can learn from•identify the key parts of the experience

level 2: analytical•ask open questions about the experience•consider alternative actions or responses

level 3: critical•make connections with personal and scholarly theories and practices•consider changes to your own beliefs and practices

Application to Assignment 3

•Point out that Vignettes in the reflective journal should include all three levels•Ask about my story. Is it a complete section? No, just level 1.•One way to structure each section would be in four paragraphs. One each for levels one and two and two for level 3. Mine is just the first paragraph. Other workshops will focus on the other levels.

ACTIVITY 3: How do you choose the 3 vignettes for your reflective journal?

Brainstorm:•Students think of 3 or more criteria for an effective leadership story

Elicit / Summarise relevant criteria

Has the story elementsRealPersonalRaises important questions about LeadershipConnects clearly to one or more leadership concept / theoryDifferent from the other two!

Reflective Writing Checklist

DESCRIPTIVE LEVEL

• Does it describe a personal experience in a professional context?

• Does it provide relevant information about the situation?

• Does it summarise a problem or opportunity?

• Does it describe one or two responses to the problem or opportunity and an outcome?

EXAMPLE FOR EVALUATION

This happened last Monday. I was working at the hotel reception desk at night. A guest called reception because she had cut her hand. Because the normal duty manager was sick, I was alone at the desk and I couldn’t find the first-aid kit. I locked the front door of the hotel and went to the room. I used a towel to help the guest cover her hand and I called a taxi to take her to the hospital. The guest was satisfied with my help. However, the manager told me I shouldn’t have locked the front door or left the desk because that is against health and safety regulations. I also shouldn’t have treated the guest myself because I don’t have a valid first-aid certificate. I should have called the 24 hour doctor – the number is in the ‘Emergencies’ folder on the desk. I was very upset because I thought I’d done the right thing. I’m also afraid my manager won’t give me a good reference.

Reflective Writing Checklist

DESCRIPTIVE LEVEL

• Does it describe a personal experience in a professional context?

• Does it provide relevant information about the situation?

• Does it summarise a problem or opportunity?

• Does it describe one or two responses to the problem or opportunity and an outcome?

Reflective Writing Checklist

ANALYTICAL LEVEL

• Does it explain immediate and underlying factors related to the problem or opportunity?

• Does it explore the effects of the problem or opportunity for the organisation and/or stakeholders?

• Does it raise relevant questions related to your professional development?

EXAMPLE FOR EVALUATION

In retrospect, I realise that I was underprepared for emergencies. Instead of blaming me for dealing with the situation in the best way I could, my manager should have praised me for keeping calm and helping the client in a very difficult situation. She should then have taken me calmly through the correct procedures so that I will be better prepared for next time. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that this manager has blamed employees for mistakes that were not their fault and were not really even mistakes. I begin to wonder if she really has what it takes to be an effective hotel manager. This is what happens when a hotel owner puts a family member in charge of the business. It is not an example that I want to follow in my own career.

Reflective Writing Checklist

ANALYTICAL LEVEL

• Does it explain immediate and underlying factors related to the problem or opportunity?

• Does it explore the effects of the problem or opportunity for the organisation and/or stakeholders?

• Does it raise relevant questions related to your professional development?

Reflective Writing Checklist

CRITICAL LEVEL

• Does it make insightful links to theory or professional principles?

• Does it provide evidence of learning?

• Does it apply this learning to professional practice?

EXAMPLE FOR EVALUATION

This experience has deepened my understanding of the need to align individual initiative and creativity with organisational principles and goals (Harmer, 2014). As a novice manager, I could only draw on my personal resources to respond to the emergency; in its own terms, this was successful. The problem was that my creative response was not aligned with organisational policy. However, as Collins (2014) argues, creativity and resilience cannot easily be acquired, as their roots lie deep in the personality and life story of the individual. Therefore, I can see this experience, not as a success or failure in itself, but as evidence of my underlying aptitude for management and as a stage in my journey from personal to professional competence (Dixon, 2009). Therefore, I have studied organisational policies as well as broader professional standards (e.g. NZHM Code of Practice 4.3) for emergencies and arranged for an informal test and simulation session with the regional manager during her visit next month.

Reflective Writing Checklist

CRITICAL LEVEL

• Does it make insightful links to theory or professional principles?

• Does it provide evidence of learning?

• Does it apply this learning to professional practice?