Lessons from Past and Present – Discourse on Continuing Educational Training in Project Management – A Discourse Analysis of Hidden Educational Assumptions
Author(s):
Beatrix Palt (presenting / submitting)
Conference:
ECER 2014
Network:
02. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Format:
Paper

Session Information

02 SES 03 B, VET Orientations to Continuing Learning

Paper Session

Time:
2014-09-02
17:15-18:45
Room:
B027 Anfiteatro
Chair:
Lázaro Moreno Herrera
Discussant:
Martin Mulder

Contribution

Project Management was developed in the 60s when it was realised that innovations can hardly be developed within regulatory administrative structures and that a new organisational framework and new working methods are needed to foster creative and innovative processes (e.g. Bartlett et al. 1990). Since then a wide range of project management methods, concepts and training measures has been developed. On the one hand, project management nowadays is regarded as being an established and effective operational and workplace organisation. On the other hand, however, difficulties in implementation and quality and the need for further development of the organisational framework are reflected in the discourse on business administration (Bea et al. 2011). Hence, there is a gap between the huge conceptual debate on project management and a lack of reflection on its theoretical educational implications. Moreover, a deficit in theory has been observed with particular reference to the learnability of the role of project managers. It has been realized in practice, too, and evaluated in empirical studies (Palt 2012; 2013). Project management aims at developing innovative products or services and requires project managers prepared to assume responsibility for running a project (Nixon et al 2012). Accordingly, on a conceptual level, a wide range of project management training measures is offered (e.g. Retrieved January 16th, 2014 from http://www.gpm-ipma.de/startseite.html) In these training measures, i.e. in the connected conceptual discourse, implicit indications of personal development, of personality and human behaviour are assumed.  In the paper these assumptions on personality and personal development will be analysed and related to relevant discourses on educational theory and personality research.

In this context, the preliminary findings of a discourse analysis of business administration will be presented in the study. What are the hidden educational assumptions in the discourse on project management in a business context? Which concepts of learning, personality and human behaviour are implied in the discourse on business administration? Which perceptions of learning, personality and human behaviour do we have in other discourses, e.g. in personality research? What are the implications of these perceptions for training and for the understanding of project managers’ personal development?

To begin with, the theoretical approach of this study will be outlined, drawing on personality research from the perspective of scientific anthropology (McRae & Costa 1990; 1992; Roth 2003, Neyse & Asendorpf 2012). Thereby categories for the analysis of the discourse in business administration will be discussed.

Secondly, based on these categories, the results of the discourse analysis will be discussed, whereby the hidden assumptions about personality development and learning will be shown and thus, a discourse on the personal development of project managers will be reconstructed.

Thirdly these findings will be related to the perspectives of learning theories and theories of professionalization (such as the five stage model “from novice to expert”; Dreyfus & Dreyfus 19987; Boshuizen et al. 2004; Gruber et al. 2007): How do the learning models appear in the light of the professionalization debate? And what are the theoretical implications for personal development and on training measures for project managers?

Finally the outcome will be synthesized and an attempt will be made to make a contribution to  developping the research field further and to repositioning the research field within educational research in Europe.

Method

For this paper a qualitative research approach to discourse analysis has been chosen as a methodological approach (Keller 2011). In the limited research on the personality development of project managers and in an empirical analysis on the role of personality and personality development (Palt 2012; 2013) it can be observed that learning and questions relevant to learning are discussed most frequently in the discourse on project management when these involve personality and personality development Therefore, the search strategy for the data corpus is made with regard to this limited thematic field. Secondly, the data corpus, i.e. the sampling is carried out in accordance with the rules of theoretical sampling (Strauss/Corbin 1996, p. 148 et seq.). Therefore, in terms of the search strategy, the analysis begins with the most frequently cited documents on the personal development of project managers and then, more texts will be added. However, other possible search strategies could be the context in which the texts were published, the reception in different vocational fields or the resonance in educational research. We propose to make use of a corpus of 40 documents (e.g. Bartlett et al. 1990; Bea et al. 2011; Schiersmann et al. 2000; Steeger 2011) in total which will be analyzed in a general overview 3 to 7 of the most significant cases will serve as a basis for a detailed analysis. The data are evaluated according to the method used in qualitative content analysis (cf. Mayring 2010) with an inductive-deductive system of categories that provides a basis for the above mentioned analysis of personality research in project management. The documents are analyzed and the hidden assumptions will be derived. The data analysis aims at identifying the implications for personal development and thus provides a basis for developing the cornerstones of an educational theory of project management. Using the approaches of discourse analysis, the analysis focusses on the way personality development is discussed explicitly or referred to implicitly. This procedure opens up the opportunity to identify hidden educational assumptions and consider the implications for training measures and for the understanding of project management.

Expected Outcomes

The main findings clearly show: In particular, contrary to discourse formations in business anthropology that explicitly focus on project management as an organizational and technical procedure, the analysis shows clearly that it is implicit in learning processes that emphasis is placed on the personality of the project managers involved and less on technology. At this point an ambivalent discourse in business administration reveals and suggests, on the one hand, that project management can be learned and, on the other hand, relies on the personality und thus innate personality characteristics and actions Moreover, the analysis shows that the discourses mainly convey a functional learning theory, that, to put it bluntly, replaces personality with technology and thereby marks the limits of educational potential. The findings are discussed against the background of the discourse on personality psychology and scientific anthropology whereby some cornerstones of a theory of the personality development of project managers are illustrated that are explicitly based on learning theories. In the light of Europeanization, the need for change and implications for further research and for new concepts of personality development (in continuing educational training) are developed.

References

Bartlett, C.A. & Ghoshal, S. (1990). Matrix Management: Not a structure, a frame of mind. Harvard Business Review, 68 (4), 138-145. Bea, X.,/Scheurer, S. (2011), Trends im Projektmanagement. Vom Management von Projekten zum projektorientierten Unternehmen., in: zfo Zeitschrift Führung + Organisation, 80 (6), S. 425-431. Boshuizen, H., Bromme, R. & Gruber, H. ( eds.) (2004) Professional learning: Gaps and transitions on the way from novice to expert. Kluwer: Dordrecht. Dreyfus, H.L. & Dreyfus, S.E. (1987). Künstliche Intelligenz. Von den Grenzen der Denkmaschine und dem Wert der Intuition. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH. Gruber, H. & Palonen, T. (eds.) (2007). Learning in the workplace - new developments. Research in educational sciences, 32. Finnish Educational Research Association (FERA), Turku Keller, R. (2011), Diskursforschung. Eine Einführung für SozialwissenschaftlerInnen, (4th ed.) Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften / Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH. Mayring, P. (2010). Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse. Grundlagen und Technik (new and revised ed.), Weinheim & Basel: Beltz Verlag. McRae, R.R. & Costa, P.T. (1990). Personality in Adulthood. New York & London: The Guilford Press. Ibid. (1992). An introduction to the five-factor-model and its applications. Journal of Personality, 60, pp. 175-215. Nixon, P., Harrington, M. & Parker, D. (2012). Leadership performance is significant to project success or failure – a critical analysis. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 16 (2), 204-216. Neyse, F. J. & Asendorpf, J. B. (2012). Persönlichkeitsentwicklung. In Asendorpf, J. B. & Neyse, F. J. Psychologie der Persönlichkeit (pp. 263-331) (5th revised ed.). Berlin & Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag. Palt, B. (2012), Das Konzept des nicht-formalen lebenslangen Lernens. Die Ausbildung von Projektleitungen aus Sicht der Persönlichkeitsforschung. In: St. Petersburg Academy of In-Service Pedagogical Education, SPb APPO (Eds.), Konzeptionen und Strategien lebenslangen Lernens im internationalen Kontext, St. Petersburg, S. 131-134. Palt, B. (2013). Partizipation und Führung in der Matrix-Organisation. In Weber, S.M., Göhlich, M., Schröer, A., Fahrenwald, C. & Macha, H. (Eds.) (2013). Organisation und Partizipation. Wiesbaden: Springer VS., 229-237. Roth, G. (2003). Fühlen, Denken, Handeln. Wie das Gehirn unser Verhalten steuert (new revised ed.). Frankfurt a.M: Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Wissenschaft. Schiersmann, C. & Thiel, H.-U. (2000). Projektmanagement als organisationales Lernen: ein Studien- und Werkbuch (nicht nur) für den Bildungs- und Sozialbereich. Opladen: Leske + Budrich. Steeger, O. (2011). Mitarbeiter für die Projektwirtschaft „beschäftigungsfähig“ machen. Projektwirtschaft – die Arbeitsform der Zukunft setzt sich durch. projektMANAGEMENT aktuell (02), 3-10. Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. (1996). Grounded Theory: Grundlagen qualitativer Sozialforschung. Weinheim & Basel: Beltz Verlag.

Author Information

Beatrix Palt (presenting / submitting)
FOM Hochschule für Oekonomie & Management
Studienzentrum Hamburg
Hamburg

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