The Future of Management Education: Reconsidering Professional Education and Action Learning

Abstract

We are currently witnessing a duality in management pedagogy: an objective approach represented by the professional education model, and an interpretative approach represented by action learning. Professional education emphasizes theory, academic assessment, breadth of subject matter, and technical problemsolving. Action learning values practice, managerial assessment, depth of subject matter, and problem finding. The author suggests a reformulation of graduate management education that goes beyond a synthesis of the two extant approaches.