A problem-based learning approach to teaching frontline management skills

Problem-based Learning (PBL) has arguably made the most significant contribution to pedagogy since the early 1960s. However, despite its large-scale implementation in the medical and engineering domains, few management schools have incorporated PBL into their curriculum. 

Business schools have been heavily criticised for prioritising theory at the expense of a real?world application of management skills development, and Chief Executive Officers now call for a balance between theory and practice which properly equips both full- and part-time students with the necessary management skills to make them job-ready. 

However, business school academia remains divided about how best to deliver management education. Some favour academic rigour wherein skills are delivered in the classroom; others argue that such skills are better developed in the workplace; while a third group regards each  of the former as overly constricted. This thesis therefore adopts a hybrid approach which combines a cycle of self-directed learning and skills development in both classroom and workplace. 

This study aims to determine whether the 9-step PBL cycle developed by the Researcher, wherein participants undertake four different roles, can assist Frontline Managers (FLMs) to better develop the management skills identified in the Cameron and Whetten Management Skills Inventory. The study participants comprised 10 FMLs attending for university one day per month over a single academic year, as part of the Certificate in Management (CIM)  programme at the University of Limerick, Ireland. 

Skills development is captured using mixed methods. Quantitative data are collected through  structured observation incorporating a Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS), and qualitative data gathered through tutorial documentation, self- and peer-assessment, reflective learning journals, audio/video reflections, and a focus group. 

Findings from this study support the contention that PBL is an effective way to teach management skills and role development. When measured using BARS against the Cameron and Whetten Management Skills Inventory, all participants’ skills management improved.  Certain PBL roles were found more beneficial in developing particular management skills. 

A key contribution relates to the introduction of a PBL pedagogical model to teach management skills and role development in a business setting. This process entails 13 specific practices which are fully integrated across the entire PBL 9-step process. 

Practices can be broadly sub-divided into structural practices (P1-P7) and skills-promoting  practices (P8-P13). In the structural categories, practice P5 emphasises the importance of exercising the tutorial skill when back in the workplace; evidence of which is presented in the FLMs’ Reflective Learning Journals and elaborated in the Thesis. Practice P6 promotes the importance of role rotation in the tutorial process and focuses on the skills development of  FLMs as they operate in the different roles. 

Skills-promoting practices (P8-P13) include practice P9 (developing communication skills) as drawn from the Cameron and Whetten inventory. This examines the development of  FLMs’ ability to confidently articulate their own position and beliefs while delivering information in a simple, comprehensible manner. The workplace value of the newly  identified skills P11 (develop research skills) and P12 (facilitate multitasking skills) requires  further enquiry since they fall beyond the scope of the Cameron and Whetten skills inventory. 

Finally, the study elucidates the tutorial process and practices needed to properly prepare  part-time FLMs for the workplace, wherein learning occurs by assuming various roles, collaborating in a classroom setting, and applying CIM skills in the workplace to solve a set  of problems.