Developing Phronesis in Business Education: A Student Perspective

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the results of the analysis of the feedback of business university students on the phronesis-focused course. The course is part of the MA programme at the Faculty of Business Administration, Prague University of Economics and Business. Its objective is to develop three intellectual virtues (dimensions of knowledge) defined by Aristotle – the episteme (theoretical knowledge), the techne (skills, practical knowledge) and the phronesis (practical wisdom, ability to use previous two in proper way and context). The course was developed to address one of the major arguments against business-oriented education – its over-orientation to theoretical knowledge. During the course, students work in teams that fulfil three types of assignments – presentation of theory, facilitation of discussion and case study preparation and implementation in the class. The teacher is the coach, helps teams with their work, and provides feedback. Episteme is developed via new theoretical knowledge of management. Techne is developed via training in different skills, like presentation skills, discussion skills, and skills to understand the professional text. Phronesis is developed through the interaction of students when preparing and implementing tasks. It becomes active as the ability to understand the colleague's point of view, discuss and harmonise one's own opinion with the ideas of others or understand the social climate in the class and adjust one's behaviour to it. As one of the course authors said, we do not want to teach students about management; we want to teach them management. The feedback of students was captured and analysed by the research based on three research questions: Q1 What do students like about the course? Q2 What do students dislike about the course? Q3 What do students think they learned in the course? The data were collected by the open-question questionnaire with three questions reflecting the research questions. The respondents were students from two classes of the course. The answers were analysed by thematic analysis. The research results show that respondents value the episteme they learn as it allows them to see and understand management holistically. They also like the originality of the course concept based on the cooperation of students and the teacher and the environment the course provides for skills and phronesis development. On the other hand, respondents disliked that the low quality of work of less motivated students influenced the whole class and found the course too demanding for preparation and attention. Even though limited, the research points at important aspects of phronesis-focused courses – they teach students a lot but are demanding and require a change of pedagogical paradigm. Students must be willing to take responsibility for their learning and development and learn even though this may threaten their identity and self-image.