Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
11th Annual Euromed Academy of Business (EMAB) Conference, Valletta, Malta, 12 - 14 Eylül 2018, ss.1494-1496
PARTICIPANT CENTRED LEARNING IN MANAGEMENT EDUCATION: THE
CASE FOR LEARNING IN TURKEY
Andrews, Scott1
; Wasti, S. Nazli2
1Worcester Business School, University of Worcester, Worcester, United Kingdom
2Department of Business Administration, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
ABSTRACT
Current research into participant centred learning (PCL) has identified that management education is
often criticized for being "repositories of multiple frameworks that are not tightly integrated and are
aging rapidly" (Mahoney & McGahan, 2007, p. 86). Others have voiced concerns with regard to the
lack of effectiveness of strategic management education (Jarzabkowski & Kaplan, 2015; Porter &
McKibbin, 1988; Mintzberg & Gosling, 2002). This has led to increasingly frequent calls for more
relevant and practically applicable management education (e.g., Bower, 2008; Mintzberg, 2004;
Greiner, Bhambri & Cummings, 2003; Rynes, Bartunek & Daft, 2001; Starkey & Madan, 2001).
Furthermore, teaching and learning approaches that might work in one educational context may be
far more problematic in other contexts (Catalo, Antheaume & Howayda, 2015) and so knowledge
transfer has to take the local context into account.
Whilst there is a growing bank of knowledge in the field of the use of case methodologies in
management education in Turkey, the aim of this research have been to identify opportunities and
barriers to learning in this particular geographical and cultural context. According to the Turkish
Ministry of Development 10th Development Plan (2014-2018), one of the main goals of the education
system must be to raise individuals with a sense of entrepreneurship and innovation. The plan
further suggests that the harmony between the education system and the labour market will be
enhanced by equipping people with skills and competences with a lifelong learning perspective by
internalizing the entrepreneurship culture. This culture is to be developed by programmes at all
levels of the education system to enhance the quality of existing entrepreneurship programs. Many
support programmes for business managers and entrepreneurs exist in Turkey, including various
modes of managerial training. However, these programmes primarily focus on teaching actual or
potential entrepreneurs the functional areas of business, be it marketing, finance, or strategy, without
exactly customizing the topics to the entrepreneur’s own situation. PCL methods allow the
entrepreneur and/or future business managers to learn and investigate within their own context,
making the learning more relevant and directly applicable than general theoretical principles. Hence
the students’ capability of “learning to learn” is enhanced, promoting chances of future organisational
survival. This aspect of PCL makes it a valuable addition to curriculum development, tools of
11th Annual Conference of the EuroMed Academy of Business 1495
Research Advancements in National and ISSN: 2547-8516
Global Business Theory and Practice ISBN: 978-9963-711-67-3
delivery, and adult learning research and applications developed within Faculties of Education in
Turkey.
This study presents the results of a study of a convenience sample of over 200 Turkish academics and
graduate students who have participated in one or more workshops on teaching with case studies or
writing case studies, conducted across Turkey over the time period of February 2016 to November
2017. These higher education scholars represent business schools, university-based technoparks, and
other related institutions having a desire to develop their PCL methodologies, totalling about 80
organizations located across all regions of Turkey. The data were collected through an online survey
that was announced after each workshop, so the data collection was fully voluntary. The survey
included both open and closed questions to provide data to determine potential trends in the adoption
and adaptation of the case method in management education, and the barriers and resistors to change,
in contrast to more traditional methods of classroom delivery.
According to the preliminary results, some of the key positive attributes of the case method in the
Turkish classroom as depicted by the qualitative answers to the survey include:
The dynamism that cases bring to courses, both for students and instructors
Making clear links between theory and practice
The opportunities to ‘jump into the shoes’ of the entrepreneur or the professional
Its capacity for practice based learning
The opportunities provided to solve real life problems
Contribution to analytical thinking
Enhancing decision making skills
Promoting and fostering interest and participation in the class
However, some of the most frequently noted barriers to case development in Turkey include:
They push students to adopt in-depth analytically approaches which are often unfamiliar to the
learner
Difficulties in establishing the collaborative links with firms from which to extract case data
Lack of experience – on the part of both students and teachers
There are very limited good cases which focus on Turkey
Lack of willingness of students to prepare for a case discussion prior to the class
Students tend to prefer a more directed approach.
The findings demonstrate that there are significant pockets of research in Turkey that are already
exploring some of these concepts and methodologies. However, this research also notes a reticence
for change in management education, and an unwillingness on the part of the student and the tutor, to
11th Annual Conference of the EuroMed Academy of Business 1496
Research Advancements in National and ISSN: 2547-8516
Global Business Theory and Practice ISBN: 978-9963-711-67-3
embrace the principles of PCL in the classroom, citing longstanding cultural traditions of directive
learning that continue to provide barriers to the adoption of more PCL-type approaches.
Future work will entail building on the exploratory phase of the study to generate theoretical
foundations of effective classroom usage of the case study method in management and
entrepreneurship education for the Turkish context. The cultural factor in the Turkish education
system that encourages a controlled ‘spoonfeeding’ approach to teaching may be in part due to the
power distance in the Turkish society (students versus instructors), and also the cultural tendency
towards uncertainty avoidance. In order to tackle such deep set issues, one can conduct a series of
experiments in classroom settings in order to identify whether teaching style, salience of the case topic
to the audience, group versus individual work, prior preparation, length and type of case study, etc.
would aid in overcoming the inertia and resistance towards the case study approach that may be
faced in a typical Turkish classroom setting. The next steps of the study aim to lead to testable
hypotheses regarding various dimensions of effective teaching and learning with the case study
approach toward PCL for future and present managers and entrepreneurs in Turkey.
Keywords: participant centred learning, case method, higher education, Turkey
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