34
• Argumentative strategy
In keeping with the cyclical approach to this study, the literature review followed a cyclical learning strategy promoted in the 16th century by Ignatius of Loyola (Nowacek & Mountin, 2012). Ignatius of Loyola observed a learning spiral within a context that cycled through experience, reflection and action before ending with evaluation. Part of literature reviews is synthesising the literature for which Besson and Rowe (2012) recommend a conceptual framework presented at the beginning of the literature review (Rowe, 2014). Applying the Ignatian pedagogy as a framework provides a structure for the literature review, as shown in Table 2.2.
Table 2.1. Structure of the literature review.
Step Section Ignatian Pedagogy Literature Review Conceptual Framework
1 3 Introduction
2 3.1 Context Literature Review Method
3 3.2 Experience Knowledge and Learning Spaces
3.3 Experiential Learning in Business Process Management Courses 3.4 Student Reflections for Improved Learning Outcomes
3.5 Generative Learning Mechanisms in Experiential Learning Projects
3.6 Reflective Practice
4 3.7 Reflection Reflection on the Knowledge Gap
5 3.8 Action Theoretical Lens Model
6 3.9 Evaluation Research Problem, Aim and Questions
7 3.10 Summary Chapter Summary
35 human actors. It may also be existentialist, whereby no one person can acquire knowledge on behalf of another (Crotty, 1998). Social constructivism is a variation of constructivism that seeks to perceive reality socially (Galbin, 2014). The focus shifts from mirrors of reality in peoples’ minds to the relations that sustain individuals in their world (also referred to as a social structure or field (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992)). Knowledge is of lesser importance than the meaning that the observer places on it, particularly in the pragmatist tradition.
Pragmatism understands meaning as socially constructed but continuously changing as the self grows (Garrison, 1995; Jackson, 2014).
The growth in knowledge through which meaning is formed and reformed is personal and often referred to as tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge cannot be expressed nor readily communicated (Polanyi, 1969). Although tacit knowledge has an explicit element, it carries experiential connotations for tacit knowledge in contexts other people may not know (Straw, 2000). This reveals the secondness and the underexplored thirdness of Peirce (1905).
Thirdness is noticed in the relations important for social constructivism and embedded in sociology and communication (Galbin, 2014). Dewey suggests that communication occurs through art which is understood as cultural artefacts (Garrison, 1995) and resonates with Peirce’s signs (Samuels, 2000). Art is a subtype of aesthetics that includes quality and is linked to education through Dewey's concept of experience. Tacit knowledge integrates a functional relationship (or gestalt) between knowledge that is in bodies and minds, such as a technical skill, which a person cannot fully explain to another person (marginal elements) and the thing or things on which the person knowingly focuses (focal awareness) (Polanyi, 1969). Thus, learning and experience are closely linked. A popular learning theory that recognises these links is experiential learning theory (Kolb, 2015). According to Kolb (2015), experiential learning theory is a holistic framework based on gestalt for diversity education. Gestalt is unorthodox, radical and nonconformist (Rainey 2019) and originated in psychology a century ago. One of the most influential social psychology founders using gestalt methods was Kurt Lewin, whose work forms parts of Kolb's experiential learning theory (Rainey, 2019). Rainey (2019) provides a list of gestalt related implications, many of which were found to resonate with the current study.
36
“Gestalt...
• defied isolationist theory and asserted holism;
• dared to challenge Freudian psychology and assumptions of Newtonian physics;
• applied mindfulness in the concept of “awareness” to the therapeutic process;
• created a relational and dialogic practice built on use-of-self, presence, and high contact;
• focused on now when the world wanted to hold tight to then and next;
• prioritized how and what over why;
• considered the body a valid source of information in therapeutic practice;
• encouraged client responsibility and accountability;
• proclaimed that 'resistance is good' and 'change is paradoxical’;
• formulated a systems theory of human behaviour;
• positioned the group as a foundational and potent structure for social change;
• recognized the validity of learning from subjective experience. “ (Rainey, 2019, p. 61).
Köhler (1959), a gestalt founder, acknowledged that gestalt might have adversely affected orthodox American psychology due to its limited regard for method and subjectivity, leading to incorrect assumptions. The preoccupation with the method limited the range of research (Köhler, 1959).
Although tacit knowledge is difficult to articulate, explicit knowledge carries awareness and is explainable (Polanyi, 1969). Explicit knowledge begins with experience and is enabled by a holistic internal understanding of a subject from the observed parts referred to as indwelling (Polanyi, 1969) and can be likened to Peirce's thirdness. Nonaka (1994) describes the relationship between tacit and explicit knowledge in the socialisation, externalisation, combination, and internalisation framework referred to as SECI. The framework is presented as a cyclical spiral model. Socialisation, externalisation, combination and internalisation are based on the premise that tacit and explicit knowledge can be placed on perpendicular axes to provide four quadrants, as shown by Nonaka and Konno (1998), depicted in Figure 2.2.
37 Figure 2.2. Spiral evolution of knowledge conversion and self-transcending process (Nonaka
& Konno, 1998).
Socialisation is the conversion of tacit knowledge of one person to tacit knowledge of another through personal interactions. Externalisation is derived from tacit knowledge converted to explicit knowledge. Combination is when explicit knowledge is converted to another form of explicit knowledge. Internalisation describes the conversion of explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge. Although the model has been accused of being reductionist, which moderates the indwelling conception's power (Straw, 2000), it provides insight into the transference of knowledge. Separating the entanglements of tacit and explicit knowledge shows where the transfers occur, referred to as ba (Nonaka & Konno, 1998).
Central to ba is the concept of knowledge creation which is existential in recognising the self in all. Knowledge acquired by the individual through reflection on experience is embedded in the shared spaces of ba. Outside of ba, knowledge is explicit and can be communicated externally to ba. Inside ba, knowledge exists at multiple levels (Nonaka & Konno, 1998). Ba differs according to the social situation. In organisations, the individuals’ ba is the team, the team’s ba is the organisation, and the organisation’s ba is the external environment. The most potent form of knowledge creation is when the multiple levels of ba are combined for a single purpose. For individuals (teams, organisations and even markets), ba is transcendental through social interactions, expanding individuals’ knowledge through experience and reflection (Nonaka & Konno, 1998). This resembles Vygotsky's zone of proximal development
38 and the associated benefits of scaffolding (Vygotsky, 1978). Ultimately, ba is the shared space where the individual acquires knowledge through reflection on experiences in social settings and resonates with experiential learning theories.
In the next section, experiential learning is examined with a specific focus on business process management education.