TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of academic scholarship on the development and practice of experienced managers. Design/methodology/approach– Semi-structured interviews with experienced managers, modelled on the critical incident technique. “Intertextuality” and framework analysis technique are used to examine whether the use of academic scholarship is a sub-conscious phenomenon. Findings– Experienced managers make little direct use of academic scholarship, using it only occasionally to provide retrospective confirmation of decisions or a technique they can apply. However, academic scholarship informs their practice in an indirect way, their understanding of the “gist” of scholarship comprising one of many sources which they synthesise and evaluate as part of their development process. Practical implications– Managers and management development practitioners should focus upon developing skills of synthesising the “gist” of academic scholarship with other sources of data, rather than upon the detailed remembering, understanding and application of specific scholarship, and upon finding/providing the time and space for that “gisting” and synthesis to take place. Originality/value– The paper addresses contemporary concerns about the appropriateness of the material delivered on management education programmes for management development. It is original in doing this from the perspective of experienced managers, and in using intertextual analysis to reveal not only the direct but also the indirect uses of they make of such scholarship. The finding of the importance of understanding the “gist” rather than the detail of academic scholarship represents a key conceptual innovation.
VL  - 34
IS  - 3
SN  - 0262-1711
DO  - 10.1108/JMD-09-2013-0109
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-09-2013-0109
AU  - Ross Catharine Mary
AU  - Robinson Laurie
AU  - Francis-Smythe Jan
PY  - 2015
Y1  - 2015/01/01
TI  - The contribution of academic scholarship to management development
T2  - Journal of Management Development
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 286
EP  - 298
Y2  - 2024/05/06
ER  -