Reflective practice in management practice: a systematic review

There can be few business schools in Britain that have not been influenced by a discourse holding that reflective practice on behalf of managers provides real value to the organisation in which they operate. Influenced by high profile cases of management failings (both ethically and organisationally) the impact on the management curriculum has been significant. Reflection is now enshrined in most professional and postgraduate management programmes. Anderson (2003), for example, argues that critical reflection is a ‘hallmark’ of Masters level management education, whilst authors such as Gray (2007) and Reynolds (1998) see a management curriculum embracing reflection as indicative of a more critical curriculum, challenging the traditional, functionalist orientation, with its emphasis on the transmission of knowledge. That reflective practice should feature prominently within the management education curriculum is a position supported by bodies such the British Academy of Management, the Association of Business Schools, the Association of Management Education and Development as well as many of the quasi professional bodies who purport to promote the education and continuing professional development (cpd) of their member managers (e.g. Chartered Management Institute, Charted Institute of Personnel and Development, Charted Institute of Management Accountants etc.)