Finding beauty in the banal: An exploration of service work in the artful classroom
Ralph Bathurst
Department of Management and International Business, Massey University, Albany Campus, Auckland, New Zealand
Janet Grace Sayers
Department of Management and International Business, Massey University (Albany), Auckland, New Zealand
Nanette Monin
Department of Management and International Business, Massey University, Albany Campus, Auckland, New Zealand
PP: 521 - 534
Abstract
Artists derive inspiration from daily life. According to John Dewey (1934), common experiences are transformed into works of art through a process of compression and expression.
Our paper adopts Dewey's frame to demonstrate that experience in the artful classroom plays a valuable role in management education. We asked students to reflect on their work experience and then to provide an artful expression of their reflections. For this exercise we defined artfulness as a process which relies on the discursive practices of satire, and in particular irony and parody.
Offering a service management class as an exemplar we demonstrate the use of these rhetorical techniques as reflective learning tools. A class of students were first prompted to consider their common experiences as both customers and service providers, and were then asked to create an ironic artefact.
Our paper, which analyses a cartoon sequence produced by students in response to this assignment and in which they parody the fast-food service experience, illustrates how a business studies classroom can be transformed into an artful space.
Keywords
artistry, Dewey, dialogue, cartoon, irony, parody, satire, service work
Article Text
Contemporary business schools have been criticised for their lack of attention to thoughtful inquiry, as they become more and more like factories that churn out graduates with simple answers to complex issues confronting organizations, rather than places of deep philosophical inquiry (Mintzberg 2003). The popular press has picked up a plea for a better educated student populace, advocating a liberal arts holistic education as a better preparation than management theory for students entering the business world (Hart 2007).
In this paper we take up this concern by asking how educational processes in a management school might be made artful. As we discuss theoretical issues that underpin the introduction of artful approaches we also examine the nature of artistry and propose ways in which this translates into the learning environment. As an example of this we describe a service management course in which students were invited to consider an artful means of engagement with course content; and we focus on a response that employs cartooning to describe the complex social and political relationships that underpin service work. First, though, we examine the philosophical grounds for taking this artful approach in a discussion of Dewey's forays into the world of art creation. ...continues...
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