MIL practitioner guide: chapter 7

Chapter 7: Managerial intellectual learning  for scholar-practitioners

The continuing intellectual learning to develop managerial competence, being the aim of managerial intellectual learning, is a highly relevant personal developmental pathway for the learner with a life-goal to be a scholar-practitioner. In this case, it can also be said that the learner's life-goal to become a scholar-practitioner constitutes the motivator to pursue MIL. This is, however, not necessarily the situation because MIL is a special version of managerial intellectual learning in that it has unique learning characteristics, notably its embrace of critical systems thinking and multi-perspective, systems-based research, among others. Therefore, not all scholar-practitioners in business management adopts the specific learning route of MIL for continuing professional development. Notwithstanding this fact, an understanding of the professional development process of scholar-practitioner in business management (re: Figure 2) also improves comprehension of the nature of MIL.

Briefly, the professional development process to become a scholar-practitioner in business management recognizes five related sets of considerations:

A. The supportive infrastructure: The infrastructure enables information, knowledge flow as well as intellectual dialogues with other people in both physical and virtual ways.

B. Learning process and motivators: The learning process involves the inter-related activities of writing, research, teaching, sharing and praxis.

C. Impacts on skills: Specific skill impacts include improved managerial skills, improved teaching skills and improved intellectual skills.

D. Professional identity: The professional identity is that of a scholar-practitioner.

E. On personal well-being: A number of favourable impacts on personal well-being are identified on work-life balance, self-actualization and employability.

The professional development process enriches our understanding of the MIL process by taking in consideration of professional development factors specific to a scholar-practitioner. And to be  a scholar-practitioner is an important MIL motivator.

Further readings

Ho, J.K.K. 2014. "A Theoretical Review on the Professional Development to Be a Scholar-Practitioner in Business Management" European Academic Research 1(12) March: 5393-5422.

Ho, J.K.K. 2014. "Mapping and explaining the Multi-perspective, Systems-based Research sub-Systems Movement" European Academic Research 2(9) December: 11880-11900.

Ho, J.K.K. 2015. "A survey study of perceptions on the scholar-practitioner notion: the Hong Kong case" American Research Thoughts 1(10) August: 2268-2284.