Development management as reflective practice

Abstract

Article first published online: 15 DEC 2006\ud \ud DOI: 10.1002/jid.1323This paper examines development management through the reflections of development managers themselves. They are seen to grapple with the global and local contexts that frame their actions; with operationalising their individual values and ethics about development; and with issues concerning inter-personal and inter-organisational relationships. The paper argues that such reflections potentially form the basis of transformations in learning and development practice. However, for this to happen development managers have to embed their reflections within their work, and conceptualise their relations with other stakeholders beyond operational management challenges towards joint learning opportunities. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Challenges facing international projects for entrepreneurial development in South Africa

“…This need to balance the allocation of resources between project management and entrepreneurial services has not yet been fully explored in the literature, and studying this phenomenon from a managerial perspective would be valuable. Studies that focus on the management of international development projects (Khang & Moe, 2008;Navarro-Flores, 2011;Ika, 2012;Ika et al, 2012;Okorley & Nkrumah, 2012;Brière & Proulx, 2013;Hermano et al, 2013) and the development of staff skills in NGOs (Diallo & Thuillier, 2005;Abbott et al, 2007;Brière & Proulx, 2013;Hermano et al, 2013) are interesting, but there is a need for more contextualised studies on the management practices of NGOs that support entrepreneurship in developing countries.…”

The Lived Experience of Climate Change

“…The research concerned the extent to which the students as development managers engaged in reflective practice in managing interventions that involved engagement with diverse stakeholders. We found that many of them did reflect deeply, but also that the programme developed a community of practice among the students who were drawn from African countries as well as the UK (Abbott et al 2007).…”

Engagement, Learning and Emancipatory Development Management: A Commentary

“…Broadly supporting the findings from the previous case interviews, Abbott et al . () concluded that development managers try to make sense of donor agendas by adapting tools and techniques to their own context and by aiming to engage horizontally with stakeholders. However, they also concluded that the development managers were not very confident about the overall trajectory of what they do.…”

“…Despite these conclusions, Abbott et al . (, p. 201) suggested that the field of development management possesses a distinctiveness that enables practitioners ‘to reflect on and deconstruct deeper meanings of values, ethics, power and culture’, not simply the learning of management tools. They also argued that the practice of development management presents the possibility of thinking more widely about collective as well as individual agency, acting as a ‘driver for change’ involving ‘learning and knowledge building across organisations’ (ibid).…”

“…Indeed, some of our earlier research investigated the extent to which this occurred and with what effect (Johnson and Thomas, , ). Other research (Abbott et al ., , p. 187) examined ‘how development managers make sense of their jobs’ by analysing the research project reports they had written for their MSc qualifications. Broadly supporting the findings from the previous case interviews, Abbott et al .…”