Seizing the Moment: Talking about the “Undiscussables”

Abstract

Given the varied backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives among students and faculty in management education and organizational studies programs, often teachable moments present themselves around differing perceptions. Seizing these moments to talk about difficult, controversial issues—or undiscussables—can catalyze and deepen learning. This article delves into the underutilized resource of class conversations for conversational learning. It explores how to prepare more receptive learning environments and how to prepare faculty to facilitate conversational interactions that can promote a more complex level of learning. The article concludes with two illustrations from actual classroom work.

Enhancing Deep Learning: Lessons From the Introduction of Learning Teams in Management Education in France

“…Creating a receptive conversational space for these kinds of conversations, however, is essential (Baker, 2009). Furthermore, the importance of trusting relationships among students has been documented to be an important element of both learning and performance in teams (Edmondson, 1996(Edmondson, , 1999 as well as other components that influenced the development of the program in this case study (Baker, 2004;Clark & Gibb, 2006;Harrison & Akinc, 2000;Kalliath & Laiken, 2006;Ramsey, 2002).…”

Market Discipline and Management Education

“…The analysis complements the existing literature by showing how management education helps individuals and organizations resolve concrete problems, thereby contributing to the organization's long-run sustainability. Techniques such as using the situation at hand to "talk about the undiscussables" (Baker, 2004), using inductive reasoning to move from a concrete situation to a more general solution (Taft, 2007), and using just-in-time educational delivery (Watson & Temkin, 2000) have all been discussed in the literature. Therefore, the current study illustrates how these techniques have been taken up and used in a different context.…”

Dialogue in the graduate management classroom: Learning from diversity

“…(Sarita Chawla as cited in Ellinor & Gerard, 1998:98) Without listening there can be no dialogue because dialogue requires a shift from understanding the world from one's own perspective to also understanding from another's, regardless of how different that is (Isaacs, 1999;Yankelovich, 1999). Although she is not writing specifically about dialogue, Baker (2004) captures well the difference between listening as it often occurs in discussion and as it is practiced in dialogue:…”

“…In dialogue, the classroom becomes a container in which participants feel listened to and respected by others and can safely suspend assumptions while giving voice to their thoughts. Baker (2004) uses the term "holding environment" to describe a space "in which opposing ideas can be explored, resolved, or embraced and in which the contributions of all participants are valued" (p. 695). A container is created in part by the structure provided by a syllabus and course expectations, but these alone are not enough to create an environment of trust (Ramsay & Fitzgibbons, 2005).…”

“…These assumptions relate not just to the content of the course but, more importantly, to our understandings of each other. Baker (2004) writes about "undiscussable" issues that arise in the classroom, arguing that at their core "are usually unquestioned assumptions that contribute to the conflicts associated with differences" (p. 695). For example, if some of the participants consider feminists to be anti-male or white men from the United States to be brash, those assumptions will affect how participants listen to and interact with each other.…”