Citation:
Claus Springborg and Donna Ladkin, Realising the potential of art-based methods in managerial learning: embodied cognition as an explanatory view of knowledge. 74th Academy of Management Annual Meeting, 1-5 August 2014, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Abstract:
Although art-based methods are increasingly being used in management learning
interventions (Taylor & Ladkin, 2009) there is little understanding about the means by which
these methods foster particular learning outcomes. This conceptually-based paper addresses
this concern through revisiting the philosophy of art and education (Arnheim, 1969; Dewey,
1934; Eisner, 2002; Langer, 1951) in light of recent theoretical developments in
neuroscience known as embodied cognition (Niedenthal, Barsalou, Winkielman, Krauth-
Gruber, & Ric, 2005; Rohrer, 2007; Wilson, 2002). We propose that embodied cognition’s
recognition of the central role played by ‘simulation’ (Barsalou 1999, 2008) in learning
processes offers unique insights into the mechanisms through which arts-based methods work
and how they differ from (other) experiential learning interventions. This exploration leads to
two propositions, a) stimulating new activation patterns in the way the brain engages with a
phenomenon enables new possibilities for dealing with that phenomenon; and b) making art
is a means by which those new activation patterns can be created. The paper concludes by
demonstrating the power of this understanding by re-interpreting three scholarly accounts of
the use of art-based methods within manager development, and suggesting implications for
how such interventions can more fully realise their developmental potential.
