Læringsdialoger: Læringsrefleksioner mellem undervisere, studerende og organisationer på Akademiuddannelser.

Abstract

Dette projekt, der delvist er skrevet som en historie, er et masterprojekt til uddannelsen Master i læring med speciale i ledelses- og organisationspsykologi (LOOP) på Ålborg universitet. Formålet med masterprojektet er at afdække læringsprocesser og forestillinger om læring imellem undervisere, studerende og de respektive organisationer og de forskellige behov der udspiller sig i de forskellige arenaer, hvor de færdes. Hvordan er anvendelsen af akademiuddannelserne for mellemledere ved Livgarden? For at studere emnet, har jeg anvendt Aktør Netværk Teorien, for at tydeliggøre Aktører, Aktanter og sorte bokse. Som struktur til opgaven har jeg anvendt Situations Analyse, som viste sig som en robust måde at undersøge forskellige perspektiver på. Jeg har anvendt abduktiv metode til at undersøge feltet i lyset af kritisk realisme. Gennem SA’s tre faser udarbejdede jeg først et situationskort, som jeg på baggrund af lavede et relationskort. Her fandt jeg, at det militære uddannelsessystem er fyldt med artefakter, hvor alt fra uddannelse, rang til erfaring udtrykkes eksplicit, mens akademiuddannelserne meget begrænset findes i verbale artefakter. I den næste fase undersøgte jeg de sociale arenaer, hvor jeg fandt at akademiuddannelserne udvikler mellemledernes sproglige kompetencer. I tredje fase sammenlignede jeg de sproglige kompetencer med den teknologiske kompleksitet, og det blev tydeligt, at et moderne militært operationsmiljø er så komplekst, at det kræver en anden måde at udføre operationer på. Der er derfor et stigende behov for refleksivitet blandt mellemlederne, da deres opgaver er blevet mere eksplicit sproglige. Som en konklusion kan jeg sige at akademiuddannelserne øger mellemledernes sproglige kompetencer og på den baggrund opnår de et øget ledelsesrum, hvorfra de udfordrer og udvikler konstabler, sidestilede og foresatte. Jeg kan endvidere konkludere, at øgede sproglige kompetence, udvikler deres refleksivitet. Jeg antager derfor, at akademiuddannelsens retning er af mindre betydning, da det er det generelle vokabularium der øges. Det stod også klart at et stadigt mere komplekst operationsmiljø kombineret med tilgang af avanceret teknologi, stiller mellemlederne over for dilemmaer og paradokser, hvori de skal navigere. Slutteligt kan jeg sige at: Akademiuddannelserne øger mellemledernes sproglige kompetencer, hvilket sætter dem i stand til bedre at indgå i dialoger på alle niveauer af organisationen, ligesom aktivt bidrager til at til bedre samarbejde på tværs af organisationen som følge af bedre kommunikation. Akademiuddannelsen dækker endvidere et behov for en mere demokratisk og tillidsbaseret ledelsesstil, hvilket bidrager til at udvikle konstablernes ansvarsfølelse og selvstændighed. I forbindelse med indførsel af stadig mere og kompleks teknologi, er der netop behov for øget selvstændighed og ansvarsfølelse hos konstablerne. Det øgede vokabularium som følge af akademiuddannelserne bidrager ikke til en mere koordineret forståelse af ledelse, primært fordi begrebsapparatet i ledelseslitteraturen er mindre koordineret end det for eksempel er inden for Finans og IT. Akademiuddannelserne understøtter heller ikke direkte behovet for refleksivitet, teknologisk læring og videndeling, som der ellers er behov for, som følge af ændrede operationsmønstre i Forsvaret, primært fordi det ikke indgår som målrettet læring og deraf medfølgende ordforråd, der kan understøtte netop de kompetencer.

This project, which is partly written as a fictive story, is the final project for the Master's degree in Leaning Processes, with a specialization in Management and Organizational Psychology (LOOP) from Aalborg University. The purpose the project is to uncover the learning processes and notions of learning between teachers, students and their respective organizations, and the different needs that occur in their different settings. In order to investigate this theme, I’ve formulated the following question: How is the applicability of the NCO’s AP (Executive Education at an Academy of Applied Science) for The Queens Guard? Through the Actor Network Theory I have studied the subject thoroughly by clarifying the actors, the actants and the black boxes. For structure, I have used Situational Analysis (SA), which is proven to be a powerful way to investigate a question from all major perspectives. My method have been abductive, which I found easy to apply within critical realism. Through the work of the three phases of SA, I first worked with messy maps and situational maps, where I discovered that the military system is full of artifacts, in which everything from education, power, to experience are explicitly expressed, while academics are not expressed at all neither verbally nor in artifacts. In the next phase, I examined the social arenas, where I found that the educational programs develop the NCO’s linguistic competences which gave them tools to lead and develop the competences of the constables, as the constables competencies are best developed through a democratic management style based on trust and cooperation across organizations. The upgrade of the NCO’s linguistic competencies therefore comes in handy, as the constables has to service increasingly complex military equipment. In the third phase, I compared the linguistic competencies to the technological complexity, and it became clear that a contemporary military operation environment is so complex that it requires a different way of operating. There is therefore an increasingly need for reflectivity among the NCO’s, as their tasks have become more explicitly linguistic. The executive programs at an AP do not contribute to measurable skills, and the development of the NCO’s is thus difficult to demonstrate. As a conclusion, I can say that: On the basis of the study, I have found that AP increases the linguistic competencies of the NCO’s and that they thereby achieve a larger area of management from which they contribute to challenging and developing employees, colleagues and managers. I can also conclude that understanding follows the vocabulary and since verbal development is an essential part of the competences developed, it develops the NCO’s reflexivity. I therefore assume that the line of AP direction is less important as it is the general vocabulary level that is being increased and that the reflections therefor as a consequence are developed along. In relation to the competences needed at The Queens Guards, it is clear that the increased technology, as well as the increasingly complex operation environment, places the NCO’s in dilemmas and paradoxes, which requires a greater focus on reflexivity, technological learning and knowledge sharing. The AP does not adequately fulfill the needs and therefore only partially fulfills the need. 1. Specifically I have found several competences applied through AP, although it was difficult due to the fact that there were no visual artifacts of the AP just as the verbal artifacts were almost non-existing to support the findings. However, it was perceptible that linguistic competences of the NCO’s were increased. They were therefore able to participate in dialogues across hierarchies, as well as enabled to collaborate cross-organizational more smoothly. The increased linguistic competence strengthens both the indirect and the direct quality of the communication in the organization. 2. AP covers a need to support and develop a greater degree of independence and sense of responsibility of the constable group. The need is due to an increasing need of specialization based on increased use of technology in the Armed Forces. The more reflective behavior of the NCO’s supports both a more trust-based management style, but also a democratic form of management that supports that. 3. The vocabulary submitted by the AP (primarily in management) is more inaccurate than in other disciplines within AP. Therefore they do not fully contribute to a more coordinated understanding of management and management behavior at a linguistic level. The AP also did not fully support an increased need for explicit learning and understanding of technological understanding, knowledge sharing and reflection.

A master programme thesis from Aalborg University

Læringsdialoger: Læringsrefleksioner mellem undervisere, studerende og organisationer på Akademiuddannelser.

[learning dialogs: Learning refletions between teachers, students and organizations in AP education]