Purpose This paper aims to examine the experience of gaining research independence by becoming a principal investigator (PI) – an aspiration for many post-PhD researchers about whom little is known. It provides insight into this experience by using a qualitative narrative approach to document how 60 PIs from a range of disciplines in one European and two UK universities experienced working towards and achieving this significant goal. Design/methodology/approach Within the context of a semi-structured interview, individuals drew and elaborated a map representing the emotional high and low experiences of the journey from PhD graduation to first PI grant, and completed a biographic questionnaire. Findings Regardless of the length of the journey from PhD graduation to first PI grant, more than a third noted the role that luck played in getting the grant. Luck was also perceived to have an influence in other aspects of academic work. This influence made it even more important for these individuals to sustain a belief in themselves and be agentive and persistent in managing the challenges of the journey. Originality/value The study, unusual in its cross-national perspective, and its mixed mode data collection, offers a nuanced perspective on the interaction between agency and an environment where the “randomness factor” plays a role in success. The function of luck as a support for sustained agency and resilience is explored.
The growing crisis of confidence in the integrity of managerial decision making is partly attributed to the prescriptive character of educational programs favored by Western business schools. This character includes an overly instrumental preoccupation, preventing practitioner students from developing skill sets to address the varied issues that organizations face. We argue for more challenging pedagogical programs to help managers increase their understanding of contemporary managerial requirements. We document a teaching scenario that drew on critical management studies research material (coined as “troublesome knowledge”) designed to engage students. The “situated learning” focus adopted enabled students to collectively interrogate managerialist and troublesome knowledge perspectives. The integration of theory and practice that emerged through the combination of analytical sources, classroom dialogue, and novel assignments developed the students’ “relational” understandings and skills of “reflexivity,” a combination we characterize as advancing “practical wisdom.” The R&R (relational and reflexive) “threshold concepts” were used as a learning framework to chart student progress. We modeled a parallel facilitative mode of critical reflection- and relationship-centered management style. Feedback from the students indicates that the coupling of critically oriented conceptual material with the applied principles proffered empowering options for them regarding their own managerial practice.
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