The DBA: form and function

Bourner, Tom; Ruggeri-Stevens, Geoff; Bareham, Jon

doi:10.1108/00400910010362914

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 4 publications

(6 reference statements)

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“…The Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) remains new in the UK but is on the increase, in response to dissatisfaction in the business sector with the traditional PhD (Bourner, Ruggeri-Stevens and Bareham, 2000). A number of US institutions have developed Doctorates in Public Administration (DPA) (Sherwood, 1996;Brewer et al, 1999), although the need for a degree distinct from the PhD is contested (Hambrick, 1997) and the DPA has yet to appear in the UK.…”

Section: Diversity Of Provision -Emergence Of New Forms Of Doctoratementioning

confidence: 99%

New Variant PhD: The changing nature of the doctorate in the UK

Park

2005

Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management

256

150

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Since the early twentieth century the PhD has been the research degree of choice in the UK, but traditional ideas and practices relating to the degree are now being challenged. This paper sketches out the main drivers of change and explores the main challenges confronting doctoral study within the UK. It explains why there is a need for a wholesale revision of assumptions and expectations about what the PhD is, and it charts the genesis and evolution of the PhD in the UK. Key drivers for change include a new emphasis on skills and training, submission rates and quality of supervision, changes in the examination of the thesis, and the introduction of national benchmarking. The paper then explores changes in the PhD as product and as process, and outlines how and why new forms of doctorate are emerging. It asks, rhetorically, whether the changing nature of the doctorate reflects adaptation to changing circumstances in order to survive.

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Section: Diversity Of Provision -Emergence Of New Forms Of Doctoratementioning

confidence: 99%

New Variant PhD: The changing nature of the doctorate in the UK

Park

2005

Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management

256

150

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“…Sekhon (1989) and Trigwell et al (1997, p. 6) advocated that doctoral programmes need to become more industry-oriented and include personal relationship training, practical problem solving, and a strengthened relationship between industry and higher education institutions. Professional doctorates like the DBA intend to achieve most if not all of these imperatives, as has been shown in other countries offering the DBA, such as the UK (Bourner et al, 2000). As Bourner et al (2000, p. 494) assert, "[the DBA] is a programme of research-based management development aimed at developing the capacity to make a significant original contribution to management practice".…”

Section: Research Contributions Of the Dba And Phdmentioning

confidence: 99%

The nature and purpose of the DBA

Sarros

Willis

Palmer

2005

Education + Training

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Purpose -To explore the nature (component parts, degree structure) and purpose (intended outcomes) of the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the degree as they stand presently, using Australian experience. Design/methodology/approach -A review of DBA programme offerings in Australia identified commonalities and differences in these offerings, and provided information necessary to propose strategic and theoretical implications of DBA education. Findings -The paper demonstrates areas of confusion surrounding the purpose and nature of the DBA degree, especially as a research degree in comparison to the PhD. It concludes that quality controls are needed to ensure that this growing addition to management education adds to, and aids, the goal of strengthening management research, in ways that link theoretical insights with management practice. Research limitations/implications -Theoretical and practical implications of the DBA degree are offered, as well as the extent to which the DBA addresses the educational needs of students and its benefits to the university. Practical implications -The paper provides data useful to administrators interested in establishing a DBA degree in their institution, for researchers wishing to further explore and contribute to the discourse regarding the calibre and content of DBA degrees, and for students wishing to learn more about the fundamental differences between the PhD and the DBA. Originality/value -This paper provides new information about the way the DBA degree is developing in an Australian context, and offers advice on issues that need attention in order to further ground the DBA in a combined research and practitioner ethic.The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature (component parts, degree structure) and purpose (intended outcomes) of the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree, and identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the degree as they stand presently, using Australian experience. In this paper, business administration is defined as the management and administration of enterprises across fields as diverse as corporate finance, accounting, economics and law, management, marketing, engineering and information technology and including industries in the private and public sectors, not-for-profit organisations, higher education, and hospital and school systems. The nature of the DBA degree refers to its structure across institutions, and also the delivery of the degree in Australia and internationally in terms of student numbers and mode of delivery. Purpose refers to intended outcomes of the DBA. As discussed in this paper, the research focus of professional doctorates like the DBA is "concerned with researching the real business and managerial issues via the critical

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“…The DBA is mostly offered through part-time delivery, completed over 3–6 years to enable students to continue to work full-time (Bourner et al, 2000), and is classified as a research degree. While some variance is found, training in areas such as research design skills, research philosophy and methodology is provided alongside action learning sets to facilitate dialogue between students, in addition to the appointment of a supervisory team (Bourner et al, 2000). Assessment usually occurs throughout the programme via a number of specific documents with later documents assessed through a viva voce (Ruggeri-Stevens et al, 2001).…”

Section: The Dbamentioning

confidence: 99%

Desperately seeking fixedness: Practitioners’ accounts of ‘becoming doctoral researchers’

Hay

Samra-Fredericks

2016

Management Learning

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We draw upon the concept of liminality to explore the experiences of practitioners enrolled on a UK Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) programme. We analyse twenty practitioners' reflective journals to detail how the DBA liminal space was negotiated. More specifically, we describe how practitioners deal with their struggles of identity incoherence or 'monsters of doubt' which are amplified in the DBA context owing to the complex nature of the separation phase of liminality. We identify three broad methods deployed in this endeavour: 'scaffolding'; 'putting the past to work' and 'bracketing'-which evidence practitioners 'desperately seeking fixedness'. We make three contributions -first, we provide empirical insights into the experiences of the increasingly significant, but still under researched, DBA student. Second, we develop our understandings of monsters of doubt through illustrating how these are negotiated for learning to progress. Finally, we contribute to wider discussions of 'becoming' to demonstrate the simultaneous and paradoxical importance of movement and fixedness in order to learn and become.

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The DBA: form and function

Cited by 15 publications

References 4 publications

New Variant PhD: The changing nature of the doctorate in the UK

New Variant PhD: The changing nature of the doctorate in the UK

The nature and purpose of the DBA

Desperately seeking fixedness: Practitioners’ accounts of ‘becoming doctoral researchers’

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