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Description
The popularity of TED talks raises important questions about how management education should respond to, and engage with, this distinct yet contradictory genre.
Our analysis is based on a triadic model of communication that acknowledges the role of TED talk producers and readers and positions the talks as ‘texts’. We analyse the ‘performative structure’ of TED talks and draw on qualitative interview data to understand how management students ‘read’ these texts.
Through this, we identify three main contradictions: (i) freedom to learn (ii) status of scientific evidence and (iii) authenticity of speakers and texts. To understand why management students, continue to engage with the genre despite these contradictions, we introduce the concept of pedagogical pleasure, which we suggest makes management students vulnerable to the seductive pleasure of TED talks.
We argue that management students can experience deeper and more meaningful forms of pedagogical pleasure through more active, dialogical engagement with these texts. However, this relies on acquiring critical reading skills that would enable the seductive power of this contradictory genre to be challenged.
Speaker Bios
Emma Bell is Professor of Organisation Studies at the Open University in the United Kingdom. Prior to joining the Open University in 2017, she was a professor at Keele University for five years. Before that she worked as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Warwick, Queen Mary University of London, University of Bath and Exeter University. Emma is Joint Editor-in-Chief of the journal Management Learning, Associate Editor for Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, and serves on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Learning & Education, Organization, Scandinavian Journal of Management and Human Relations. She is current Co-Vice Chair Research and Publication for the British Academy of Management and Past Chair of the Critical Management Studies Division of the Academy of Management. Her early working life included a period as a graduate management trainee in the UK National Health Service. Recently, Emma has been involved in projects that explore the meaning of contemporary craft work and the globalisation of management research. She is currently working on a project funded by the UK-India Education Research Initiative (UKIERI) entitled 'Developing Empowering Methodologies in Management Research'.