Developing a both-ways management education pedagogy from the key motivations of Aboriginal Australians

This thesis investigates the key motivations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in an attempt to identify factors that need to be taken into consideration in designing a pedagogical framework for management education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.The choice of topic was influenced by the Aboriginal Employment Strategy''s successes in assisting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander job searchers, foreshadowing increasing numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees reaching supervisory and management levels in the Australian workforce. At the same time, concerns had been raised about the significant number of withdrawals by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from traditional management courses on the basis of their perceived irrelevance. The Journal of Management Education in 2011 dedicated an issue exclusively to this topic, suggesting it needed urgent attention.A qualitative research approach was chosen, utilising Dialogic Exchange, the only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian model available, coupled with its nearest fit in Western terms, the case study method. The analysis of results relied on ideas from critical theory, narrative analysis and discourse analysis. The focus was placed on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander motivations in order to understand both positive and negative influences on the level of academic course completions. The findings supported the literature that identified the key motivations characterizing Aboriginal societies. They include attitudes and beliefs about field dependence and context, holism, the role of dualities, balance and spirituality, the significance of place, collectivism in decision making, reflexivity and identity. The findings identified the need for a bi-cultural approach to management education, confirming the suitability of the ''both-ways'� approach previously adopted by some institutions. Further, the findings showed that the theoretical frameworks of psychodynamics and social systems underpinning the literature on the topic were able to provide key concepts for the research.The research suggests that while approaches to teaching and learning in management education need to be designed to accommodate the motivations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, there would be substantial benefits if other Australian students gained an understanding of how the cultural values and beliefs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians underpin their approaches to management. In the longer term, this could have relevance for the theory and practice of management for Australia as a whole.