Managers learn better through experience. Theory has nothing to offer Essay - 1

Managers learn better through experience. Theory has nothing to offer - Essay Example Owing to the dynamic nature of the current business environment, learning through experience has been widely used as the mode of leaning in the field of management (Rigolosi, 2013:1). Learning through experience has become an important has become an important aspect in management to enable them to meet the challenges posed by the business conditions in the 21st century. The statement ‘Managers learn better through experience. Theory has nothing to offer.’ is true in the modern times in the business world. This is owing to the fact that managing an entity in the modern times poses unique challenges to mangers globally. Managers have to experience some challenges resulting from globalisation and other forces in the market such as changing consumer needs and increased competitiveness. On the other hand, it has been observed that theory has a lot to offer in the management field, as there are some management theories that can be applied to solve problems facing managers in t he modern world. This means that theory cannot be fully left out in the field of management. Instead, it should be complemented with the experience learnt by managers in their line of work. In order to study the reasons as to as to why learning through experience is the best form of learning for managers this paper gives a discussion of the experiential learning theory and its practical application. To start with, experiential learning is defined as learning through experience. The theory of experiential learning is refers to the process of learning through experience and theorists such as Kurt Lewin and Dewey made important contributions to the theory (Border, 2007:7). The theory refers to learning as the process where knowledge is generated through experience. In other words, knowledge comes from the events experienced on a daily basis. Learning through Experience Mangers can learn a lot from observing the trends and activities in the business world. According to the theory, indiv iduals learn so much from observing and listening to the opinions of other people. This sparks their interest and enables them to discover and learn new concepts. David Kolb’s learning theory identified stated different learning styles that are founded on a four stage learning process. The four stages are important in the process of mangers learning through experience. There is the concrete experience that is gained through feeling and putting in practice what is leant (Janet, 2006:45). If managers feel that making a certain move will benefit the company, they learn through taking such decisions. The second step is reflective observation where the managers can learn through observation and critically analyse the outcome. The third step is abstract conceptualisation that entails assessment of the conceptual understanding. The last step is active experimentation and finding solutions to problems. This theory states that learning is based on immediate experience that acts as the basis of our reflections and observations. These observations help managers to plan and come up with new implications and are assessed to learn new concepts and experiences. All the stages discussed above are highly important to the learning process by managers. The entire process of experience, planning, reflection and