Not Critical Enough? Black Women Raise Challenges for Critical Management Learning

Abstract

The aspirations of critical management learning are individual and societal transformation, with hopes for non-hierarchical learning communities. This article reflects on the experiences of running a critical management development programme with managers from diverse backgrounds, presenting six case studies of black women, whose experiences raise challenges for the liberatory intentions of critical management learning. Some found the programme positive, but others found it disempowering. In seeking to understand these experiences, and the differences between them, feminist pedagogy provides insights into gendered power relations which critical education neglects. However, for a business school context, with a widely diverse student group, it is argued that deeper insights are offered within anti-racist pedagogy and the concept of habitus.