HISTORICAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN EXECUTIVE EDUCATION PROGRAMS: ENGAGING WITH TRANSGENERATIONAL COLLECTIVE TRAUMAS

Lara A. Tcholakian, Svetlana N. Khapova, Erik Van De Loo

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Abstract

A call for a larger consideration of history in management and organization studies suggests a fresh responsibility for business schools to develop historically conscious leaders. As the world is increasingly challenged by social and economic events, organizational actors must better understand and manage inherent emotions and not be limited by bounded rationality. By teaching the transgenerational transmission of collective traumas to two cohorts in an internationally renowned business school in Europe and in Asia, this study explores howhistorical consciousness can be construed in the context of an executive educational program and the learning consequences of this process over two years. Our findings distill five themes describing the executives' learnings. First, the intervention allowed the participants to experience historical consciousness through (a) personal connectionswith collective traumas, (b) awareness of the effects of the transgenerational transmission of collective traumas, and (c) the development of narrative competence. After two years, the participants identified two additional learnings in their organizational contexts: (d) they becamemore aware of howtheymanage their emotions, and (e) they identified perceived changes in their role as leaders.Wepropose that business schools encourage historical consciousness to better equip individuals in their roles as executives and leaders.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)459-480
Number of pages22
JournalAcademy of Management Learning and Education
Volume22
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Academy of Management Learning & Education.

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