Preparing managers for a reconfigured world: management education's new gig

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the lack of a clear theoretical framework in management education programs to allow students to understand the world in which gig workers operate. The article asserts the need for practical guidance for pedagogy to prepare students to manage in the gig economy.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper provides a rationale for the assertion that, beyond training students to create their own work configurations in the new world of work, management education should acquaint students with the specific challenges faced by managers responsible for a spectrum of workers in various work configurations. This paper explicates gig work configurations and offers theoretical and practical issues related to worker and manager identity to be considered in the development of an educational framework.

Findings

Management curricula over time have successfully augmented several competencies to the manager identity. Bolstering the competency of simultaneously managing employees working in multiple employment arrangements is the next natural progression of management education.

Practical implications

Particular challenges for prospective “gig managers” may relate to the management of somewhat elusive processes that enhance their own and their workers' organizational identity and related outcomes.

Originality/value

The authors invoke the literature of holding environments for identity development, along with the distinctness and inclusion facets of Kegan's theory of the evolution of consciousness and tenets of institutional theory, in a call for the examination of methods that may help aspirant managers recognize distinction and inclusion needs in others and cultivate tools to assist in their workers' need fulfillment.

Citation

Hartman, N.S. and Karriker, J.H. (2021), "Preparing managers for a reconfigured world: management education's new gig", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 40 No. 1, pp. 23-34. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-05-2020-0164