Reinventing South African Management Students as Stewards of Democratization: A Critical Pedagogy Perspective

Abstract

This paper challenges orthodox higher management education provided in South Africa. The reflections explored here are of a democratic and ethical nature: Democratic as it promotes a more inclusive concept of management education; and ethical because the new principles informing management action should explicitly address the welfare of the disenfranchised. Drawing from Freire’s critical pedagogy, this paper proposes a reorientation of managers as an integral part of citizenship and by implication custodians of our democracy. Five recommendations for future management education are offered: (1) involvement in academic activism, (2) re-presenting ethics as an integral core, (3) promoting ‘flexible’ ideological perspectives (4) engaging in contextually relevant research, and (5) participating in community projects.