How does the pragmatic methodology for preliminary literature review and dissertation proposal formulation (PMPLR) contribute to the managerial intellectual learning (MIL) study?

How does the pragmatic methodology for preliminary literature review and dissertation proposal formulation (PMPLR) contribute to the managerial intellectual learning (MIL) study?: a research note

Joseph Kim-keung Ho

Independent Trainer

Hong Kong, China

Abstract: The pragmatic methodology for preliminary literature review and dissertation proposal formulation (PMPLR) has been informed by the managerial intellectual learning (MIL) and the Multi-perspective, Systems-based (MPSB) Research fields (Ho, 2016). A research question arises from Ho (2016), however, i.e., how does the pragmatic methodology for preliminary literature review and dissertation proposal formulation (PMPLR) contribute to the managerial intellectual learning study? This article tackles this research question. It does so by drawing on the main ideas of MIL to enrich the PMPLR.  This intellectual exercise results in the enrichment of the MMPLR with a set of MIL ideas. Overall, the article offers some academic value to the three topics of MIL, the MPSB Research and the PMPLR.

Keywords: managerial intellectual learning, the multi-perspective, systems-based research, the pragmatic methodology for preliminary literature review and dissertation proposal formulation.

1.      Introduction

Not long ago, the writer published an article (Ho, 2016) introducing the pragmatic methodology for preliminary literature review and dissertation proposal formulation, or the PMPLR for short. The immediate objective is to provide an agile, comprehensible and pragmatic approach to part-time tertiary education students in social sciences, especially on business management, for doing the initial tasks, i.e., preliminary literature review and dissertation proposal formulation, with final year dissertation projects. The PMPLR drew on both (i) the writer’s teaching experience in Research Methods and (ii) his research works on managerial intellectual learning (see the Managerial intellectual learning Facebook page) and the Multi-perspective, Systems-based Research (see the Multi-perspective, Systems-based Research Facebook page). Nevertheless, an unanswered academic question arising from Ho (2016) is this: How does the pragmatic methodology for preliminary literature review and dissertation proposal formulation (PMPLR) contribute to the managerial intellectual learning study? As a follow-up article on Ho (2016), this one makes an attempt to answer this academic question. To do so, the next section introduces the PMPLR, stressing its prime ideas. This is followed by relating the PMPLR ideas to the managerial intellectual process model of Ho (2014).

2.      The pragmatic methodology and its key ideas

The pragmatic methodology (PMPLR) has been portrayed in a diagrammatic form in Ho (2016) and is shown in Figure 1. It identifies three main steps as well as a set of influencing factors, labelled as “other factors” in the diagram. It has also been argued that the PMPLR be best conceived as an agile conceptual framework rather than a rigid waterfall type of methodology to inform preliminary literature review and dissertation proposal formulation.

Regarding the PMPLR, it synthesizes a set of key ideas, including a number of techniques for literature review and dissertation proposal formulation. These key ideas are now explicitly listed in Table 1 to facilitate the discussion here.

Table 1: Main pragmatic methodology steps and key ideas

Main pragmatic methodology steps	Key ideas
Step 1: Expansive thinking 1a: Conduct mind mapping literature review on academic literature 1b: Conduct snowballing literature review and value and interest assessment (VAIA) 1c: Conduct mind mapping-based literature review on newspaper articles	1.1.Agile thinking 1.2.Diagramming-based literature review 1.3.Generic patterns of knowledge structure 1.4.Literature search 1.5.Mind mapping 1.6.Mind mapping-based literature review 1.7.Newspaper article study 1.8.Personal voice 1.9.Radiant thinking 1.10.        Research methods 1.11.        Snowballing literature review 1.12.        Support from dissertation project supervisors, mentors and coaches 1.13.        Value and interest assessment
Step 2: Application-driven thinking 2a: Conduct focused/snowballing literature review 2b: Formulate a preliminary proposal topic 2c: Formulate a theoretical framework (optional)	2.1.Agile thinking 2.2.Applied business research, notably case study research 2.3.Dissertation proposal writing techniques 2.4.Focused literature review 2.5.Literature search 2.6.Personal voice 2.7.Research methods 2.8.Snowballing literature review 2.9.Support from dissertation project supervisors, mentors and coaches 2.10.        Theoretical framework
Step 3: Refinement-driven proposal drafting 3a: Formulate the dissertation proposal 3b: Conduct a value and interest assessment	3.1.Agile thinking 3.2.Dissertation proposal writing techniques 3.3.Literature search 3.4.Personal voice 3.5.Research methods 3.6.Support from dissertation project supervisors, mentors and coaches 3.7.Value and interest assessment

Referencing on the PMPLR has been provided in Ho (2016), thus not further stated here. Here, it is argued that the PMPLR and its key ideas can be related to the managerial intellectual learning (MIL) study to conceptually enrich it. The next section elaborates on this point, which answer the chief question of this article, i.e., How does the pragmatic methodology for preliminary literature review and dissertation proposal formulation (PMPLR) contribute to the managerial intellectual learning study?

3.      Enriching the managerial intellectual learning study with pragmatic methodology ideas

An integrated process view of managerial intellectual learning (MIL) has been presented by Ho (2014), see Figure 1. The MIL study comprises other ideas and thinking (re: The managerial intellectual learning Facebook page). For the discussion here, the writer chiefly focuses on the four inter-related MIL phases, namely, Phase 1 (Data Management), Phase 2 (Absorbed reading), Phase 3 (The Multi-perspective, Systems-based (MPSB) knowledge compilation), and Phase* (Practice-based intellectual learning). Briefly, Phase 1 primarily involves (i) comprehensive literature search and (ii) collection of relevant points from the literature via literature browsing; Phase 2 is about mindful and engaging review of the literature; Phase 3 is similar to Phase 2, but with serious application of the MPSB concepts on the literature to construct MPSB knowledge structure on an academic topic under review. Phase 3 overlaps with the MPSB Research, except that the former is attentive to intellectual learning while the latter focuses on research. Lastly, Phase* covers experiential and workplace learning.

The existing knowledge on the MIL process has still much room for theoretical and methodological refinement. Here, the attempt is to do so by explicitly indicating how the pragmatic methodology ideas are related to the specific MIL phases. This is presented in Table 2.

Table 2: Managerial intellectual learning phases and relevant pragmatic methodology ideas

Managerial intellectual learning phases	Relevant pragmatic methodology ideas with some adaptation
Managerial intellectual learning process Phase 1: Data Management	Step 1: Expansive thinking 1.1.Agile thinking 1.2.Diagramming-based literature review 1.3.Generic patterns of knowledge structure 1.4.Informed by other managerial intellectual learning phases 1.5.Literature search 1.6.Mind mapping 1.7.Mind mapping-based literature review 1.8.Newspaper article study 1.9.Personal voice 1.10.        Radiant thinking 1.11.        Snowballing literature review 1.12.        Support from dissertation project supervisors, mentors and coaches 1.13.        Value and interest assessment
Managerial intellectual learning process Phase 2: Absorbed reading	Step 2: Application-driven thinking 2.1.Agile thinking 2.2.Focused literature review 2.3.Informed by other managerial intellectual learning phases 2.4.Literature search 2.5.Personal voice 2.6.Snowballing literature review 2.7.Support from dissertation project supervisors, mentors and coaches 2.8.Theoretical framework
Managerial intellectual learning process Phase 3:  The MPSB knowledge compilation	Step 2: Application-driven thinking 2.9.Agile thinking 2.10.        Critical  systems thinking 2.11.        Focused literature review with the key multi-perspective, systems-based concepts 2.12.        Informed by other managerial intellectual learning phases 2.13.        Literature search 2.14.        Personal voice 2.15.        Radiant thinking 2.16.        Snowballing literature review 2.17.        Support from dissertation project supervisors, mentors and coaches 2.18.        Theoretical framework, in the form of a multi-perspective, systems-based framework
Managerial intellectual learning process Phase*:  Practice-based intellectual learning	Step 3: Refinement-driven proposal drafting 3.1.Agile thinking 3.2.Applied business research 3.3.Informed by other managerial intellectual learning phases 3.4.Literature search 3.5.Personal voice 3.6.Support from dissertation project supervisors, mentors and coaches 3.7.Value and interest assessment

The exercise of relating the PMPLR concepts to the MIL process reveal a table (re: Table 2) comprising a set of PMPLR ideas, besides the MPSB ones, that can be described as rich. Some of the PMPLR ideas need to be reconceived from an intellectual learning perspective, rather than form the dissertation project management perspective. Nevertheless, even from the dissertation project management perspective, the intellectual learning consideration is paramount. Table 2 is the concrete finding from this article to address the main question here: How does the pragmatic methodology for preliminary literature review and dissertation proposal formulation (PMPLR) contribute to the managerial intellectual learning study? Reasonably, this is not the final words on this research question. Readers who are not familiar with the two related subjects of MIL and the MPSB Research are referred to the Managerial intellectual learning and the Multi-perspective, Systems-based Research Facebook pages for further details.

4.      Concluding remarks

The two related fields of MIL and the MPSB Research, together with the writer’s teaching experience in Research Methods, have informed him to formulate the PMPLR (Ho, 2016). In turn, the intellectual work on PMPLR, as demonstrated in this article, has also some concrete ideas to theoretically contribute to the MIL and the MPSB Research fields. In sum, the article delivers some academic value to all the three topics of MIL, the MPSB Research and the PMPLR. Obviously, more research works need to be done on these three topics.

Bibliography

Ho, J.K.K. 2014. “A Research Note on the Managerial Intellectual Learning Capability-Building Mechanism (MILCBM)” European Academic Research 2(2) May: 2029-2047.

Ho, J.K.K. 2016. “A pragmatic methodology for preliminary literature review and dissertation proposal preparation” Joseph KK Ho e-resources blog December12 (url address: http://josephho33.blogspot.hk/2016/12/a-pragmatic-methodology-for-preliminary.html) [visited at December 15, 2016].

Managerial intellectual learning Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/managerial.intellectual.learning/).

The Multi-perspective, Systems-based Research Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/multiperspective.systemsbased.research/).