Abstract:

Despite an increase in research on management and leadership development through Master of Business Administration (MBA) programmes, little attention has been paid to the language used in the design, delivery and marketing of these courses. In this study, the aim was to investigate the use of pedagogic language (relating to learning and teaching) in MBAs.

We explored the research aim using the following research objectives:
1) to identify and evaluate the language used in designing, delivering and marketing MBAs;
2) to explore approaches to pedagogy in MBA pedagogies; and
3) to make recommendations to practitioners and managers of MBA programmes in UK universities to enable them to develop their practices.

This was an interpretivist research project in which we focused on three case studies as a means of exploring the language used in MBA programmes. Data was collected from MBA programmes and module leaders during three different case studies in the UK. In addition, we analysed documentary sources from the subjects of the case studies, including their websites.

The initial findings indicate that the vocabulary used in MBA programmes comes from marketing as well as the language of business school disciplines. However, the language of pedagogy was rarely used when describing the learning and teaching experiences offered within an MBA.

Keywords:

MBA programmes, pedagogic language, marketing language, disciplines language.