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A Study of the Attitude, Learning Styles and Learning Preference of OU Adult Learners in Business/Management

─ Possible Impact of Culture and Implications for Management Education

Kenneth Chee Kwong CHAO Open University of Hong Kong

This is an abridged report on an exploratory research project on the suitability of

Andragogy and Action Learning approaches to management education for local adult learners. Adult learners of the Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) taking higher-level courses in business and management were invited as respondents. The objectives were to find out respondents’ predominant learning styles, learning preferences, motivation of study and possible influence of local Chinese culture which might have impact on the suitability of the two approaches and management education. The research findings revealed that the predominant learning styles and learning preferences were mainly the Reflector style and Reflective activities, compatible with the general expectation and stereotype of local Chinese learners as discussed elsewhere in various literature, local and overseas. It appeared that Chinese culture would have some impact on the learning styles of local learners. However, the preliminary attempt to establish a closer link/relationship between the local Chinese culture and the learning styles by using Hofstede’s cultural framework and Honey and Mumford’s learning styles typology was inconclusive. The study nevertheless did reveal that the Andragogy and Action Learning approaches were not very much in favour as most features of these approaches did not quite match the predominant learning style, predominant learning preferences or the most important motivation of study of the respondents.

有關公開大學成人商管學生的學習風格，喜好的意向調查研究 ─

對管理教育的啟示及影響。

本研究利用問卷調查《運用成人學習方式》及《行動學習法於管理教育》對本

地成人學生的恰當性。目的是探討調查對象的主要學習風格，學習偏好，學習動機與

及本地中國文化對該兩種學習法運用於管理教育方面的可能影響。調查顯示學生的主

要學習風格及喜好是沉思型及思考類型的學習方式/ 活動，與一般海內外公認的華人學習形式 (Chinese learning stereotypes) 相同。似乎支持中國文化對學習風格及喜好有一定影響的論點。調查嘗試以 Honey & Mumford 的學習風格類別 (learning style typology) 及 Hofstede 的文化指標 (cultural framework)進一步探討中國文化與學習風格的關係，但沒有肯定結論。無論如何，調查結果顯示《成人學習》及《行動學習法》

兩種學習方式，整體來說並不符合學生的主要學習風格，喜好甚至動機。如果上述調

查結果可以一般化，則《成人學習》及《行動學習法》的兩種學習方式。對本港成人

學生來說，學習效果 (effectiveness) 並不高；但從管理教育方面考慮，上述兩種方式仍有可取之處(usefulness)。因此仍有其恰當性。

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INTRODUCTION

This is a report with discussions on the findings of an explorarory research project completed in late

1997 which aims at exploring the suitability of the andragogy and action learning approaches as

applied to Chinese adult students receiving management education by distance learning mode in the

Hong Kong setting.

Specifically, the aim of the study was to investigate and report on relevant findings related to the

following issues and implications:

• The relative receptivity to the students of the various features of the Andragogy and Action

Learning.

• The preferred teaching and learning methods of the students (learning preferences) and their

learning styles

• Possible impact of the Chinese national culture on the learning styles and preferences of the

students

• Influence of other possible factors such as students’ principal aims of study at OUHK and other

motivational factors

Besides providing information on the suitability of the two approaches in the Hong Kong context, the

research findings also provide background information on learners’ styles, preferences, study

motivation and the cultural influence for reference by adult education providers in designing distance

learning management courses best suited to the target learners.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

In a number of articles and studies, especially in the West, andragogy and action learning approaches

have often been described as useful and effective ways of teaching adults, with particular relevance for

management education in general and management development in particular (e.g. Revans 1983;

Munford, 1980). On the other hand, some local studies in Hong Kong pointed out that such learning

approaches were incongruent with the traditional Chinese culture and hence might actually impede the

learning process of local learners notwithstanding that the result of adoption of such approaches in

management education might ultimately proved to be more beneficial to learners than traditional

methods (e.g. Kirkbride, Tang & Shae, 1989). However, most local studies tended to be either

theoretical discussions (e.g. Kirkbride, Tang & Shae, 1989) or were rather limited in scope and the

scale of investigation (e.g. Thomas, 1989, Pun & Thomas, 1989).

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Readers who are unfamiliar with andragogy, or the andragogical approach to adult learning may like to

note that andragogy was considered more effective for adults because the learning activities

promugated by the model were derived only after critical examination and generalisation of common

adult learning characteristics (Malcolm Knowles, 1990)

Specifically, the basic and distinct features of andragogy can be summarised as follows:

• self-managed or self-directed learning

• emphasis on making use of learners' own experience - life and work (and that of his peers)

• self-diagnosis of learning needs

• emphasis on activities which are more relevant to learners' immediate life tasks, and

• evaluation of learning activities by own self and peer group.

(Knowles 1990) .

In a similar manner to andragogy, action learning approach has long been advocated as an

effective learning process since early 1980's. In essence, it was considered more important to

develop learners' ability in real life problem solving, as simple, unambiguouus solution would not

be readily available from programmed knowledge. In practice, the use of work-based projects is

a central feature of the action learning approach. It should be noted that action learning approach

also incorporate some features of the andragogical learning model (overlapping). It encourages

tackling real and practical issues of immediate concern in the learners' workplace, individuals and

peers mainly taking responsibilities and control for personal learning , with tutors and trainers

acting only as facilitators or resource persons where necessary (Revans 1983).

In contrast to other previous studies which tended to focus on a specific group/ programme and carried

out on a small scale, piece-meal basis, the OU project was unique in that it attempts to make a more

comprehensive investigation on the compatibility of andragogy and action learning approaches with

the learning styles and preferences of a relatively large sample of local distance-learning students who

are receiving management education and at the same time are practising managers/ professionals. In

the meantime, It also explored the impact of the Chinese national culture and other motivational

factors (if any) on the learning styles and preferences of the respondents.

METHODOLOGY

Research Design

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A mail survey research design (Attitude study) was adopted for this study. The research

questionaires were distributed to 375 respondents, randomly selected from the list of adult

students (mostly ethnic Chinese origin) of the Open University of Hong Kong who are taking

higher-level courses in business and management in the Human Resource Strand. (Open

University degree level courses are differentiated in terms of level of difficulty designated as

Foundation level, Middle-level and Higher-level in ascending order). Given that the Open

University is Hong Kong’s largest provider of distance education and that the total number of its

adult business & management students specialising in Human Resource Management was

estimated at about 2000 (Facts & Figures December 1997, Open University of Hong Kong), 375

respondents represents about 18.75 % of this category.

The questionaire with structured questions explored respondents' attitudes towards the following:

* Various features of the adult and action learning approaches;

* Extent of Chinese national culture influence;

* Reasons of study at the OU

There were also questions which probe the general learning styles and preferences profile of the

students.

For the purpose of this exploratory study, the learning style typology proposed by Honey &

Mumford was adopted. According to Honey & Mumford (1986), learning styles can be classified

into the four main types, namely, Activists, Reflectors, Theorists, & Pragmatists. The list of

activities most congruent and corresponding to each Learning Style were described in the Manual

of Learning Style. They draw attention to the importance of matching learning activities with

styles would secure more effective learning.

Also for the current project, we make use of the classic Hostede’s framework as basis for drafting the

questions to probe the extent of Chinese culture influence (Hostede, 1980). Culture was defined by

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Hofstede, one of the world’s leading author on culture, as 'Collective mental programming: that part of

our conditioning that we share with other members of our nation, religion or group'.(Hofstede 1980).

There were four basic dimensions of the differences between national culture according to Hofstede

(1980). Hofstede rated each of the 50 national cultures from high to low on each of the four dimension

in his International Business Machine Corporation research and subsequent studies (using same

methodology). The four dimensions of culture defined or described by him are reproduced as follows:-

• Power distance: 'The extent to which power is distributed unevenly and/or the degree to which

this is accepted.'

• Individualism: 'A preference for a lossely knit social framework in society in which individuals

are supposed to take care of themselves and their immediate families only.' As opposed to

collectivism: 'A preference for a tightly knit social framework in which individuals can expect

their relatives, clan, or other in-group to look after them, in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.'

• Uncertainty avoidance: 'The degree to which people experience uneasiness in ambiguous

situations, or their degree of tolerance or deviant/ innovative ideas or behaviours.'

• Masculinity: 'The extent to which aggressiveness, assertiveness, and materialism are prevalent.'

As opposed to femininity: 'Preferences for relationships, modesty, caring for the weak and

equality of life.'

According to Hofstede’s previous study, local Chinese culture is characterised by weak

uncertainty avoidance, tendency to masculinity, large power-distance and low individualism

(Hofstede 1980). There are certainly other studies on local Chinese culture but Hostede’s is one of

the most comprehensive and his four dimensional framework provides one of the best benchmark

for international comparison.

Construction of Questions

Questions on Learning Styles

The complete set of questions consisting of 80 items (statements of attitude, behaviour or tendency)

from the Learning Style Questionaire designed by Honey and Mumford (1986) was adopted and used

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to probe the learning styles of the respondents. There were 20 items representing each of the four

learning styles (i.e. Activist, Reflector, Theorist & Pragmatist) proposed by Honey & Mumford.

Respondents were asked to indicate their agreement or disagreement with each item and then calculate

the total points obtained for each category in the end. The result was then computed by using either the

raw score method and the mean score comparison method following the guideline stipulated in the

Manual of Learning Styles (Honey & Mumford, 1986).

Questions on Learning Preferences

Questions to probe the learning preferences of respondents (in other words their preferences for

different teaching/learning activities) were derived from two sources. First source includes various

types of teaching and learning activities commonly used for teaching/education purposes.

(Incidentally these activities could be conveniently grouped into 4 different categories as

stipulated by the experiential learning model proposed by Kolb (1984). There are four items on

learning through Concrete Experience, four items on Reflective Learning, six items on Abstract

Concepts and six items on Application and Practice). Moreover, it was noted that some

characteristics/features of the andragogy and action-learning approaches had also been included in

these common teaching/learning activities. For those characterictics/features of the andragogy and

action-learning approaches which had not been included in the common pool, additional

questions were set to probe respondents' response to these additional salient features and these

constitute the second source ( such as undertaking learning activities at own pace, undertaking

job-related problem-solving projects with fellow classmates, undertaking activities which may not

have ready-made solutions etc. A total of 8 items for each of the two approaches). The repondents

were asked to indicate their preference for each learning activity on a 5-point Likert scale. It was

expected that by ranking their preferences based on the overall average score obtained for each

item of the learning activity would show the following:

* Whether the respondents would have particular liking for any particular category of learning

activities (following classfication by Kolb) and whether the learning preferences corresponds to

their identified learning styles

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* The 'suitability' of the andragogy and action-learning approaches for the respondents

(including the most receptive and least welcome features) as shown by the ranking and whether it

also somehow matched the identified learning styles

Questions on Chinese Culture

Questions to probe the local culture or the 'Chinese-ness" of the respondents were mainly set by

deducing the essential characteristics of what is meant by Chinese culture from the Hofstede's

study and findings on local Chinese culture. According to Hofstede, local Chinese culture is

characterised by weak uncertainty avoidance, tendency to masculinity, large power-distance and

low individualism (Hofstede 1980). Respondents were asked to rate their agreement with the

question/statement on a 7-point Likert scale (to provide more choice for respondents to indicate

their agreement or disagreement). The statements were designed in such a way that the higher the

score the more Chinese like the respondent should be if the description of the typical Chinese

attitude is correct according to Hofstede.

For this study, attempt were only made to find out the following regarding the role of local

Chinese culture:

* The average absolute aggregate score on the Chinese culture dimension of all the

respondents; for comparison with the identified major learning styles of the respondents to find

out if there would be any possible relations

* To find out the corresponding average score on the Chinese culture dimension for each

category of respondents exhibiting one of the 4 major learning styles;and explore any possible

relations of Chinese culture on learning styles.

Other Questions on Motivation of Study

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The research included questions to probe the motivation of study of respondents. It was

considered that knowledge of learners' motivation would possibly help to shed more light to

understanding learning preferences especially where learning preferences were found to be

incompatible with identified learning styles.

RESULTS/DISCUSSIONS

Subject Profile

The respondents of this study consisted of 147 students taking higher - level courses in the Human

Resource Strand of the School of Business and Administration Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong.

This represents a response rate of 39.2% out of a total of 375 research questionnaires distributed to the

potential respondents randomly selected from the same population. The response rate is considered

satisfactory as the response rate for most other Open University student surveys on practical,

administrative issues were considerably less - around or lower than 20%. Three questionaires were

invalidated because of incomplete answers.

It was observed that out of the 147 respondents, 74 were male (50.3%) and the remaining 73 were

females (49.7%). 50.3% of respondents were in the age bracket 31 to 40, while 37.4% were between

21 to 30. Taken together, 87.7% of the respondents were between 21 to 40 years of age. Most of the

respondents were of Chinese ethnic origin (90.47%) and 78.2% had enrolled in a distance learning

course before. (Readers should be cautious that the sample is not 100% Hongkong Chinese). As

regards academic achievement 55.8% reported that they had been educated up to post-secondary level

while another 38% had received secondary education. 69.4% reported that they were employed at

supervisory level or above, with 0.68% at above managerial level, 23.8% at managerial level and

44.8% at supervisory level.

Identified Predominant Learning Styles of Respondents

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The Table below shows the identified predominant learning styles of the respondents based on

comparison of raw scores. According to Honey and Mumford’s specified method of classification, the

respondent was considered as exhibiting a particular predominant learning style if he/she obtained a

highest score for that particular style amongst the four styles (i.e. Activist, Reflector, Theorist &

Pragmatist). A respondent was considered as exhibiting two/ three/ four predominant learning styles

if he/she obtained same highest score(s) for the corresponding styles. (For example, if a respondent

scored 17 points for both the Activist and Reflector styles and 10 points and 7 points for Theorist and

Pragmatist, he is considered as belonging to the Activist and Reflector categories).

Learning styles No. of Respondents Percentage of Respondents

Activist 5 3.40%

Reflector 103 70%

Theorist 24 16.33%

Pragmatist 36 24.49%

From the above table, it is seen that with respect to raw scores, respondents had the higher score on the

Reflector style, followed by the Pragmatist style and the Theorist. The Activist style was most

unpopular.

The mean score comparison method yielded similar inference but is not discussed here as otherwise

the paper would be too lengthy.

To conclude, the findings revealed that the predominant learning styles of the respondents were

identified as Reflector, Pragmatist, Theorist and Activist in the same descending order. In other words,

the respondents were more adapt in observation, issues analysis, and tended to think carefully before

taking action or making conclusion. They disliked risk and were more comfortable with taking a

back seat in meetings or other situations. They also preferred structured learning experience than

active experimentation. (Honey and Mumford, 1986).

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The findings also showed that respondents exhibited high degree of Pragmatist style next to the

overwhelming Reflector style. Following Honey and Mumford's description (1986), the respondents

were essentially practical, down-to-earth people and they tended to welcome only practical ideas,

theories, techniques and learning activities of immediate application or relevant to their jobs or

personal life. They would not welcome vague open-ended or abstract/philosophical discussion or

learning situation/activities where they see no concrete/immediate solution, genuine need, relevance or

immediate rewards.

The identified learning style profile of the respondents to a large extent concurred with the general

anecdotal stereotype of typical Chinese learners, as described earlier in the literature review. To

recapitulate, Kirkbride & Tang (1990), asserted that Chinese learners are unwilling/ feel

uncomfortable to challenge authority figures such as parents, teachers and tended to prefer a passive

role in learning situations. Redding (1980) also pointed out that Chinese students tended to favour a

low-profile approach and avoid too much interaction or personal involvement. Pun (1990) observed

that there was more preference for a supportive, less critical learning climate and for learning with

concrete facts, procedures and precedents. All there characteristics were essentially those of either

the Reflector or Pragmatist Style on closer analysis. As the respondents were mainly of Chinese

ethnic origin (90.47%), it appeared that the result concurred with the previous studies which asserted

that culture did have some impact on the learning style of the respondents.

It is to be noted that according to a comprehensive study by Carland et al (1984), some of the major

characteristics or attributes of successful entrepreneurs were risk-taking, tolerance for ambiguity,

innovativeness, action-orientedness and application of new ideas etc. Review of Honey and

Mumford's learning style classification would reveal that such entrepreneur characteristics were

compatible with the Activist and Pragmatist Style, especially the Activist Style. However there was

little in common with the Reflector and Theorist learning styles. As the identified most predominant

learning styles of the respondents was the Reflector Style, with the Pragmatist style only second in

ranking, it was fair to conclude from the findings that the respondents exhibited only a mild to

moderate tendency towards entreprenunership.

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If 'entrepreneur' qualities or attributes are considered important and desirable for management

education as well as susceptible to being 'taught', it would be beneficial to include relevant

teaching/learning approaches in the learning process which would help learners to assimilate the

entreupreunerial spirits or skills or to familiarize and appreciate such styles. Action-learning and

andragogy approaches, which included many attributes of the entrepreneurship and the characteristics

of the Activist and Pragmatic Style are surely 'useful' for the purpose. However, it may not be

'effective' for the learners to learn using the two approaches (action learning and andragogy) because

of incompatibility with the learning styles. It remains to be seen if the two approaches matches the

learning preferences of the respondents which will be discussed later in the text.

Local Chinese Culture and Learning Styles

Notwithstanding the identified predominant learning styles of the respondents which appeared as very

compatible with general stereotype of typical Chinese learners as depicted in the foregoing paragraphs,

the separate attempt to establish a more specific and direct connection (or relations) between the local

Chinese culture and the identified learning styles using Hofstede's four dimensions of culture was

quite inconclusive as explained below.

According to Hofstede (1980), local Chinese culture is characterised by weak uncertainty avoidance,

tendency to masculinity, large power-distance and low individualism. Questions to probe

respondents belonging to each major Honey and Mumford's Learning Styles had been set to record

their scores on each cultural dimensions, and were designed in such a way that the higher score would

mean more Chinese-like. (For illustration, a typical question probing the collectivist orientation is

asking if the respondent would agree that employers have a moral responsibility to look after the

welfare of his employees). The findings revealed that the overall average score of four Chinese

cultural dimensions taken together was highest (4.40) for respondents exhibiting the Activist learning

style, 4.24 for the Pragmatist style, 4.16 for the Theorist and 4.10 for the Reflector style. (see Table 1

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below). Assuming that the differences in the overall score values are significant, the results are quite

contrary to popular belief and previous literature where it was common understanding that typical

Chinese learners would exhibit mainly the Reflector and Pragmatist styles, and most unlikely or rarely

the Activist Style.

Table 1: Cultural Scores of each Learning Style

Learning Styles

Score on

Collectivistic Orientation

Score on Power

Distance

Score on

Uncertainty Avoidance

Score on

Tendency to Masculinity

Overall Average Score x

Activitist 5.03 3.82 4.69 4.07 4.40

Reflector 5 4.05 3.97 3.41 4.10

Theorist 5.11 3.89 4.23 3.44 4.16

Pragmatist 4.92 3.99 4.53 3.55 4.24

(Note: Overall average score x measures the average value of the four cultural dimension taken

together exhibited by each of the four groups of respondents showing either one of the four major

learning styles as indicated by the raw scores)

In terms of the aggregate average scores on each cultural dimension obtained by respondents

exhibiting a particular predominant learning style out of the four (styles). It was observed that for both

of the two cultural dimensions, uncertainty avoidance and tendency to masculinity, the Activist had the

highest score, followed by the Pragmatist, Theorist and Reflector in respective descending order.

These score ratings (and order) can somehow be explained/ understood by the compatibility of the

particular learning styles corresponding to the nature of personal or work values implicit in the

respective Chinese cultural values/dimension. For instance, Activist by definition or nature would

favour innovation and active experimentation etc; whereas Pragmatist should be more practical and

hence less tolerance for uncertainty than Activist but still more tolerant than Theorist and Reflector

with the latter most intolerant for uncertainty because of Reflector are by definition/ nature cautious

and preferred to take a back-seat in relatively unknown/new situations. Similar arguments or

explanation could be made with respect to the relative ranking of learning styles on the Tendency to

Masculinity dimension. The other observation was that the ranking of Reflector, Pragmatist, Theorist

and Activist by score rating in that order from the highest to the lower on the Power Distance

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dimension concurred with the generally held belief that typical Chinese learners should favour the

learning styles in that order. That is, Reflector style should have higher ratings on the Chinese

culture dimension (in this case Power Distance), followed by Pragmatist and Theorist with Activist

Style scored least on the Chinese cultural dimension - Power Distance. Other than these two

observation it appeared that no other clear pattern emerged from the data which could be subject to

meaningful interpretation.

As there is no clear pattern emerged based from the above preliminary observation, no further

statistical tests have been made to prove that the differences are significant and the correlation between

the two variables as it is not meaningful.

To conclude , no definite conclusion was reached in the attempt to establish a closer link between the

Chinese culture using the Hofstede's four cultural dimension framework and Honey and Mumford's

learning styles typology. If anything it was only possible to show some relation between the learning

styles and the Power Distance cultural dimension, as described in the paragraph immediately above,

which might imply that one aspect of Chinese culture (as represented by the only dimension of Power

Distance) have some influence over learning style.

The following were considered some plausible explanations for the inconclusive exploratory findings:-

* The Hofstede's construct and findings on the Chinese Cultural dimension was inadequate.

Hofstede's findings were released in the early 80's and the findings may now become not so applicable

through the culture evolution brought about by social development, especially in Hong Kong.

* As pointed out by some critics of Hofstede's study and cultural construct ( Triandis, 1982; Hunt,

1981) the proposed four cultural dimension may be inadequate for a full description/ complete picture

of a nation's culture. Some cultural dimension of Hofstede's framework may be more relevant for

measure of local Chinese culture than other. For example, Power Distance and the Collectivist

tendency may be more applicable than Uncertainty Avoidance and Tendency to Masculinity.

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* It was of course also probable that the questions set in the survey questionaires on respondents'

personal and work value could not adequately reflect and hence measure fully the Chinese cultural

characteristics described by Hofstede. Given more time it would be useful if the relevant group of

question in the questionaires could be administered to other nationality groups who are essentially

non-Chinese for comparison purpose to test and refine the validity of the construct.

Identified Learning Preferences of Respondents in General

Survey findings revealed that Reflective Learning activities were most favoured by respondents..

This was an interesting and yet to-be-expected observation as the identified learning preference for

Reflective activities were compatible with the findings which revealed respondents' predominant

learning style as Reflector according to Honey and Mumford classification, as discussed in previous

paragraphs. It was also compatible with the general belief on the learning preference of a typical

Chinese learner.

It is generally acknowledged that learners with different learning styles tended to prefer different kinds

of teaching and learning activities/ situations (Honey & Mumford, 1986). In addition it is also well

documented that the teaching and learning process would be more effective if the teaching and

learning/ instructional activities matched the learner's learning styles and learning preferences.

(Honey and Mumford 1986, Hunter, 1978, Kolb, 1984). Viewed in this perspective the favoured

Reflective learning activities such as "tutor's explaining facts and theories....", "tutors demonstrating

concepts/theories with data/ real- life cases/examples" and "tutors illustrating management techniques/

skills" (Top 3 rankings by respondents) are of course most 'effective' to help respondents 'learn or

assimilate the required knowledge, if adopted to a great extent in the instructional design process and

principally used for teaching/ learning activities. On the other hand it should be noted that such

Reflective learning activities were essentially 'teacher-centred', which, though compatible with general

notion of Chinese learners, appeared not very compatible with the objectives of a management

education curriculum where the emphasis should be on more active experimentation, concrete

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experience, risk-taking etc., as described earlier on. Therefore, in term of 'suitability' which does not

only cover 'effectiveness' but includes the notion of 'usefulness', it would not be appropriate to design

teaching and learning activities limited to the Reflective Learning type. Instead the curriculum

should also cover other types of teaching and learning activities, which may not be favoured by

respondents in terms of personal liking, familiarity and difficulty in assimilation but nevertheless were

important in view of the particular objectives or requirement of the management education curriculum

and for the development and growth of the respondents' professional trait, as competent managers and

executives upon graduation. It is of course necessary to provide more attention and effort to prepare

and help learners to adapt to the type of teaching and learning activities which do not match their

learning style and preferences, and/ or are relatively unfamiliar.

Apart from the Reflective tyle of teaching and learning activities which were most favoured by

respondents, the findings did not reveal clear preference or ranking shown towards any of the

remaining five main types (or groups) of teaching and learning activities, as predicted by the identified

preferred learning styles in the order of Reflector, Pragmatist, Theorist and Activist. This finding

showed that it might not be always useful or very indicative to use Honey and Mumford's learning

style profile to predict the preferred learning preferences.

Identified Learning Preferences of the Respondents with respect to the Andragogy and Action

Learning Approaches

With particular reference to the learning preference of respondents expressed over the teaching and

learning activities within the Andragogy and Action Learning Grouping, it was observed that the more

favoured features were "applying knowledge to real-life or work situations"(Ranked 4th by

respondents), "undertaking learning activities at one's own pace" (Ranked 6th), "freedom to prioritise

learning activities " (Ranked 9th) and " undertaking projects relevant to current job on one's own"

(Ranked 10th) etc. These preferences showed that local adult learners at the Open University taking

management education are at least to some extent showing receptivity to some important features of

the Andragogy and Active Learning approaches. On the other hand, it should be noted that the

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least/less favourable features of the two approaches included activities emphasizing peer participation

and peer learning, self-learning, self selection of subject area/ content, and standard setting and

assessment by oneself etc. The two most salient features of Action Learning - "undertaking activities

with no clear-cut solution or one best solution" and " activities requiring insight and creative thinking,

with possible peer involvement," received almost the lowest rating to moderate rating. It appeared

that local adult learners, as exemplified by the respondents, were still under great influence of the

traditional 'teacher - or trainer - centred' type of didactic education which they accustomed and used to

receive since childhood. The influence was observed from the respondents' relatively low

preferences for more 'learner-centred' type of learning such as learning with/from peers and various

activities related to and relied mainly on self-learning. Respondents might have been socialized and

socially adapted to didactic learning environment with very low confidence in their own and their

peers' ability in contributing to the learning processes/ situations as well as lacking the practical

experience. The comparatively least favoured features of the Action Learning approaches which

included undertaking activities with no clear-cut solutions (or one best solutions) and activities

requiring insight and creative thinking further illustrated that learners were much accustomed to the

'passive' mode of learning and would prefer more expert and authoritative guidance, (rather than

mainly working on their own), as suggested by the more traditional 'teacher/trainer-centred' type of

learning activities.

As many of the essential features of the Andragogy and Action Learning approaches were not

receiving favourable enough ratings by respondents as well as not compatible with those activities that

are consistent with respondents' predominant learning styles which are essentially Reflector and

Pragmatic, it could be concluded that the two approaches as a whole would not be very effective as

teaching and learning activities. On the other hand, as discussed in the foregoing paragraphs, it

appeared that most of the least prefered activities wihin the two approaches (especially Action

Learning approaches) were in fact considered essential incredients of management education. For

example, tolerance for ambivalence, peer-learning, risk-taking , active experimentation etc. Such least

prefered activities also become more 'useful' to the respondents precisely because it showed that they

may lack the actual experience and would need to improve on these weaknessess by going through the

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experience and appreciate the benefit. Therefore, to generalise based on findings on this part,

Andragogy and Action Learning were considered 'suitable' as means of helping adults learn or

instructional techniques for management education for adult learners in the local context. This

comment was made not in the sense that these two approaches were found to be 'effective' but that the

approaches would be 'useful' as learning experience and for professional development purposes for

management education.

Motivation of Study of the Respondents

Findings on respondents' motivation of study revealed that respondents were more motivated by the

potential tangible benefits which might be obtained (e.g. academic qualifications, promotion, change

of job etc) than the intrinsic nature of academic pursuit.

The practical, down-to-earth motivation shown by respondents may have subtle influence on their

learning preferences. Although respondents might to some extent recognize the 'usefulness' of the

various learning approaches, including the Andragogy and Action Learning approaches, they might

also recognize that the active 'learner-centred' approaches would require more time and more difficult

to master than the passive 'teacher/ instructor-centred' approaches. Hence they preferred the latter

activities which could better help them to achieve their priorities in their study objectives. Following

this argument it would not be surprising to find that the current survey revealed that Reflective

Learning activities tended to be favoured by respondents out of the six major groups of teaching and

learning activities, although it would be difficult to single out the relative importance of the motivation

factor versus the impact of the respondents' learning styles which was also predominantly of the

Reflector type. Similarly it was natural to find from the current survey that the type of Andragogy

and Action Learning activities would not be much in favour.

To summarize, if findings of respondents' motivation, which tended to be very practical and

qualification oriented, could be generalised as description of most local adult learner, it might be

concluded that the Andragogy and Action Learning approaches would not be 'effective' as teaching

and learning activities as these activities did not quite match learners' study motivation which might

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have influenced their learning preferences. It was also possible that the 'usefulness' of the two

approaches were not recognized or appreciated by the learners. Therefore in order to make the two

approaches becoming more 'suitable', special efforts might be necessary to assist learners to adjust to

these learning methods if used and to help learners appreciate the 'usefulness' of experiencing and

practising such approaches for their own benefit and professional development etc.

CONCLUSIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Findings on Learning Styles and Preferences

In line with the generally held stereotype of local Chinese adult learners, the present study on Chinese

adult learner once again revealed that the most predominant learning style was the Reflector style.

Findings on respondents' predominant learning preferences also revealed that the Reflective kind of

teaching and learning activities received highest rating which again was compatible with the stereotype

predominant learning preferences expected of Chinese learners. The matching of Reflector style with

the Reflective learning activities showed that the latter kind of activities would be most effective for

respondents and local Chinese adult learners, if generalization was justified.

The Issue of Culture

As the respondents consisted mainly of local Chinese adult learners taking management education and

the findings revealed that the predominent learning style and preferences concurred with that of the

generally held stereotype of Chinese learners'. (i.e. Reflector style and Reflective activities) it could be

inferred that Chinese culture should have some impact or influence on the learning style and

preferences of the adult learners. However, the attempt to seek further explanation or to establish a

closer link or specific relations between the learning styles and local Chinese culture proved to be

inconclusive. If anything it appeared that only one aspect of Chinese culture dimension, that is the

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Power Distance dimension, might have some possible relations and influence over the learning style.

The inconclusive findings indicated some directions for future research.

The Suitability of the Andragogy and Action Learning Approaches

It was clear from the findings (on respondents' predominant learning styles, learning preferences as

well as study motivation) that the two approaches as a whole would not be effective for local adult

learners as teaching and learning activities if the respondents was considered a good representative

sample. Nevertheless such approaches would be 'useful' for management education and therefore

should be incorporated as part of the educational process though special attention and assistance would

be necessary in the instruction design and delivery process to help the learners to assimilate the

knowledge and develop the skills. The findings on respondents' motivation of study and learning

preferences implied that local adult learners albeit taking management education would most likely not

appreciate Andragogy and Action Learning approaches as 'useful' because they did not indicate

special liking for most features of such approaches in their learning preferences and their study

motivation was mainly qualification oriented. Therefore the findings implied that learner might have

to be helped to appreciate the 'usefulness'. Another contribution of the present study was that the

more favoured features and least/less favourable features of the two approaches were identified which

would be useful in designing management education programmes to local adult learners

To conclude, the real and critical issue was therefore on 'how' to incorporate such approaches in

management education to make the approaches become more accessible and user-friendly, in other

words, more suitable for the local adult learners.

Concluding Remarks and Additional Suggestions for Future Research

In closing the author wish to acknowledge that the representativeness of the sample may be limited by its size and the specific background of the respondents (OU students in the Human Resource Strand of the business school). It is also recognized that some of the benchmarking or standardised measuring

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instruments such as the LSQ and some of the norms for comparison are not the locally developed ones. Therefore, we must not over-generalised and the research findings must be treated and applied with caution. To the extent that other persons or population resemble our research sample, the findings may become more useful.

In addition, it is recognized that in this exploratory study, the relationship between learning styles

and the four Chinese culture dimensions exhibited was only simply explored by grouping returned

questionaires which exhibited a particular learning style and then find out the mean scores (and

total mean scores) of each of the predominant cultural dimension exhibited by that learning style

(four cultural dimension according to Hostede’s classification). Should the data showed more

consistent pattern, then statistical test should be employed to find out whether the differences

among the four learning styles is significant or not and to explore the possible correlation between

the learning styles and cultural scores. Further research in these areas would be useful to explore

the relationship using more sophisticated statistical tests after further refining and validating the

measuring instruments for local use.

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Values. Human Organization, 41, 86-90 ____________________ Author Kenneth Chee Kwong CHAO, Management Strand Leader, School of Business & Administration, Open University of Hong Kong

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(Received 11.5.98, accepted 8.6.98, revised 13.7.99)