Working part-time as a Professor of Management Practice and freelance business management consultant, a colleague recently suggested I rebrand myself as a ‘Pracademic’…

Reflecting on this, I’ve come to recognise the enormity of the advantages I now enjoy in helping to ‘make a difference’ when working with business leaders and managers, entrepreneurs and the staff and students in the business school at the University of Bedfordshire in the UK.

Theory and Practice…a great divide?

Like many countries around the world, attempts to create effective, mutually beneficial relationships between academics (researchers and lecturers) and practitioners in the UK is fraught with challenges; why is it so difficult to leverage the innovative ideas, practices and resources germinating in our universities?

Long held (partly unfounded) beliefs about the cross over point between academics and practitioners don’t help:

Whilst there has been some progress in addressing these perceptions , challenges persist.

Bucking the trend, a small number of visionary business schools frustrated with the status quo are already reaping the benefits from their investment in Professors of Management Practice.

Professors of Management Practice

Whilst each position is likely to be unique, individuals are expected to:

1. Remain abreast of trends and practices in both industry and academia
2. Enact appropriate and effective behaviours for stakeholders in academic and business environments
3. Work with academic leads to develop courses and modules that enable students to practice and master the application of theory in real-world situations
4. Help researchers identify and investigate real-world problems to maximise impact; and
5. Consult with practitioners to shape, prioritise and convey their requirements in their search for innovative solutions

A role like no other

From personal experience, the role appears uniquely challenging and rewarding. Occasionally perceived as ‘too academic’ by practitioners and not academic enough by teaching or research professors, being a professor of management practice can be a tough gig.

However, after nearly 10 years in industry and 20 years in consultancy, I have found the rewards incomparable. Since taking up the role:

• I’ve been able to build, refine and expand my practice as an advisor in all aspects of IT enabled business transformation to clients across public and private sectors
• Through a process of (academically rigorous) research, I’ve developed new frameworks and methods that help technology leaders become more effective in increasingly turbulent business environments; and
• I’ve been able to exploit numerous opportunities to disseminate and refine these experiences via various (two-way) educational interventions with a huge variety of practitioners (entrepreneurs, managers and senior leaders), academics and the business leaders of the future, our students.

Closing the gap

If you’re still unconvinced about the benefits of investing in/ working with a professor of management practice, ask yourself, as a:

1. Practitioner, how confident are you that your current approach to innovation is effective? What are your competitors up to?
2. Researcher, how satisfied are you with the impact of your work on UK businesses?
3. Lecturer, how satisfied are you with student employability?
4. Student, how confident are you about entering the business world?

If your answers to these questions make you feel uncomfortable, perhaps a rethink is needed.

Whilst many may ponder where new opportunities for mutually beneficial collaborations reside, for those of us who’ve already taken the plunge, the answers are obvious….