Implementing Theater in Management Education:

A Roadmap for the Soft Skills Trainer

Karthika Nair*
The term soft skills has come to be seen as an integral component of
management education. There has been a paradigm shift in the
instructional methodologies of general management concepts, as
inquisitive students persistently question the absolute applicability of these
concepts unless validated through personal reflection. This paper makes
a pitch for learning soft skills in management through the medium of
theater. The underlying principle behind this approach derives from the
dramaturgical approaches to social exchanges propounded by Kenneth
Burke and Erving Goffman. This is essentially the fundamental approach
to Corporate Theater as well, practiced in many organizations to unlearn
and relearn values embedded in individuals. Theater arguably transcends
the constraints imposed by mere theorizing that may curtail any real
learning in terms of personal reflection. This facilitation of self-reflection
and the transformation of spectators to spect-actors is the quintessence of
theater-induced learning. The author also gives a roadmap to deploy
the concept effectively in the classroom.
All the worlds a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have
their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his
acts being seven ages.
William Shakespeare

Introduction
This insightful quote from the master craftsman resonates not only in the larger picture
of social life, but also in the organizational scheme of things. Management learning
and pedagogy have imbibed a multidimensional culture in terms of incorporating
disciplines as varied as sociology, psychology and communication. There has been
a paradigm shift in the instructional methodologies of various management concepts,
especially behavioral ones, as inquisitive students started questioning the absolute
applicability of these theories in various contexts. It is in this context that the relevance
of theater in understanding organizational problems entered the fray. Corporate
Theater, practiced in many organizations, seeks to channelize the power of arts and
*

Assistant Manager, Learning & Development (Soft Skills), Amrita University Ettimadai Campus,
Coimbatore, India. E-mail: karthika.sn03@gmail.com

2011 IUP. AllTheater

Rights in
Reserved.
Implementing
Management Education: A Roadmap for the Soft Skills Trainer

39

humanities for a deeper insight into the predicaments of the 21 st century manager.
It is a technique to stimulate personal reflection and evolve a personal view of
management from the prism of variegated experiences that the actor undergoes in the
course of the performance. The notion of the spectator changes as he changes into
a spect-actor, wherein he indulges in analytical thinking to enhance self-awareness.
Research, although emerging in this area, points to a manifold increase in positive
attitude by employers through gratifying and enriching dramatic performances. In
India, many theater groups are actively providing services to organizations to reinforce
learning through acting after the procedural training. Drama mostly overcomes the
limitations of classroom participation. The content of these shows ranges from the
success stories of entrepreneurs, the founding stories of major companies, the crisis
and the aftermath, to the turnaround the organizations achieved under the stewardship
of an effective manager.
The dramaturgical approach to social exchanges, pioneered by Kenneth Burke and
the American sociologist Erving Goffman, underpins the idea that social actions are
necessarily dramatic, and therefore, the idea that social transactions are necessarily
dramatic. The premise of this approach is that individuals negotiate their way
through the course of life by identifying themselves in various roles and also
convincing others to don certain roles. This, in turn, gives them a premonition of
the events that could transpire in their lives. Hence individuals typically monitor
the effect of these self-donned roles on others, in what Goffman came to term as
Impression Management. This strategic interpersonal transactional model existed
right from the times of antiquity, Plato speaks about the stage of human life and
Shakespeare talks about the worlds a stage. Erving Goffman, in his cardinal work,
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, whimsically puts it like this: All the world
is not of course a stage, but the crucial ways in which it is not are not easy to specify.
Hence, would not organizational transaction get even more complex at workplaces,
especially in a dog-eat-dog-world of organizational competition? The so-called
managers, grounded in the impeccable techniques of the sciences of management,
may find themselves at a loss to grasp certain complexities that arise out of
organizational social setups. Thus, arise situations that tend to be dismissed as
irrational or inexplicable through the logical corpus of management discipline. The
theater approach to management pedagogy, a relatively novel tool sets the context
for addressing such reflective complexities that managers grapple with. It seeks to
channelize the incredible power of drama in trying to make sense of the practical
world. Its practice and principles were subsequently extended to organizations that
sought to integrate these principles into organizational learning methodologies. Over
the years, it came to acquire a distinct identity as opposed to role playing or other
miscellaneous pedagogies of management education. These pedagogical initiatives
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The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. V, No. 2, 2011

spearheaded by organizations are increasingly being integrated into the management

curriculum. Soft Skill Trainers (SST) can extensively apply the elements of dramatics
to transfer concepts like problem solving and critical thinking at a personal level
to management students by facilitating an introspective process in them. In fact
research studies point out that there is a direct co-relation between the use of theater
and the development of management skills (Corrigan, 2000; Monshavi, 2001; Leigh
and Manard, 2004; and Pearce, 2004). This forms the core of the authors argument
that impression management strategies learnt through the medium of theater can
reinforce learning in behavioral domains of participants. This is because behavioral
changes only surface when current perceptions and belief-systems are dealt a blow.
But the role of the trainer is one of passive mentoring allowing flexibility to
participants to learn from the prism of experiences, than interrupted learning which
only serves to diminish any real learning.

Background to Research in Drama and Management Education

Managers, in their scramble to meet deadlines and take decisions, seldom stop and think.
Rather, they follow precedents or status quo without reflecting on the task at hand that
might need a different treatment. The thrust for management pedagogues is on research
expertise, as gauged by the overdue importance accorded by business schools across
the world. In the process, teaching and facilitating are relegated to the peripheries. This
makes the case for reflective management pedagogies like case studies, business games,
role plays and live projects. But these methods are not without their limitations. Turner
(1981) makes a critique about the case study approach in his comment that the case
study methodology is relevant to the situation they are in, but mostly irrelevant to what
managers do. Moreover, in a conventional case discussion classroom, the structure of
idea generation and perspectives is strongly tilted in favor of the instructor who has
an agenda of discussing issues in what order and what results (Mintzberg, 2010). It
may stultify reflective, independent thinking and broader understandings in an
individual. The control of the class is hence in favor of the instructor who gives the
accepted debriefing at the end of the discussion which is generally considered right.
Even in pedagogies like action learning (field projects, business simulations), the
opportunities for self-reflection get narrowed because the experience is added on and
is therefore artificial. Even in project works that espouse team work skills, it becomes
a collective, albeit forced experience. The authenticity of various management
pedagogies, as researched by Henry Mintzberg, the Cleghorn Professor for Management
studies at McGill University, is represented in Figure 1.
The diagram clearly shows that experienced reflection through natural experiences
of the experienced induces maximum reflective and revelatory ambience than forced
or simulated experience. In other words, through the medium of theater, participants
Implementing Theater in Management Education: A Roadmap for the Soft Skills Trainer

41

Figure 1: Management Pedagogies on a Scale of Authenticity

Authenticity

Experienced reflection (natural

experiences of the experienced)

Action learning by managers

(added experience imposed on
the experienced)
Case study discussions (simulated
experience about real experience)
Projects by students (forced
experience for the inexperienced)
Computer simulations, role playing, etc.
(artificial experience)
Method

learn to enact what they experienced in real life and how they may react to hitherto
unfamiliar situations based on their reflections. In the same vein, Porter and Mikibbin
(1988) vouch for a hands-off approach to education: a suspension of disbeliefs in what
is essentially called a frozen idea technique, where characters step in and out of various
roles to reexamine their modes of actions at various points.
This sets the background for the introduction of drama in stimulating personal
reflections. Stories and plots always appeal to the young and adult alike. It is by virtue
of their universal appeal that they render aesthetic joy and catharsis to spectators and
spect-actors alike. Any learning can be entrenched in an individual when his mind
is bereft of prejudices and biases. This can only be immersed through a childlike state
in the individual. The theater pedagogy in management mandates a certain kind of
artistic sensibility from the instructor. The transformation aimed through mentoring is
from a rigid structure to a super flexible structure that emboldens both the active and
passive participants to enact various roles. Passive mentoring is what is called for in
its implementation. The case for a passive mentoring is made based on a set of learning
principles that are flexible in nature and is possible only by giving the participants
the latitude to impersonate anything but stereotypes. Break free of stereotypes and
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The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. V, No. 2, 2011

explore divergent ways of resolving problems. Let the learning thus gained be
embedded in individuals to challenge their established beliefs and notions about self
and the others. This kind of learning, channelizing the power of theater is based on
the following assumptions.

Learning Is Most Effective in a Childlike State

The learning in an individual is cemented through curiosity and observation. In our
childlike states, our ego diminishes and we are unfazed by others perceptions about
us. This is why a child learns in total nonchalance what an adult may not learn in
the face of complexities. Effective learning takes place when we are not bound by the
results that follow and in the process, assimilate eclectic perspectives rather than from
the prism of our individual prejudices. In short, as a child, we tend not to be biased
but open to a world of new possibilities.

Each Person Has a Unique Learning Style

Past experiences play a major role in redefining ones attitudes to approaching problems.
This is the first step in the process of self-discovery and transformation which are the
indicators of any semblance of training effectiveness. This is true in the cultivation of
soft skills too as it also aims at personal development. Learning is best when each
one gets in touch with their own wisdom (Paul Mathew, 2007). Hence, training in
theater should essentially put the onus on the learner. Strictly, no training or learning
happens if the trainees or trainers are mutually defiant of each other in their bids to
push forward personalized agendas in the classroom.

Learning Is Incomplete Without Transformation

Transformation engenders change, change brings forth development and development
redefines self-beliefs. This is the crux of this tenet. Overnight change in beliefsystems can only be conceived of as utopian in scope. Rather, a series of concerted
activities can happen only with the interest evinced by key stakeholders in the
process. Dissent is good, according to this proposition. Only if dissent happens
(strictly no disruption), can we really infer that the conflict of convictions reaches
the sublime so as to bring the desired effect in terms of redefining core values and
belief systems. Hence, in a way theater training constitutes a form of self-empowerment
coaching.

Theater as a Pedagogical Tool for the Trainer

The pedagogical initiatives spearheaded by organizations are increasingly being
integrated into the management curriculum. SST can extensively apply the elements
of dramatics to transfer concepts like problem solving and critical thinking at a personal
level to management students by facilitating an introspective process in them. Many
universities slot in theater performances in between other classes to aid structured and
unstructured forms of interaction and social exchanges among students for collaborative
problem solving. Trainers need to understand that the objective of implementing
Implementing Theater in Management Education: A Roadmap for the Soft Skills Trainer

43

dramatics is fundamentally different from that of role-plays or case studies. In the latter,
students collaborate to arrive at solutions from a detached perspective of concentrating
on the root of the problem and analyzing the managerial pitfalls in the given study.
But dramatics facilitates an insider perspective, in the process, empathizing and living
inside-out the characters to gain a firsthand experience of the emotions undergone at
the time of dialogue delivery. The role of the soft skills trainer is very subtle in handling
the nuances of this self-transformation of his participants. He should tactfully and
selectively intervene while taking care not to disrupt the learning process of participants
as any unwarranted intrusion may obviate the effects of the learning transferred. From
this vantage point, the trainer can dissect the elements of the play by mentoring the
participants on the aptness and propriety of the decision taken by them after a planned
break. The trainers role is to open the eyes of the spectators to the pros and cons of
certain management solutions by encouraging them to define their roles, ambitions and
actions. In the process, his challenge is to convert spectators to spect-actors. Students,
in turn, organize themselves into discrete cliques taking care of the nuances of theater
management apart from their macro-level responsibilities at hand. SST should discern
the relative merits of this genre and make students feel its conspicuous differences
between conventional role-play exercises, debates or case study sessions already
completed. The relative factors and their ostensible enjoyments and learning for students
are of utmost importance from the training perspective. Arguably, the student operates
in an atypical environment placing them in the limelight of action, emanating from the
myriad roles they emulate with conscious knowledge of the pros and cons of their
actions. This can be learnt in sync with the learning obtained through the depiction
of classic plays of eminent playwrights: Macbeths overvaulting ambition or Hamlets
indecisiveness or Othellos jealousy which are as contemporaneous in appeal despite
their antiquated status. The chief interest of these plays originates from the universal
appeal they enjoy as a result of the exploration of human psyche. Where could the
complexity and tapestry of human mind be so artfully exposed other than the medium
of theater? The author argues that stirrings of sentimentality, pathos or catharsis, the
chief ends sought through plays, are as relevant to managers today to understand
questions concerning ethics and ethical values as the technical skills they need to
progress in their careers. This is because emotional intelligence is what managers
probably lack that drives them to job-hopping and professional instability and
indecisiveness, despite the luminous milestones they achieve as individuals in careers.
This becomes all the more pertinent in the wake of shocking statistics of suicides by
managers, as reported by The New York Times that workplace suicides shot up to a series
high of 251 nationwide in America. It is indeed a debatable issue whether theater can
bring about the requisite personal transformation of individuals, but there is no
gainsaying the fact that the roles assumed by performers do have a personal touch in
their articulation value. The most important application of theater in mentoring is,
perhaps, its potential to engage the audience in self-reflection, thereby creating
introspection. The power of introspection in fostering self-insight and reflexivity is
validated through empirical research. Mans affinity for himself, his self knowledge about
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his own weaknesses and strengths make the technique more appealing than
conventional role-plays or debates to conduct personality checks. Self-reflection
engages the students in reminiscences that help them shape newer beliefs and values
(Figure 2). Gibbs cycle of reflective process, as shown in Figure 3 is a process, in which
the audience as well as participants engage in a self-introspection process.
Figure 2: Blending the Pedagogies
Lectures for
conceptual inputs

Reflection to
make meaning
of all experience

Cases to widen
exposure

Applying
the learning

Natural Experience
Action leaning for
new experiences

Figure 3: Cycle of Reflective Process

Description
What happened?

Action plan
If it arose again
what would you do?

Feelings
What were you
thinking and feeling?

Analysis
What else could you
have done?

Evaluation
What was good and bad
about the experience?

Analysis
What sense can you
make of the situation?
Source: Gibbs cycle of reflective process
Implementing Theater in Management Education: A Roadmap for the Soft Skills Trainer

45

Spectators as Key Stakeholders

The spectators transform into an active cohort by making sense of management issues
and introspecting on their possible actions, rather than experiencing only a vicarious
thrill. This becomes evident from the body language and enthusiasm manifested, leading
them to engage inspirationally with the management lessons they learnt. Similar to the
dramaturgical tradition, the play seeks to question the popular beliefs and challenges
of the audience by suspending their reactions through an imaginative participation. They
engage directly with the artist mentally and negotiate roles in different scenarios like
adverse situations and prompt themselves to think about the possible outcomes of
certain decisions and actions. The effect is heightened when the scenario demands to
create mental images about oppressive or sexist managers rather than benevolent
management. Their opinions can be elicited by a process of collective debriefing so that
they can voice critical concerns about the wider spectrum of management thought. The
success of the technique becomes palpable when there is proactive involvement from
the audience in such a way that it becomes impossible for them to oversee not only
stereotypes, but also discrepancies in person. This gives them a vantage point to directly
question and assimilate the gist of management learning they internalized.

Roadmap The Theater in Action

Getting Started: Instituting drama techniques in the soft skills class requires
the professional assistance of a director who can mediate the histrionic
techniques of participants. The SST (Soft Skills Trainer) has the onus of
motivating students to script their own stories, arrange their own props and
direct the play according to their imagination. Special care need to be taken
not to sideline students who are uninitiated to the technique due to baseless
fears. Meaningful roles should be assigned to participants to enable them
construe positive experiences through suitable and unsuitable roles.
Organizing the Show: The content of the performance should be inextricably
linked to the objectives of the session. In order to set the context for students,
they need to be intimated at least a week in advance to organize the show.
The role of the SST is to oversee periodically the status of the preparation
in sync with the theater professional. The SSTs role becomes vital here as
he judiciously suggests the content, performing a complementary role with
the histrionic professional. A professional artist can make a substantial
difference to the process since he can coordinate the dramatic and aesthetic
aspects of the show. However, this is not a prerequisite for the organization
of the show.

Content Suggestions
Case Studies: The content of the play should be such that they instigate a
keener self-reflection process. Acting out pre-discussed case studies helps
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participants envision the problem statement from an emotional angle. This will
facilitate empathy with the stakeholders involved in building concrete
outcomes at the end of the drama.
Exploring Multi-Faceted Characterizations: An unbiased depiction of roles like
that of a cobbler, painter, sweeper or peon also can be integrated into different
scenes to balance the stereotyped images of managers. The characters for these
roles may preferably be enacted by participants with reported management
traits. This would enlarge their repertoire of emotional reactions, hitherto
unfelt. Thus, we have a crucial mission to make good managers better,
empathetic managers.
Cross-Cultural Aspects of Management: The cultural bloopers of managers in
cross-cultural contexts can be enacted. This is effective as participants learn
more from what they should not do, rather than they should. Sample
contexts can be based on enactment of contrastive scenarios based on Geert
Hofsteeds model of cultural continuum (Figure 4). Examples can be the
interactions between high-context or low-context cultures in aspects as varied
as communication styles, negotiation, time management, planning or decisionmaking. This serves to diminish the overpowering influence of good and bad
perceptions of stereotyped managers, leading them to understand that there
are different ways of seeing things.
Total Goof-Ups: Totally fantastic scenarios that exist only in imagination, like
a Robot God, Human dinosaur or an alien manager, serve to explore new
realms and perspectives for aspirant managers. They get to know firsthand
Figure 4: Cultural Dimensions
Power
Distance
Uncertainty
Avoidance

Long-Term
Orientation

Cultural
Differences

Masculinity/
Femininity

Individualism/
Collectivism

Source: Geert Hofsteedes Cultural Dimensions

Implementing Theater in Management Education: A Roadmap for the Soft Skills Trainer

47

prospective eccentricities and dilemmas they may encounter in their

managerial careers. This in turn helps them bust their boosted egos or
overrated self-perceptions.
Giving Feedback: The culmination of the show should be immediately
followed with an organized feedback in the form of a questionnaire to both
the actors and the spectators. The extent of congruence of feelings of these
key stakeholders determines the success of the show. A reflective diary can
also be a supplementary backup for aiding this process. A systematic and
scientific way of collecting feedback should be to check the impact of theater
in improving specific attributes like self-confidence, communication, personal
transformation and such other traits.
Even when giving the checklist to students, as shown in Table 1, the trainer should
take care not to be unfairly rigid about conventions. The spectators as a cohort should
also be empathetic to the characters on stage, occasionally stepping in to relate
experiences closely resembling those enacted on stage. The idea of trainer-trainee
relationship gets dispersed to pave way for only learning. In relating the facilitators
point, he or she should not commit the fauxpas of professing from a know-all, morally
high pedestal. The more abstract the subject is, the more improved will be ones
reasoning skills, and the trainer should bring out this faculty of reasoning in them
through this exercise.
Table 1: Checklist for the Students

Determine the genre and style of the work and create the title.

Outline the basic action of the work to create plot.

Establish the structure of the play and overall framework.

Develop the characters presented in the work.

Create the dialogue and language of the characters.

Create and produce appropriate music.

Establish at least an average visual aesthetics.

Research the subject matter and relevant issues presented in the play.

Conclusion
Perhaps the chief merit of using theater as an innovative pedagogical tool lies in its ability
to appeal to students creative instincts. Since it involves the participants to write scripts
and frame dialogues in a structured way consisting of soliloquies and monologues, it
enhances their verbal communication as well as their reflective abilities. The stories of
collapse of business empires, unethical practices in businesses that convey didactic
themes, and stories of growth curves and turnarounds can be enacted to appeal to their
problem solving faculties. This can be followed by discussions centering on alternative
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The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, Vol. V, No. 2, 2011

solutions to problems supplemented by theoretical insights for analysis. Team building,

of course, becomes a natural offshoot of this methodology. The softer side of business,
like presenting, delegating, communicating, motivating, etc., finds full expression in the
medium of theater and helps students walk through corporate corridors with formidable
confidence. Trainers may find it challenging to motivate students in organizing the entire
show without the help of an expert. This is where the trainer has to show a great deal
of creativity in donning the stage directors role with lan. Theater arguably transcends
the constraints imposed by mere theorizing that may curtail any real learning in terms
of personal reflection. This facilitation of self-reflection and the transformation of
spectators to spect-actors is the quintessence of theater-induced learning.

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