Recasting the 'technologies' of outdoor management development: An interpretivist perspective on the tools, models and processes used in the field

Abstract

This paper investigates the models and tools commonly engaged in outdoor management development (OMD). The paper employs an interpretive methodology engaging participant observation and narrative techniques. A number of OMD providers were studied and this generated a rich body of data which is relayed and examined in the text. In spite of extensive theoretical contemporary debates and developments in wider human resource development domains, the study identifies that many practitioners working in experiential course settings continue to engage a predominantly positivistic, well–rehearsed, over–used, and indeed ageing, collection of models. The paper identifies linear and modernistic assumptions on which such models are predicated. OMD is a relatively longstanding form of training which continues to be used by a large number of individuals. The phenomenon therefore merits attention so as to better determine the social implications of the approach. The paper offers an original and innovative consideration of the tools generally employed in OMD programmes.