'That's Dangerous': Autonomous Development Work as a Source of Renewal in Academia

Abstract

After hearing of my interest in researching and developing our own academic practice, the top manager of our business school, then called 'rector' and now 'executive dean', remarked: 'That's dangerous'. What gave meaning to my work was obviously problematic for him. Unfortunately, I did not then have a chance to ask: 'Dangerous to whom?' In this account I try to continue the broken lunch-table dialogue by articulating the nature of the 'dangerous' activity. I also try to speculate on the possible reasoning behind the manager's remark. However, I don't deal with the possibility that he intended to warn me of dangers threatening me. I play with the idea that he considered our doings dangerous to somebody else and especially to university managers.