Bridging theory and practice

Mid-September I attended the SIETAR Europa* congress in Tallinn, Estonia. This congress is a meeting place of many intercultural trainers and consultants. The congress is very practice oriented with many lectures and workshops about (aspects of) intercultural training, consulting and working in an international environment. I think I was one of the few researchers present and as someone who would like to have a foot in both academia and practice, I quite enjoyed it.

The retirement of the U-curve
I was particularly struck by Kate Berardo’s presentation on the retirement of the U-curve. I am familiar with the literature that shows that there is no proof for the U-curve (1) so I completely support her suggestion that intercultural trainers and consultants should be using another model to help clients deal with transition stress. Her presentation made me realize even more the importance of bridging the gap between theory and practice. Not every practitioner dives into the literature to figure out what research has been done and what the consequences are for training, coaching and consulting.

The widening gulf between theory and practice
The criticism goes both ways, as an interesting article about this topic in Academy of Management Review (2) states: ‘Academics are being criticized for not adequately putting their research into practice. Professional knowledge workers, as well, are criticized for not being aware of relevant research and not doing enough to put their practice into theory.’ Academia and professional practice seem to be two worlds apart, and this ‘gulf […] is widening’ (2).

Communication
So how can we increase communication between academia and professional practice? In future blog posts I’ll have a look at what academia has to say about this but I would love to hear about your experiences with bridging this gap – as a researcher or a practitioner – and your thoughts and ideas about it.

* SIETAR – Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research – is an association for interculturalists and has many (local) chapters – I myself am a member of Young SIETAR.

Sources
(1) Ward, C., Okura, Y., Kennedy, A. and Kojima, T. (1998). “The U-curve on trial: a longitudinal study of psychological and sociocultural adjustment during cross-cultural transition.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 22(3): 277-291.
(2) Van De Ven , A. H. and P. E. Johnson (2006). “Knowledge for Theory and Practice.” Academy of Management Review, 31(4): 802-821.