Reflection

The focus of my current research is answering the question, "What does reflection mean for busy, responsible managers today?" Reflection is widely advocated, for professional and personal reasons, but these recommendations usually aren't accompanied by any description of what reflection is or how busy managers can find time to do it. The first phase of this project was reading through some of the vast literature on reflection, with a focus on the practices of individuals who themselves had serious administrative responsibilities. The second phase involved interviewing 80 managers and executives from a wide variety of backgrounds in order to understand how they defined reflection and when and how they went about doing it. I am now systematically working through the transcripts of my interviews and the voluminous notes from my literature review. I have also begun drafting what I anticipate will be a seven-chapter book and have completed a draft of the first three chapters.