Authors: Ricardo de Souza and Janette Brunstein
Presbyterian University Mackenzie

Edition: Volume 58, Number 2, July 2018

Introduction: Critical reflection is understood as a valuable exercise for the creation of new meanings and behaviours. This article argues that if the focus of critical reflection is too concentrated on performance, its strength in the work environment is weakened, in other words, its potential for creating changes diminishes. This is based on an interpretive qualitative study that aims to understand the meaning that critical reflection assumes in the work environment and how it relates to managerial competence regarding professional conduct. Using narratives from the managers of a financial organisation, events involving disorienting workday dilemmas are presented, revealing moments of reflection. The actions set in motion by these reflections, and when these actions became competencies for negotiating conflicts between individual desires and the transformation of their context, are then discussed. Finally, a warning is offered about the risk of weakening the concept of critical reflection in the workplace, as it is sometimes treated merely from the performance point of view in the literature.

Keywords: critical reflection, development of competencies, workplace, managers, financial institution, narratives

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This article is part of AJAL, Volume 58:2. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.