learning-styles

In chapter 9 of The creative brain, Herrmann (1989)
offers many constructive and detailed suggestions
for expanding mental preferences by changing frames
of reference in terms of values, reasoning and decision
making. He claims that shifting into opposing modes
may be resisted, but can provide enormous pleasure,
making mental life more creative as well as more varied
and interesting.
Herrmann admits that it is not easy to involve
top management in new learning, but his study
of international and gender differences in the profiles
of 773 chief executive officers (CEOs) provides food
for thought, not least for multinational companies.
He found that CEOs were generally strongest in the
experimental ‘D’ quadrant, especially in Australia,
where conceptualising and creative aspects were
highly ranked and teaching and training were valued
more highly than elsewhere. The UK sample ranked
conceptualising, creative aspects, interpersonal
aspects and writing much lower than their US
counterparts, while giving higher priority to planning,
implementation, analytical thinking and organisation.
Gender differences were not marked, but were in line
with the general tendency for women to be rather
more interested in people than in analytic thinking.
Empirical evidence of impact
Martin (1994) describes the Herrmann ‘whole brain’
approach to teaching and learning and how it appeared
to benefit a large client company in the UK. However,
apart from the impressive business portfolio of the
Ned Herrmann Group and the six pages of testimonials
from participants in Applied Creative Thinking
courses, there is very little published research evidence
to convince sceptics of the potential value of the
Herrmann approach for large-scale use in post-16
education and training. Nevertheless, its inclusive
and optimistic stance and the fact that it does not rely
on gimmicky techniques are very positive features.
Conclusion
It is highly likely that any four-category
or two-dimensional model of approaches to thinking
and learning will be oversimplistic for certain purposes.
However, Herrmann is aware of this and certainly
does not seek to label and confine individuals
or organisations. He positively encourages change
and growth, whether for short-term adaptive purposes
or for the longer term, on the basis of more mature
values and attitudes.
With his model and the HBDI, Herrmann has provided
a creative space which has already been enriched
through empirically-checked revisions. It almost
certainly needs further work if it is to be used with
a wider constituency of younger, less experienced and
less literate post-16 learners than those to be found
at higher levels of responsibility in the business world.
The psychometric properties of the HBDI appear to
be sound, but there is a pressing need for up-to-date
independent study of the instrument and of its
many possible uses.
There are good reasons to recommend the use of the
HBDI as a means of individual and group reflection
on thinking and learning preferences. It is more detailed
and situation-focused than many of its competitors,
while accommodating many of the constructs which
receive incomplete or less reliable and valid coverage in
other instruments. Herrmann’s model is concerned with
thinking, feeling and doing as an individual and in social
contexts. It addresses both long-established habits
and personality traits as well as situationally-dependent
preferences. As it is concerned with process rather
than product, it is largely independent of cognitive
ability. It is possible to envisage considerable benefits
to be derived from its use by policy-makers and
course designers as well as in organisations concerned
with education and training. The design and delivery
of lifelong learning experiences may then more
effectively promote ‘whole person’ and ‘whole
organisation’ balance.
The HBDI is a transparent instrument and should
not be used ‘for making a decision about a person that
is beyond the control of that person’ (Herrmann 1989,
341). It is presented as a tool for learning, for use in
a climate of openness and trust. However, like other
such tools (for example Kolb’s LSI, Honey and Mumford’s
LSQ and McCarthy’s 4MAT), its potential to improve
the quality of teaching and learning, formal and
informal, has not yet been substantiated in a rigorous
manner, other than to the satisfaction of its proponents.