https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507618776595 Management Learning 2018, Vol. 49(4) 453–470 © The Author(s) 2018 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1350507618776595 journals.sagepub.com/home/mlq Getting lost to find direction: Grounded theorizing and consciousness-raising in management education Pascale Auger KEDGE Business School, France Philip Mirvis Global Network on Corporate Citizenship, USA Richard Woodman Mays Business School, USA Abstract The design of an implemented, innovative management course for French Master’s of Science students revolves around a field assignment in which they must visit and study an unfamiliar organization, diagnose what is going on, and apply their critical thinking to the situation to identify its causes, consequences, and implications for management action. This report makes the case for a pedagogic experience that uses grounded theorizing to raise consciousness among management education students. Such theorizing has a unique impact on students’ ability to become conscious in their thinking and helps them discover new avenues of thought, entailing notions of understanding people as they work in their context, making sense of complexity, engaging in critical introspection, and accepting personal revelation. The authors conclude by noting the teaching implications of this course and its potential impact for research in pedagogic innovation. Keywords Complexity, critical management education, critical pedagogy, experiential learning, management education It is 2:00 a.m., and five management students stand in the corner of the emergency room of North Hospital in Marseille, trying to understand what is happening. They are surprised by the violence the nurses confront. The students have thus far interviewed six nurses, one chief nurse, and two Corresponding author: Pascale Auger, KEDGE Business School, Domaine de Luminy, BP 921, 13288 Marseille, France. Email: Pascale.auger@kedgebs.com 776595MLQ 0 0 10.1177/1350507618776595Management LearningAuger et al. research-article 2018 Original Article