Learning Through Art in Management Education: A Humanistic Framework for Developing Complex Human Skills

Abstract

Management education faces a persistent challenge: many of the capabilities most demanded in complex organizations—empathy, interpretation, communication, creativity, presence and judgment—are difficult to develop through lectures alone. This conceptual review examines arts-based learning as a pedagogical pathway for developing complex human skills in management and leadership education. Building on experiential learning, reflective practice and arts-based management literature, the article proposes a four-stage learning cycle: encounter, interpretation, experimentation and transfer. The framework explains how theatre, music, visual arts and narrative can create emotionally salient experiences that make tacit assumptions visible and provide low-risk spaces for behavioural rehearsal. The article also identifies limitations, including facilitator competence, cultural accessibility and the danger of using art as entertainment without explicit learning transfer. Practical design principles are offered for universities, business schools and corporate academies. The paper argues that art is academically valuable not because it decorates learning, but because it gives learners a different medium through which to perceive, feel, test and reinterpret human behaviour.