Journal of Management Education current issue

Teaching to the Levels of the Mind

Schmidt-Wilk, J. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:20:05 PST

Social Protest Novels in Management Education: Using Hawk's Nest to Enhance Stakeholder Analysis

Westerman, J. W., Westerman, J. H. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:20:05 PST

This article examines the potential of the social protest novel as a teaching tool in the management classroom. It suggests that the social protest novel provides a uniquely powerful medium in that it effectively captures the student’s imagination and interest with an engrossing narrative, personalizes the importance of management issues and decisions through a student’s identification with the characters, and utilizes its grounding in real world events to demonstrate the capacity for change. This article introduces Hubert Skidmore’s Hawk’s Nest as a powerful social protest novel for use in the management classroom, with specific applications in stakeholder analysis and business ethics.

Using Student-Centered Cases in the Classroom: An Action Inquiry Approach to Leadership Development

Foster, P., Carboni, I. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:20:05 PST

This article addresses the concern that business schools are not adequately developing the practical leadership skills that are required in the real world of management. The article begins by discussing the limitations of traditional case methods for teaching behavioral skills. This approach is contrasted with an alternative case method drawn from action inquiry (AI) that uses ongoing student cases to develop more effective leadership behaviors. The student-centered case approach is distinguished from traditional case teaching by tracing an important similarity between AI and Socratic pedagogy. A leadership workshop for evening MBAs that uses AI pedagogy to help students improve their leadership behaviors at work and in the class is also described. The article concludes with a discussion of the significant benefits and challenges associated with helping students develop new leadership behaviors.

Demonstrating the Interplay of Leaders and Followers: An Experiential Exercise

Sronce, R., Arendt, L. A. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:20:05 PST

Classroom discussions of leadership often neglect the essential role of followers. These discussions do little to address the reality of our students’ predominant roles as followers within organizations. We describe the Origami Frog exercise, an experiential exercise that enables students to discover how follower behaviors impact group process and outcomes. Students are asked to play either leader or follower roles, and followers are asked to exhibit either Effective or Passive follower behaviors. Predictably, different follower roles interact with leader behaviors to yield different consequences. The Origami Frog exercise is complex enough that followers can significantly influence results and yet simple enough that the exercise and its relevant pre- and postdiscussion can be accomplished in a 50-min class.

The Lobster Tale: An Exercise in Critical Thinking

Stepanovich, P. L. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:20:06 PST

Professors in management and business are encouraged to incorporate critical thinking as an objective in their courses. "The Lobster Tale" provides an opportunity to engage students in various levels of critical thinking, ranging from a relatively superficial reading to an examination of the deeper, often hidden issues. Using the foundations of critical theory and systems theory, the story draws on economics, social theory, philosophy, and other disciplines to present a simplified version of the complexities found in our global environment. It can be used to supplement a variety of courses in the business curriculum and to encourage students to challenge not only assumptions but also conventional wisdom and, perhaps, knowledge itself.

Authentic Leadership: Practical Reflexivity, Self-Awareness, and Self-Authorship

Eriksen, M. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:20:06 PST

This assignment provides a process to facilitate student engagement in practical reflexivity and self-authorship through which students develop the self-awareness that is required to be an authentic and effective leader. It facilitates the development of students’ personal leadership principles, which help guide their decision making and actions, and provides criteria on which to evaluate their leadership effectiveness. This facilitation of the development of students’ personal leadership principles is accomplished by having students first identify and clarify their values and beliefs and to consider the impact of these on their day-to-day organizational lives and leadership. By explicitly defining themselves in the form of their values and beliefs, students have a clear sense of self on which to base their authentic leadership. Their beliefs are expressed in the form of self-narratives. These self-narratives are shared as audio recordings with fellow classmates to facilitate students’ learning, self-understanding, and empathy.

Creating Classrooms of Preference: An Exercise in Appreciative Inquiry

Conklin, T. A. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:20:06 PST

This article reviews Appreciative Inquiry (AI) as a process used in organizational creation and change and then outlines steps for an in-class exercise titled "The Preferred Classroom," to be used to design and organize a college classroom for the term. The exercise also prepares business students for future exposure to AI. A brief literature review is followed by a detailed step-by-step approach of how the exercise has been conducted in Organizational Behavior, Management, and Leadership Development courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Strategies for success, the value of the exercise in students’ lives, and implications are also discussed. Results of the exercise show increased awareness and optimism in students about their lives as well as relationship development with others in the class through shared experiences. In addition, increased freedom occurs with the opportunity to contribute to the design of the course and course values.

Special Issue: Healthy, Wealthy and Wise? Educating Management Students about Stress, Performance and Wellness

Lovelace, K. J., Parent, J. D. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:20:06 PST

Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME)

Forray, J. M., Leigh, J. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:20:06 PST

Manuscript Preparation for the Journal of Management Education

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:20:06 PST