Journal of Management Education recent issues

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

Developing Competencies for Professional Performance

Schmidt-Wilk, J. — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:02:32 PDT

Enhancing the Experience of Student Teams in Large Classes: Training Teaching Assistants to be Coaches

Sargent, L. D., Allen, B. C., Frahm, J. A., Morris, G. — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:02:33 PDT

To address the increasing demand for mass undergraduate management education and, at the same time, a greater emphasis on student teamwork, this study outlines the development, delivery, and evaluation of a training intervention designed to build team-coaching skills in teaching assistants. Specifically, practice-centered and problem-centered techniques were used to provide teaching assistants with experiential learning opportunities to help them develop their skills. The authors evaluated the training intervention using a mixed-method multiple-data source design. Both the teaching assistants being trained as well as the student teams’ experiences and perceptions of their coaches’ performance were assessed. The evaluation showed that teaching assistants reported finding the program a positive experience. Importantly, students with trained coaches reported higher levels of coaching performance, team functioning, and productivity than those with untrained coaches. The implications of this intervention are discussed.

Students as Employees: Applying Performance Management Principles in the Management Classroom

Gillespie, T. L., Parry, R. O. — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:02:33 PDT

The student-as-employee metaphor emphasizes student accountability and participation in learning and provides instructors with work-oriented methods for creating a productive class environment. The authors propose that the tenets of performance management in work organizations can be applied to the classroom. In particular, they focus on three important areas within performance management: identifying performance, developing performance, and dealing with the social environment associated with managing performance. Beyond implications for course management, the authors discuss the instructor’s role in the performance management process, directions for future research, and the value of these classroom practices for the work setting.

A Borrowed Approach for a More Effective Business Education

Blaylock, B. K., McDaniel, J. L., Falk, C. F., Hollandsworth, R., Kopf, J. M. — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:02:33 PDT

Have business programs become "too focused on scientific research?" and "graduating students who are ill-equipped to wrangle with complex, unquantifiable issue?" In the April 2006 issue of the Journal of Management Education, Campbell et al. argue the deficiencies in undergraduate business education must be addressed with changes in pedagogy rather than changes in curriculum. Unfortunately, specific recommendations beyond team projects and team teaching are scarce. One strategy for obtaining new ideas is to examine the pedagogy of other professional programs and see what, if anything, business schools could learn. The purpose of this article is to examine one of the primary pedagogies used by nursing schools to integrate theory and practice, clinical laboratories. By adopting the clinical model, business schools will simultaneously improve student learning, offer a new assessment approach to evaluate learning, and provide businesses with more relevant information about employment potential.

Developing The Great Eight Competencies with Leaderless Group Discussion

Costigan, R. D., Donahue, L. — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:02:33 PDT

The Great Eight competencies are work behaviors that promote employee effectiveness in 21st-century organizations. These competencies include enterprising and performing, adapting and coping, organizing and executing, creating and conceptualizing, analyzing and interpreting, interacting and presenting, supporting and cooperating, and leading and deciding. This article proposes an alternative pedagogy, leaderless group discussion, for developing the Great Eight competencies in business students. An example and a roadmap are also provided that show how leaderless group discussion can be employed in the college classroom. Leaderless group discussion is surprisingly efficient in that all of the Great Eight competencies can be developed within the student at the same time with one exercise. Recommendations to help make leaderless group discussion practical for the business classroom are discussed.

Developing Performance Management Competence: An Exercise Leveraging Video Technology and Multisource Feedback

Mumford, T. V. — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:02:33 PDT

The ability to competently manage employee performance is critical for students graduating with degrees in management. This article provides a competency development exercise (CDE) for use in graduate and undergraduate management courses to increase students’ performance management competence. The CDE includes providing employee feedback, disciplining employees, and conducting termination meetings. Procedures and assessment tools are provided for utilizing the exercise in conjunction with video technology and multisource feedback. In addition, guidance is given for adapting and condensing the CDE from 3-6 hr to 30-60 min. Finally, data are presented showing that the exercise significantly affected students’ performance management competence.

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

Lovelace, K. J., Parent, J. D. — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:02:33 PDT

Special Issue: Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME)

Forray, J. M., Leigh, J. — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:02:33 PDT

The 37th Annual OBTC Teaching Conference for Management Educators June 16-19, 2010 -- University of New Mexico

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:02:33 PDT

Revisiting the Journal of Management Education's Vision and Editorial Mission in a Time of Transformation

Schmidt-Wilk, J. — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:30:06 PDT

Announcing the Fritz Roethlisberger Memorial Award Winner for 2009

Taft, S., White, J. — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:30:06 PDT

Adventure Racing and Organizational Behavior: Using Eco Challenge Video Clips to Stimulate Learning

Kenworthy-U'Ren, A., Erickson, A. — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:30:06 PDT

In this article, the Eco Challenge race video is presented as a teaching tool for facilitating theory-based discussion and application in organizational behavior (OB) courses. Before discussing the intricacies of the video series itself, the authors present a pedagogically based rationale for using reality TV—based video segments in a classroom setting. They then describe the Eco Challenge race series, with an overview of how it is used to facilitate application of course concepts, encourage attention and interest in the course, and provide a frame of reference for other experiential activities and assessment in the course. Readers are encouraged to use this video as a semester-long teaching tool. To assist in this regard, readers are provided with a template for using the Eco Challenge video with a variety of OB topic areas, a list of the potential limitations of this teaching method, and sample discussion and assessment questions.

Giving Students New Eyes: The Benefits of Having Students Find Media Clips to Illustrate Management Concepts

Tyler, C. L., Anderson, M. H., Tyler, J. M. — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:30:06 PDT

An extensive literature in management education addresses the pedagogical technique of showing video clips from feature films, animated films, and television shows. The bulk of this literature either asserts the benefits of using video clips or identifies specific clips and discusses how those clips can be effectively used to teach various management and organizational behavior topics. The assumption in all of this work is that the instructor will locate the video clips to be used. The authors present an alternative approach that has students locate video clips in groups, and discuss the numerous advantages of this approach for both instructors and students. In addition to describing the general approach, the authors elaborate on a number of possible variations and reflect on the lessons learned from implementing this approach in two independent courses at two different universities.

Using Feature Films as the Primary Instructional Medium to Teach Organizational Behavior

Smith, G. W. — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:30:06 PDT

The use of film to assist with teaching various theoretical concepts has been integrated into the classroom for many years. However, the use of films has been primarily as a supplementary material to the typical textbook instruction. This article bridges the gap in the literature and discusses one approach whereby feature films were incorporated into an organizational behavior class as the primary instructional medium. Student exam results, coupled with their in-class discussion and evaluation comments, reflected great success with this approach.

OB in a Video Box: Using Remember the Titans as a Microcosm for the Organizational Behavior Course

Holbrook, R. L. — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:30:06 PDT

The use of movies and television in teaching is growing in popularity. Although a number of publications describe movies for use in the classroom, no single suggestion has been offered as an example that covers all the basic concepts of an organizational behavior course. Disney's Remember the Titans is that movie and, as such, is a valuable tool for educators with limited budgets and limited time to manage extensive video libraries. Suggestions are offered for using the movie along with concept illustrations, thought items, and sample exam questions.

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

Lovelace, K. J., Parent, J. D. — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:30:06 PDT

The 37th Annual OBTC Teaching Conference for Management Educators June 16-19, 2010 -- University of New Mexico

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:30:07 PDT

Manuscript Preparation for the Journal of Management Education

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:30:07 PDT

Greening and Sustainability Across The Management Curriculum: An Extended Journey

Rusinko, C. A., Sama, L. M. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:56:21 PDT

Action Research as an Approach to Integrating Sustainability Into MBA Programs: An Exploratory Study

Benn, S., Dunphy, D. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:56:21 PDT

This article reports on an exploratory project that employed an action research approach to integrating sustainability into core subjects in the MBA program at an Australian university. It documents the change methodology used, the theoretical basis for this choice, and the project outcomes. It then identifies some key enabling factors and barriers to successful integration of sustainability themes into the MBA. The article also draws on theories of organizational change to illustrate the strengths and limitations of the approach used in this study compared to other possible approaches. Key success factors included active faculty participation from the redesign process to evaluation and collaboration between multiple stakeholders.

A Principle-Attribute Matrix for Environmentally Sustainable Management Education and Its Application: The Case for Change-Oriented Service-Learning Projects

Rands, G. P. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:56:21 PDT

The environmental threats humanity faces have led businesses to increasingly commit to improve their environmental performance and to increasing attempts to address environmental issues in management education. This article presents a matrix of (a) principles that can underlie and (b) attributes that can be generated by environmentally focused management education and uses the matrix to identify topics, assignments, and assessment mechanisms that can be incorporated into environmental management education. Particular focus is given to skills related to facilitating organizational change. Environmental change—related course projects are suggested as particularly helpful in the development of these attributes, and use of service learning applied to campus sustainability issues is suggested as offering significant opportunities for engaging students in change-oriented projects. Observations related to implementing such projects based on the author's experience with them are offered. The article's concepts and ideas can provide guidance to instructors wishing to incorporate environmental sustainability into their management courses; an application with respect to human resources is included.

Three Views of Systems Theories and their Implications for Sustainability Education

Porter, T., Cordoba, J. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:56:21 PDT

Worldwide, there is an emerging interest in sustainability and sustainability education. A popular and promising approach is the use of systems thinking. However, the systems approach to sustainability has neither been clearly defined nor has its practical application followed any systematic rigor, resulting in confounded and underspecified recommendations. The purpose of this article is to extend the notion of systems thinking as it pertains to sustainability pedagogy. The authors draw from systems theory and other literatures to develop three broad approaches to systems thinking: functionalist, interpretive, and complex adaptive systems (CAS). Each perspective is examined regarding its conceptual underpinnings, implications for sustainability, and pedagogical goals, objectives, skills, and exemplar projects and activities. The authors' goal is to provide the reader with an immanently practical set of ideas and pedagogical tools that may be readily adopted by management educators in any discipline.

Greening Operations Management: An Online Sustainable Procurement Course for Practitioners

Walker, H. L., Gough, S., Bakker, E. F., Knight, L. A., McBain, D. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:56:21 PDT

In the Operations Management field, sustainable procurement has emerged as a way to green the purchasing and supply process. This paper explores issues in sustainable procurement training. The authors formed an interdisciplinary team to design, deliver and evaluate a training programme to promote and develop sustainable procurement in the United Kingdom health sector. Particular features of the project were its engagement with evolving and contested understandings of sustainable procurement and of the underlying concept of sustainable development and its recognition that relevant knowledge in the field is both incomplete and widely diffused through the procurement community. Eight practitioner groups worked together on themes to develop their understanding of sustainable procurement using the Blackboard virtual learning environment. Group interviews were conducted upon completion of the course and again three months later to explore qualitatively participants' experience of learning and implementing sustainable procurement. Although the course was delivered to practitioners, it might be modified for undergraduate and graduate students as it comprised the use of online activities in virtual learning environments, case studies and a broad range of literature. The course was also particularly significant in the context of contemporary policy moves in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to promote the role of higher education institutions in delivering workplace-based, high-skills education consistent with strategic policy considerations (see, for example, DIUS, 2008).

The Value of Sustainability Education

Bradfield, S. L. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:56:21 PDT

This article offers the perspectives of a veteran in the field of sustainability. The author shares the steps in the development, evolution, and management of sustainability and sustainable practices at a leading flooring manufacturer. The author leverages over 20 years of experience in industry to discuss the necessary skills and mindsets to enable managers to address sustainability effectively in their organizations. In addition, he addresses the necessary tools and perspectives for universities, business schools, and students with respect to advancing sustainability among all stakeholders in the future.

Preparing Today for a Sustainable Future

Peoples, R. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:56:21 PDT

Business leaders and their academic trainers must embrace the concept of sustainability to prepare future leaders with the understanding and tools necessary to make key decisions based on more than "just the numbers." The economic competitiveness of this country and the survival of our species require a deeper understanding of nature if we are to meet the demands of an expanding population and their expectation for improved quality of life. Competition for finite raw materials and resources will continue to expand despite the momentary speed bumps of the current economic slowdown. A model for enhanced decision making is presented that is based in the simple notion of effective communications. A personal example of strategic decision making translates into lessons learned.

Integrating Sustainability Into Management Education: A Dean's Perspective

Walck, C. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:56:21 PDT

The integration of sustainability and environmental ethics into management education has improved in the past decade. This is partly a response to external pressure, as societal concerns about sustainability grow and businesses have made greater efforts to green their processes and products. But it is also a response to internal pressure from faculty who have focused their research on the intersection of business and the natural environment. Academic administrators such as deans can encourage this integration in a number of ways, even if business school accreditors such as AACSB lag in their commitment to sustainability education.

A Million Decisions: Life on the (Sustainable Business) Frontier

Steketee, D. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:56:21 PDT

Innovation often happens at the margin. For the past 5 years, in the academic equivalent of an ecotone, Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan has built and continues to refine offerings in its 4-year Bachelor of Science degree in Sustainable Business. Emerging out of the demands of a rapidly changing business world and the sustainable business movement, this degree program integrates and spans across disciplines. As the country's first undergraduate program of its kind, Aquinas' program-building effort for its signature Sustainable Business degree offers lessons and insights for those who might embark on a similar journey on the "sustainability frontier." Faculty creativity, administrative leadership, and external support all contribute to this innovative curriculum.

Closer Encounters with Indigenous Peoples: What Can Management Educators Learn?

Fitzgibbons, D., Humphries, M. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:56:21 PDT

Manuscript Preparation for the Journal of Management Education

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:56:21 PDT