Business School Courses Research Articles

Designing Business School Courses To Promote Student Motivation: An Application of the Job Characteristics Model

Student motivation within the classrooms is a widely recognized problem and will remain so in the foreseeable future. Literature suggests that students' motivation for learning and performance can be enhanced by creating an appropriate classroom environment, which is again determined by the design of various structural characteristics of a course, such as type of tasks, autonomy of students, and evaluation. On the basis of the framework of Hackman and Oldham's Job Characteristics Model (JCM) and support from educational research, this conceptual article identifies the structural characteristics instrumental to an effective course design and presents related instructional strategies for maximizing student motivation in business school classrooms. Various issues related to the proposed application of the JCM framework in classrooms, including its relevance to the larger landscape of business education, are also discussed.

Reputation Work in Selling Film and Television: Life in the Hollywood Talent Industry

Reputation is an important feature in the interactional contexts of work in “culture industries” such as film and television production. But few accounts have examined how reputations are produced in the everyday worlds in which cultural producers live and work. This paper introduces the concept of “reputation work” to describe the front stage and back stage interactional processes through which cultural producers continuously strive to produce their reputations. Drawing on participant observation data gathered at a Hollywood talent management company and a business school course on the talent industry, this paper shows how Hollywood agents and managers perform four types of reputation work. These include how Hollywood talent representatives work to adhere to institutionalized conventions for reputable physical settings, group contexts, giftgiving practices, and selfhoods. Such reputation work performances are done for the sake of “impression management,” but show how this strategic interaction is governed by industry-wide institutions that govern legitimacy.

Rethinking and reinventing Michael Porter's five forces model

Michael Porter's five competitive forces model has been a most influential model within business schools but has perhaps had less appeal to the practising manager outside of an MBA and certain short business school courses. In this article it is argued that whilst there are a number of reasons why the model has not achieved greater currency, most importantly it can be developed a lot further. The paper looks at a number of important opportunities for using Porter's model in an even more practical way, including: mapping the competitive forces, which can vary significantly over market and competitive terrain and within the same industry; understanding its dynamics; prioritizing the forces; doing macro analysis of the sub-drivers of each of the five forces; exploring key interdependencies, both between and within each force. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Using kaizen to improve graduate business school degree programs

PurposeTo illustrate the applicability of kaizen in higher education.Design/methodology/approachKaizen process was used for ten courses contained in a part‐time executive MS degree program in management.FindingsKaizen was found to be an effective process for improving graduate business school courses and the value proposition for students.Research limitations/implicationsFurther opportunity to quantitatively correlate kaizen results with student satisfaction.Practical implicationsKaizen can help higher education institutions compete more effectively against both traditional non‐profit and newer for‐profit sources of higher education.Originality/valuePresents insights, lessons learned, and critical reflections from the first known application of kaizen in higher education for this purpose.

Improving business school courses by applying lean principles and practices

Describes the application of lean principles and practices to the design and delivery of a graduate business course on leadership taken by part‐time working professional students in a classroom setting. The principal objectives were to improve consistency between what was taught in the course and how the course was taught, eliminate waste, improve the quality and relevance of course materials, and deliver greater value as perceived by students. Results indicate a higher level of student satisfaction, in part through clearer expectations, less ambiguity regarding lectures and assignments, standard formats for assignments, smoothing individual and team assignments over the semester, and better management of students' time both in and outside class. This joins a growing body of work that demonstrates the applicability of lean principles and practices to service businesses, and the achievement of improved outcomes.

All You Ever Wanted to Know About Supply Chains: Supply Chain Management by S. Chopra and P. Meindl

Sunil Chopra and Peter Meindl have recently updated their Supply Chain Management book (2. edition published by Prentice Hall). The new edition is more comprehensive than the previous edition; it includes basically two new chapters on Sourcing and Pricing and Revenue Management. Discussion of design options for a distribution network of Chapter 4 is also new material. The rest of the new edition is very similar to the first edition. This similarity between editions hopefully justifies me as a legitimate reviewer because I have used only the first edition in three sections of an elective 3-credit course at a business school. Practically, the class populations were split equally between MBA students and MS students. The students generally had above-average quantitative background with regard to ordinary business school students. My perspective on the book is partly shaped by my students’ reactions. I believe that this perspective is a healthy one as a “good book” should teach well to a novice reader. Below, I go over the book in detail and discuss what readers can and cannot find in the book. At times, I take the liberty of suggesting additions/deletions of some topics or reordering some topics. The new edition, like the old one, examines supply chains in six parts. The first part deals with Building a Strategic Framework to Analyze Supply Chains. This indeed is a good start to give a top-down view to readers. It starts a smooth transition from the qualitative discussions of an average business school course to more quantitative discussions of a supply chain course. Moreover, the students warm up with the subject matter while the three chapters of Part I are discussed. In Part I, the concept of a strategic fit between customer wishes and supply chain capabilities is very important. On the other hand, one can quickly skim over the sections of Process view of supply chain and Expanding strategic scope. The second part is mainly on logistics: location and transportation analysis. This part used to come after inventory chapters in the first edition. Since outcomes of infrequent decisions typically become inputs for frequent decisions, infrequent decisions should be discussed first, e.g. location decisions should come before inventory decisions. Ordering decisions (effectively chapters) according to frequency eliminates potential confusion as to how decisions are related and what is their relative chronology. Hence, I applaud authors’ decision to discuss logistics earlier. Location chapter includes interesting examples of inventory and transportation cost trade offs. These examples deserve a careful reading because they emphasize the concept of integration (system-view) which is a keystone for supply chain management. On the other hand, location (Chapter 5) and transportation (Chapter 14) could have remained next to each other. The relegation of transportation may be due to its inclusion of routing type combinatorial topics that may not be appropriate/interesting for some readers. Those readers may skip parts or all of the transportation chapter but the others can read the transportation immediately after the location. Speaking of the placement of chapters, I agree with the authors that network design decisions under uncertainty belong to Part II. This discussion was provided under the Financial evaluation chapter in the first edition. Authors use the methodology of decision trees to solve two examples here. With these examples, instructors may also illustrate how simulation can be used instead of decision trees. This is now made possible by an appendix in the new edition: Simulation using spreadsheets. If this appendix is pulled into Part II which seems possible with little effort, readers can be presented with a comparative discussion of decision trees and simulation. Such a comparison adds to the value of the book. It

Evolving MBA education with business technology innovation: An e-business course directive

SummaryE-business has evolved from visionary ideas supported by optimistic technology maps to complex engineered solutions for business process improvement and innovation. And yet business school courses and programs by and large are lingering at the stage where e-business is introduced, discussed and debated as new phenomena. This paper suggests that MBA e-business related curricula focus on learning the emerging Internet-based management methods and their practice. The gap between the suggested focus and that of the current curricula is evidenced by the results of a survey of over a dozen e-business related courses and programs in the business schools. This paper further outlines a general structure for course or program development with the suggested focus.

Herding Cats to Water: Benchmarking the Use of Computers in Business Education

In this study, we investigated the use of computers by faculty in business school course preparation and delivery. We surveyed a systematic random sample of faculty members and found that computer use varies by faculty demographics, application area, and course load. An analysis of the demographic data indicates that the extrinsic factors examined were not consistently related to technology use. This may support the research identifying intrinsic characteristics as more compelling in technology adoption. Our study's results provide benchmark information, specifically as a catalyst for change.

Leveraging technology: CI in an electronic classroom teaching environment

This article describes how laptop-suited electronic classroom teaching environments enable contemporary traditional business school course offerings such as Organization Theory to serve as intellectual platforms for effectively training students in the art of competitive intelligence. It further describes how a pedagogy that mixes popular laptop and Web-based technologies help students make realistic recommendations by interpreting information using existing analytical frameworks and knowledge of relevant online information sources. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Leveraging technology: CI in an electronic classroom teaching environment

This article describes how laptop-suited electronic classroom teaching environments enable contemporary traditional business school course offerings such as Organization Theory to serve as intellectual platforms for effectively training students in the art of competitive intelligence. It further describes how a pedagogy that mixes popular laptop and Web-based technologies help students make realistic recommendations by interpreting information using existing analytical frameworks and knowledge of relevant online information sources. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Teaching Spatial Analysis in Business: An Examination of the Use of Geographic Information Systems in a Decision Support Systems Course

Geographic information systems (GIS) are increasing in importance as a resource for collecting, managing, and analyzing data pertaining to a variety of business problems. Yet, the number of business schools that have incorporated GIS as a significant part of even one of their core business courses is quite small. Thus, little is known about how to teach GIS in business courses and how business students respond to being taught about this subject. To examine these issues, GIS training was included as a significant part of a decision support systems course offered within a traditional business school curriculum. Attitudes and opinions of students concerning the role of GIS in business were collected both prior to and after students were given training in the course. In addition, perceptions about the topic of GIS were captured one year after students graduated. Results indicate that students' attitudes about the effectiveness of GIS as a decision support tool and its role in business courses improved after their exposure to the technology and these attitudes did not significantly decline one year later. However, the results also showed that students did not develop more positive perceptions about the benefits to their careers of GIS training. The paper also discusses some of the instructor's observations related to teaching GSI in business school courses.

Teaching Negotiation and Dispute Resolution in Colleges of Business: The State of the Practice

Tracing the history of how the study of dispute resolution came into the mainstream of behavioral science courses in business schools, the author gives a positive assessment of the appropriateness of the content and pedagogy of negotiation courses currently taught in business schools for the challenges of the next decade. He proceeds to make recommendations for improving the definition and acquisition of negotiation skills.

A new context for ethics education objectives in a college of business: Ethical decision-making models

Objectives for ethics education in business school courses generally appear to be based on custom, intuition, and judgment rather than on a more unified theoretical/empirical base. These objectives may be more clearly implemented and their effects studied more rigorously if they could be rooted in the components of ethical decision-making models shown to be influential in ethical decision making. This paper shows how several widely used ethics education objectives can be placed in the context of current models of ethical decision making.

Telemarketing for the Business School as a Sales Course Project

Client-based projects provide a more comprehensive learning experience than other participation exercises in business school courses. Most client-based projects, however, share two basic disadvantages: changing clients each semester entails heavy work and constantly intense learning curves for the faculty involved, and extensive cold calling exposes students to a potentially high rate of rejection, which may discourage them from pursuing sales careers. This article describes a client-based telemarketing project that avoids these disadvantages by using the students' own business school as the client and prospects who have already indicated some interest in the school. Methodology and teaching considerations are discussed.

Ethical congruency of constituent groups

This research investigates the perceptions of five constituent groups of an accredited business school — their perceptions of others' ethics, of their own ethics and ideal values, and of how business ethics can be improved. Self-described behavior from the constituent groups is quite similar, yet is decidedly different from that which respondents felt others would do. Undergraduate business students tended to have the lowest estimation of others' ethics in addition to the least ethical self-described behavior compared with other constituent groups. All constituents were solidly in favor of improving ethics by developing principles of business ethics, requiring ethics courses in business schools and introducing industry codes of ethics. People are much more ethical than they are perceived to be. Knowing that others are more ethical may in turn cause other people to act more ethically. Similarly, believing that others are less ethical may encourage less ethical behavior.

A Role-Playing Approach to the Instruction of Information Systems Analysis and Design Courses

Abstract A role-playing approach for the instruction of the required Business School course Information Systems Analysis and Design (SAD) at one university is described. The technique is suggested in response to studies that indicate that in addition to technical ability, the entry level systems analyst must possess a wide range of behavioral and technical skills. A structured learning environment is developed that familiarizes students with the needs of the three sets of principal participants (designer, decisionmaker, and system user) by requiring the assumption of commonly found roles in a task-oriented situation. The setting provides a framework for the instruction of SAD concepts, the direct application of structured methodologies, the presentation of findings, interaction with the affected parties, and structured evaluation and feedback. The approach has been favorably received by students as a medium for the instruction and application of tools and techniques.

Business schools in the marketplace

Professor David Myddelton, of Cranfield Business School, describes the business school courses on offer and outlines some of the problems faced by the schools.

A review of current biographies and business histories

From kiss-and-tell to war stories, fawning fables to muckraking, this is the new that promises to enliven if not always enlighten business history. E ver since Lee Iacocca wrote his best-selling autobiography, publishers have been releasing business and professional books that strip the veils from corporate oligarchs, or publishing unvarnished corporate histories that lay bare the weaknesses and foibles of management . No doubt managers who read love to scan these true (or not so true) tales of how GM, Chrys.ler, Ford, IBM, Du Pont, and dozens of other companies have muddled through. A number of reasons for this rash of new nonfiction fables can be listed. Revenge ranks high for many. Graduate schools of business now offer highly popular elective courses in business history that are much more interesting than the majority of eye-glazing business school courses. The Journal of Business History, published at Harvard, produces only scholarly articles that are mostly research-based. Because business history was one of my areas of teaching for a number of years, I read most of the new books concentrated in this area. Therefore, I want to provide here a classification of those books, from which readers can characterize forthcoming volumes and decide which ones are for them. As management becomes more professional, reading business history and related biographies can provide an interesting and useful self-development program for the thoughtful manager. These books can be classified into seven major types: * The kiss-and-tell book by disgruntled exemployees; ° War stories: How I won the commercial wars; • The company secrets of the XYZ company; • The fawning fable-noth ing but good news; • The thick description of a single company; • The muckrakers -expos ing the fools and rascals; • The genuine business history, by real historians. Let's look at each of these types and provide some examples published in recent years.

Increasing applied business ethics courses in business school curricula

Business schools have a responsibility to incorporate applied business ethics courses as part of their undergraduate and MBA curriculum. The purpose of this article is to take a background and historical look at reasons for the new emphasis on ethical coursework in business schools. The article suggests a prescription for undergraduate and graduate education in applied business ethics and explores in detail the need to increase applied business ethics courses in business schools to enhance the ethical development of students.

The Level of Computer Use in Schools of Business

Throughout the 1980s there has been a quest for increased use of computers in university business administration programs. An analysis of previous research and a pilot study completed in 1987 consisting of a stratified random sample of university-based business schools revealed that a large proportion of business school course offerings still fail to show any reference to computer use, and a previously undefined variable may be the size of the school.