The Use of Interest-Inventory Measurements in Marketing Education: Improving MBA Student Team Effectiveness

Business schools face the dual challenge of keeping students highly engaged in courses with exceptionally broad scope, like the introduction to marketing principles, while simultaneously instructing them in the increasingly specific and technical skills that are demanded by employers. In this article, the authors describe the use of an interest-inventory survey for MBA students that allows instructors to measure students’ interest in the subareas of marketing, while communicating the range of career options available in the marketing discipline. The effectiveness of using the interest-inventory survey for team formation is demonstrated through empirical data gathered through an experimental methodology. The article details how this measurement of student interests is constructed, administered at the beginning of the term, reported and discussed, and then used throughout the term in team formation, exercises, assignments, and project work to simulate the multidisciplinary group structures most students will encounter in their careers. The article also reveals how the multidisciplinary team approach created using the survey provides the means to manage tactical challenges presented by student teams, like allocating project work within teams, and grading team outcomes transparently and equitably. Data reveal that use of this pedagogical approach for group formation increases the effectiveness of student teams.