Running Aground: Reflections on Belief, Organizational Culture, Strategy, and Performance

A Canadian Navy destroyer ran aground more than 45 years ago. I have been thinking about it ever since, while in the Navy, and during my career as a management educator. I also have discussed it with my coauthors. Here is what we believe we can learn from that grounding.

“What About Us?” Exploring What It Means to Be a Management Educator With Asperger’s Syndrome

Very little is known on the subject of educators with Asperger’s syndrome (AS), and the available information pales in comparison to the enormous literature studying students with AS. While there are many resources for engaging students with AS, and increasing awareness of how AS affects student learning, discussions about the implications for teaching and learning from the instructor’s perspective are much harder to find. In this article, Professor Gundy Kaupins shares his thoughts and experiences related to the issues educators with AS face and offers an alternative lens to see the advantages that having AS can bring to the management education classroom. Professor Kaupins also offers ideas for behavioral solutions and considerations for future research. We finish with a commentary on the individual and institutional issues pertaining to disclosure of “differences” and invisible disability in the university classroom.

Management educators in practice: to be critical or not to be critical, that is the question

The field of management education has been the focus of much debate in recent times regarding the relevancy of its content and process. How we define relevance has implications for all stakeholders of management. As a result, how applicable are the alternative approaches to management education such as critical management education (CME). This research explores how criticality is perceived, experienced, and translated into the everyday practices of critical management educators. The research found that there was a common theme about criticality relating to questioning taken-for-granted assumptions about management and its practices. However, distinctions were made between those whose interests were more theoretically, politically, or practically oriented. From the findings, two critical educator types emerged. These were the critical experientialists and the critical traditionalists. This research provides an understanding of the critical classroom through educator perceptions and practices. In doing so, it enlightens the management educator further as to what it means to be critical.

The ubiquitous jazz metaphor: thoughts from a jazz musician and management educator

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a viewpoint about how the jazz metaphor can be applied to marketing/management education, in light of the article by Holbrook (2015). Design/methodology/approach – This commentary examines the jazz metaphor from the author’s perspective as a jazz musician and management educator and hopefully provides the reader with a brief snapshot into the intricate workings of a jazz group. This commentary also investigates the lessons to be learned from Miles Davis’s approach to leadership and innovation. Findings – The jazz group can provide a valuable model for modern organisations. The core competencies of a successful jazz group, e.g. collaboration, trust, dialogue and innovation can be employed to bring about a culture of creativity within an organisation. Research limitations/implications – It may be possible to extend the jazz metaphor and investigate how different aspects of business practice could be aligned with particular genres of jazz. Originality/value – This commentary expands on Holbrook’s discussion of the marketing manager as Jazz musician and provides examples of how these metaphors can be used in order to augment the marketing/management learning material to offer alternative perspectives to the learning communities and enhance the pedagogical practice

Management education: obsolete by default?

Purpose – Business Schools have received much criticism up to, and definitely after, the most recent economic meltdown. Management education in particular, whether at the undergraduate or graduate level, has come under scrutiny, and the pressure is on to make management education more aligned with contemporary workforce needs. This paper aims to review the validity of this demand, and offer some options to prepare current students for the volatile work environment that awaits them. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on the author's experiences as a management educator, and her observations of the changed nature of management, hence, the changed needs to educate this phenomenon. Findings – Reflections are offered on what is perceived as possible ways for management educators to prepare future workforce members for management in a rapidly changing work environment. This is presented in a unifying, three-tier approach: 1. Connection: Establishing interaction with current workforce members and situations. 2. Completion: Ensuring a well-rounded approach by including interdisciplinary elements in our education. 3. Comprehension: Instilling the eagerness to become lifelong learners. In addition, the changed nature of work and the inability to optimally prepare future workforce members for jobs and careers that yet have to come into existence are underscored. Originality/value – The paper presents an overview of alternative facilitative approaches and insights based on in-depth review of-, and extensive engagement in management education.

Understanding The Use Of Feature Films To Maximize Student Learning

Feature films, old and new, have been used for many years to teach management education in general and leadership skills in particular. Films are often able to affect not only our emotional responses and perceptions of events, but they can also have an impact on our personal lives over long periods of time. Although anecdotal evidence (primarily based upon Social Learning Theory) has generally supported the use of feature films to teach management education, the paper draws upon theoretical advances in universalistic self-theory as part of cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST) as an epistemological basis for why and under what specific conditions management educators should use feature films to maximize student learning. From this reasoning, the paper proposes that management educators apply contextual self-theory as a pedagogical guide for the actual selection of films for classroom use. In addition, the paper highlights the importance of how the management educator needs to look at other factors, such as the age and cultural background of students, as important considerations for the selection and use of feature films in the classroom.