In 2006, our School of Management began the serious path of assessing both the "hard skills" (such as accounting, finance, and strategy) and the "soft skills" (such as leadership, team work, and ethics) of our MBA Program. The data generated from examining the "soft skills" that we want students to learn within our…

Networks and the social capital that they carry enable people to get things done, to prosper in their careers, and to feel supported. To develop an effective network, one needs to know more than how to make connections with strangers at a reception; understanding the consequences of network properties on one's ability to obtain benefits is…

This article describes the "Cross-Cultural Assignment," an experiential learning technique for students of business that deepens self-awareness of their own attitudes toward different cultures and develops international managerial skills. The technique consists of pairing up small teams of U.S.-based business students with small teams of…

This article reviews andragogy as the philosophy resident in the broad arena of experience-based learning. Beneath the umbrella of experience-based learning lie the specific classroom orientations of student-centered learning, problem-based learning, and classrooms as organizations. These orientations contribute to the creation of…

Using a toy construction set, we introduce to students the job characteristics model in a fun and engaging way. The activity not only describes the theoretical variables of the model but also allows students to (a) experience the dynamic interaction among these variables and (b) gain a better, hands-on understanding of the model. The exercise…

This article forms part of an exploration into how graduate students experience group work. A single case, embedded study was completed in 2011, which reveals insight and understanding into the manner in which part-time MBA students experience group work assignments and how these experiences contribute to their perception of positive group work…

The authors describe a semester-long action-learning project where undergraduate or graduate management students learn about ethics, responsibility, and organizational behavior by examining the policy of their college or university that addresses academic integrity. Working in teams, students adopt a stakeholder management approach as they make…

Drawing from the reflective teaching and learning practices recommended in influential publications on learning styles, experiential learning, deep learning, and dialogue, the authors tested the concept of "learning teams" in the framework of a leadership program implemented for the first time in a top French management school ("Grande Ecole").…

The course discussed in this article uses an integrative approach in presenting the concept of social capital and power to Executive MBA students at a large public university in the southwestern United States, where a majority of the students are members of non-dominant racial, gender and ethnicity groups. The article describes the theoretical…

The conventional definitions of power and masculinity are tightly conflated. The same words that are often used to describe power, such as authority, control, and decisiveness, are also often used to define masculinity. Where does that leave women in building and using power? Even as feminist scholars attempt to decouple the definition of power…

What does it take to develop enlightened leaders who can transform their organizations and communities? The quest to develop enlightened leaders who are self-aware, learning centered, adaptable, interpersonally competent, and team oriented is a challenge faced by many management programs. The Master of Science program in Executive Leadership and…

Value chain analysis is widely taught in business schools and applied by practitioners to improve business performance. Despite its ubiquity, many students struggle to understand and apply value chain concepts in practice. JetFighter uses a complex manufacturing process (making intricate paper planes) to provide students an opportunity to enhance…

The Consulting Challenge is a yearly case competition in which teams of graduate students respond to a request for proposals (RFP) for consulting services. The case and RFP are based on a problem that a host organization has experienced. Over 3 days, students meet with representatives of the host organization, analyze data, prepare a proposal for…

This article reports the findings of an empirical study of the effectiveness of portfolios as learning tools in a sample of MBAs. The results showed that portfolio use was positively related to reflection, defined here as the conscious awareness and questioning of personal experience, a search for alternative explanations and interpretations, and…

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…