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The Team Exercise Guide to Business Education

Providing Team Exercises for the Business EducatorBy James C. Monk

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2009 James C. Monk
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4490-4910-2

Contents

Chapter 1 Why practical exercises for teams, cross curriculum coordination, and SCANS?.........................1Chapter 2 Leadership in the practical exercise model...........................................................9Chapter 3 Introduction to Business.............................................................................23Chapter 4 Managerial Communications............................................................................57Chapter 5 Human Resource Management............................................................................87Chapter 6 Computers and Technology.............................................................................127Chapter 7 Conflict Resolution for Managers.....................................................................161Chapter 8 Business Law for Managers............................................................................201Chapter 9 Marketing for Managers...............................................................................257Chapter 10 Business Ethics for Managers........................................................................331Chapter 11 Organizational Management...........................................................................389Chapter 12 Contemporary Business Leadership....................................................................421Chapter 13 Business Strategy...................................................................................481Chapter 14 Business Capstone Seminar...........................................................................539Epilogue........................................................................................................549Annex 1 Cross curriculum ideas.................................................................................551Annex 2 Rubrics................................................................................................553Annex 3 Using (RFPs) Request for Proposals and (RFQs) Request for Quotes in the curriculum.....................559Annex 4 Objectives, outcomes, assessment forms.................................................................563Annex 5 Project ideas and samples of team projects.............................................................573Index...........................................................................................................575

Chapter One

Why practical exercises for teams, cross curriculum coordination, and SCANS?

There are many instructors of higher learning who might find it difficult and time consuming to integrate practical exercises into the class room curriculum. When asked if they see the value of practical exercises (PE) most instructors will recognize the need to bring the reality of meaningful practical exercise into the class room.

During an assessment survey we had asked our student body to name the most important concerns they have with our curriculum they are as follows:

The number one response was:

Make it practical, or (Make your curriculum apply to my work situation.) In other words make it real.

The number two issue was:

Don't bore me by lecturing for four hours about what I have already read in the text.

Number three was:

Students need to enjoy the learning experience.

And number four sighted was:

Reduce the redundancy in the curriculum and courses offerings.

One of the natural out growths of the student response comments was the understanding for the need for practical exercises in the curriculum.

The history of practical exercise instruction has a strong foundation in the model of instruction used by the U.S. Armed Forces. Their entire military curriculum is centered on a task, condition, standard demonstration model. Currently the instructional emphasis on what I call, "focused training", it amplifies a practical exercise demonstration model which is efficient and produces the desired results focused on the individual's ability to perform each required task to standard. The idea is you train on the skills you will need to use in the job you will be doing. Now if you're a Vocational Educator this is not a new concept. It might be a bit contrived if you're a university professor.

The practical exercises in this book are designed to provide the instructors with the opportunity to facilitate the students toward finding real solutions to real problems small and large business leaders face every day. No ground is sacred, no topic is off limits. If the issue is diversity, aids, sexual harassment, organizational effectiveness, ethics, or micromanagement it is addressed in this book.

My intent is not to provide the instructor with a roll play where the students read a script but to present the problem for solution within the cohort/class or team structure. Some of the exercises presented will lend themselves to a roll play scenario and could be easily modified by the instructor.

In most cases it will be beneficial to organize the class into small business operations with an assigned CEO, Vice President, operations dept, etc. It is important to understand that the students may learn more from watching the student CEO and department heads solving the problems and interacting with the class than they sometimes do listening to the instructor.

In the next chapter you will find some suggestions on organizing your cohort/class or teams in to a small business organization based upon the abilities of each class member's marketability skills or skill sets.

If the instructor decides not to insert the leadership component into the curriculum he or she will still find these exercises valuable. The instructor may want to have the whole class develop the answer to any given situation. Or he or she might decide to split the group into two competing companies and select the best solution to the exercise. In each chapter you will be offered a recommended model and variations for class organization to get the best results.

The facilitator may find there are too many exercises, to much to do or they frankly have to many or two few students. The quality and skill sets of the students in the cohort may not allow the facilitator to assign all of the exercises. I found it valuable to survey the student cohort/ class or team to find out what they thought they could handle before I taught the course. In most cases it was a 50/50 response. Most students thought they could do the exercises but they didn't think the whole cohort could do them.

The instructor may want to modify the exercises to accommodate the cohort. Some exercise scenarios I found were solved in very little time. Other exercises I thought were slam dunks and should be easy for the students took three classes to solve.

It is vital for the instructor facilitator to insure any exercise developed is valued by the team. In other words team assignments must be something the team cares about.

Cross curriculum coordination and Team Practical exercise

An additional challenge to our curriculum was to add cross curriculum coordination components. The leadership evaluation provides a natural continuum in the business curriculum. Here are a few comments and suggestions on using the practical...