Purposeful Haze: A Team Project in Organizational Behavior

This paper describes a team project that is used as an experien-tial exercise in an undergraduate organizational behavior course. The project involves teams of 4-5 students creating an original product that reflects their comprehensive understand-ing of the course content. In order to reflect a more realistic workplace scenario, the project instructions are deliberately vague, and students are warned that the grading process is in-herently subjective. At the end of the course, the teams present their project and share their lessons learned from working as a team. The specifics of this experiential exercise as well as the instructor’s lessons learned will be presented along with project examples and anecdotal feedback from the students. Implica-tions for teaching teamwork and creative confidence in a busi-ness or management curriculum are discussed

The Millennial Stereotype In Business Classrooms

This paper invites the reader to reflect upon his or her perceptions of generational differences, particularly millennials, and how those perceptions may be impacting effectiveness in the classroom

Comparing Live and Traditional Case Studies in a Dual-level Compensation and Benefits Course

When compared with the traditional case study method, the live case method has been regarded as having greater realism (Burns, 1990; Markulis, 1985) and as being “…a more experientially-based pedagogy” (Markulis, 1985, p. 168). This paper establishes the groundwork for comparing and contrasting the use of both methods in a dual-level compensation and benefits course. Preliminary findings will be shared during the presentation, including pretest and posttest data, performance on the cases and in the course, and anecdotal feedback from the students and the client. Implications for course design and delivery, especially for human resource management professors, are discussed

Training and Development: A Live Case Project

This paper describes a live case project that was used in two sections of a training and development course. The project is explained along with lessons learned from the professo

A Professionalism Conundrum: Development of Business Students

In this paper, we explore how two colleges of business at public, teaching-focused universities in the southeast are addressing what we call a professionalism conundru

The role of customer contact employees as external customers: A conceptual framework for marketing strategy and future research

Existing streams of literature in marketing, management, and organizational behavior are integrated to propose a conceptual framework that highlights the customer contact employee's dual role as employee and external customer of the organization. Several iterative "cycles of success" are proposed whereby job satisfaction, the employee's patronage of the company's products (i.e., goods or services), and job performance (as customer contact employees) are all enhanced, ultimately leading to long-term relationships (with customers and employees) and profits for the organization. The framework highlights the role of internal marketing as a tool for enhancing the competitive advantage gained by strategically considering the customer contact employee's role as external customer.

Experiential Learning in Accelerated Human Resource Management Courses

Accelerated delivery formats have been available in higher education for around 40 years (Marques, 2012). Despite the ongoing debate about the quality and rigor of such programs (i.e., Lee & Horsfall, 2010; Marques, 2012; Wlodkowski, 2003), numerous colleges and universities today offer students an alternative to traditional day classes for degree completion. The reality is that these programs are likely to continue growing and evolving as more and more people pursue undergraduate degrees—an estimated 20.6 million undergraduates were expected to enroll in 2012 (NCES, 2012). This paper shares lessons learned from two human resource management educators who have used experiential learning exercises in accelerated business degree programs at two different colleges. Details about the experiential exercises used in their courses, including topics such as job analysis and interviewing, are discussed. Challenges and success stories about these experiential exercises are presented, and suggestions for adapting these experiential exercises to an online delivery format are presented along with suggestions for adopting experiential exercises in other disciplines

BUSINESS WRITING: USING PERSUASIVE MEMORANDUMS ACROSS COURSES

Employers consider communication skills as essential in new hires, but business students seem to lose some of their writing skills by the time they reach senior-level courses. This paper shares the experiences of three professors who used a persuasive memorandum assignment in four 3000- and 4000-level business courses and applied the same core writing rubric. Insights from using this assignment across courses will be shared along with ideas for future research. We hope other professors will be encouraged to standardize expectations for writing quality across courses