Experiential Learning Laboratories In Business Schools: The WD-40 For Curriculum Innovation

The authors present a case analysis of how a business school brought about curriculum innovation.The school used something borrowed, specifically experiential learning laboratories, and something new to attain measureable curriculum change, with only modest investments.The authors urge that the nimbleness of a medium-size school committed to personal touch and with a strong bias to transform concepts into practice can have a natural advantage in providing unique learning experiences, compared to a highly leveraged program encumbered by size.These learning laboratories translate to experiential learning opportunities that are more like apprenticeships and professional mentoring.Given the difficult labor market, schools that can develop demonstrable job competencies in their coursework for students will add value as these students immediately seek employment and, more broadly, develop their career paths

Collective bargaining and high involvement management in comparative perspective: evidence from US and German call centers

This article assesses the relationship between national and collective bargaining institutions, management practices, and employee turnover, based on case study and survey evidence from U.S. and German call center workplaces. German call centers were more likely to adopt high-involvement management practices than those in the United States, even across workplaces with no collective bargaining institutions. Within Germany, union and works council presence was positively associated with high-involvement practices, while works council presence alone had no effect. In contrast, union presence in U.S. call centers showed either a negative association or no association with these practices. National and collective bargaining institutions and high-involvement management practices were associated with lower quit rates in both countries, with only partial mediation

National industrial relations and local bargaining power in the US and German telecommunications industries

This article compares the process and outcomes of collective negotiations over the outsourcing of call centre jobs in US and German telecommunications firms. In the USA, the Communication Workers of America relied on coalitions with politicians and other organizations to lead successful public campaigns; while in Germany, ver.di used coordinated bargaining with works councils to leverage their strong codetermination rights. Variation in access to resources between countries helps explain differences in the unions' ability to negotiate strong collective agreements on outsourcing and to influence restructuring decisions