Food for Thought: PhD seminar syllabi

SeminarFoodWhile the toolbox is focused mostly on teaching strategy at the MBA and BBA levels, there is also room to provide some resources for PhD programs as well. Below are some strategy PhD seminar syllabi that may be useful. Please send me your most recent syllabi and I will add them to this post. Some specialized strategy seminars are pulled out below (innovation and research methods).

Innovation

Research Methods

Contributed by Russ Coff (and all the folks above!)

Facebook Discussion Bonanza

A number of faculty now use Facebook groups to encourage discussion of current events and strategy theory among students and academics. These are typically closed groups but you may be able to join if you ask the moderator nicely. If you have a page like this, please send me the URL and I am happy to add it to this post. Here are a couple of pages you might check out:

Contributed by Russ Coff

CATME Teamwork System

Many strategy faculty use teams in their classes. The CATME.org website has multiple tools to support the effective use of teams in higher education. Team-Maker is a tool for assigning students to teams based on instructor-specified criteria. Instructors can choose from a library of questions, such as students’ schedules or majors, or write their own questions. Team-Maker collects the information from students and allows the instructor to assign use that information to assign students to teams based on the criteria and weighting that they choose. CATME Peer Evaluation is a tool for self- and peer evaluations of students’ contributions to their teams that is based on research. The system automates the data collection and analysis and allows instructors to release feedback to students. There are many optional follow-up questions about team processes that are taken from published research. CATME Rater Calibration allows instructors to assign students to practice using the CATME behaviorally anchored rating scale by rating fictitious team members. CATME Meeting Support provides templates for team charters, meeting agendas and minutes. Teamwork training modules are in development. The website shows research and other information about these tools.

Contributed by Misty Loughry

Paul Friga’s Video Library

Paul Friga is kind enough to maintain a library of videos for teaching various strategy topics. You can find it on his web page here (or click on he picture). Resources are arranged by topic so they are easy to find.

Case Libraries

2e1e41_ff04ac9674ba4be1848f097fee5bd061Here are some popular case repositories:

Learning Through Simulations and Exercises

I’ve been using simulations to tie together segments in my class and to give students a better experience with the process of strategy.  It is important to allocate a good chunk of time — from one to three hours — to fully debrief the sim.  This debrief includes some sharing of emotions, since simulations can result in conflict and anxiety — I’ve had teams explode and almost come to blows.  It is useful to point out to participants that although this is a simulation, part of the results are a reflection of the individual themselves, along with their particular role, and the context provided by the simulation.  Three readings that may be helpful regarding sims are (Also see Brian Boyd’s website for additional resources below under OTHER TOOLS & LINKS:

Keys, J. Bernard, Robert M. Fulmer, and Stephen A. Stumpf.  1996.  Microworlds and simuworlds: Practice fields for the learning organization, Organizational Dynamics, Spring.

Orbanes, Phil. 2002. Everything I know about business I learned from Monopoly, Harvard Business Review, March.

Stumpf, Stephen A. and Jane E. Dutton. 1990. The dynamics of learning through management simulations: Let’s dance, Journal of Management Development, 9(2) 7-15.

Contributed by Mason CarpenterMason Carpenter