Beth Polin

A Systematic Approach to Educating the Emerging Adult Learner in Undergraduate Management Courses

Management education research has provided educators with new instructional tools to improve course design and update the methods used in the classroom. In an effort to provide the typical undergraduate management student with the best possible learning experience and outcomes, it is important to recognize how and why these new activities benefit the student. To reach this goal, one must first understand that the traditional undergraduate management student, aged 18 to 25 years, is in a phase of life development referred to as emerging adulthood in which they are distinctly different from mature adults demographically, cognitively, emotionally, and socially. With this understanding, our research analyzes how each of the six assumptions of andragogy can be applied uniquely to the emerging adult undergraduate management student. We provide the management educator with a method for classifying the level of development of students along the focus areas of andragogy, general instructional design ideas for addressing those particular levels of development, and a number of specific activities identified in a review of Journal of Management Education articles with notes on the conditions under which activities will be most effective. Student learning experiences can be improved when course activities are designed more intentionally and meaningfully.

Specific Onboarding Practices for the Socialization of New Employees

Onboarding is frequently used by organizations to help socialize newcomers, but little research has focused on the specific onboarding practices organizations use or the effectiveness of those practices in facilitating newcomer adjustment. To begin addressing this gap, this study explores specific onboarding practices and evaluates the Inform‐Welcome‐Guide framework of onboarding practices. Data are presented from representatives of 10 organizations regarding what onboarding practices they offer and how those practices are offered. Three hundred seventy‐three new employees from those same 10 organizations also shared their perceptions of the practices they experienced, when those practices were experienced, and the perceived helpfulness of those practices. Lastly, the extent to which new employees were socialization was assessed. Several research questions and hypotheses among these variables were examined, and most of the hypotheses supported. Implications of these findings for future research and practice are discussed.

7. Trust and negotiation

Trust is an inherent part of the negotiation context. Parties engage in a negotiation because they have each decided that they are dependent on the other to provide something—particularly the exchange of accurate information and the willingness to implement their agreement—that will improve their current situation and enable them to negotiate successfully. It is because of this very interdependence that trust—which is about risk in and of itself—or distrust will develop between negotiating parties. Therefore, trust, distrust, interdependence, and information sharing are integral to the negotiation process itself and to its ultimate success or failure. The ubiquitous nature of trust in the negotiation context makes this chapter a necessity in a negotiation handbook such as this. We have taken a unique approach to the design of this chapter by summarizing research around ten commonly asked questions about trust in the context of negotiation. We believe this is a simple, direct way of presenting a comprehensive overview of how and why trust is important to include in any discussion about negotiation. Some answers allow for a straightforward ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response followed by support of that answer, and others involve a more complex discussion and analysis in order to reach a conclusion. In the pages of this chapter, you will find answers to the basic and advanced questions in the following list:

2. The role of trust in negotiation processes

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the role of trust in the negotiation process. While there have been thousands of studies on the nature of negotiation and factors that contribute to its effectiveness or ineffectiveness, only a remarkably small handful of studies have actually examined the role of trust. This chapter will attempt to serve three objectives. First, we will develop the case for the importance of trust in negotiation – the rationale for what trust contributes to an effective negotiation or how distrust detracts from an effective negotiation. Second, we will examine what the research literature has shown about the importance of trust – taken both as an independent and dependent variable – in the negotiation process. That is, we will show how trust contributes to an effective negotiation, and how types of negotiation can contribute to, or detract from, trust. In doing so, we will identify several gaps and challenges in the research literature on the trust–negotiation relationship, and also offer insight on ways that damaged trust can be repaired. Finally, we will highlight some of the research that remains to be done in order to underscore the critical role that trust plays in the negotiation giveandtake.

The Leadership Exploration Project: Development and Analysis of a Leader Definition and Persuasive Presentation

Students are often frustrated and confused by the study of leadership since the field cannot offer an agreed-upon definition of the construct. Students are expected to develop leadership skills without understanding what leadership actually is. The Leadership Exploration Project is a multiweek exercise that gives late undergraduate or graduate students the opportunity to develop and appreciate their own leader definition through personal reflection grounded in academic- and practitioner-based research. To then exercise proper use of the term, students choose an autobiography or biography of a businessperson and evaluate that person against their leader definition. The project culminates in students arguing for whether their businessperson is a “leader” through a persuasive Pecha Kucha presentation.