Tim O. Peterson

So You’re Thinking of Trying Problem Based Learning?: Three Critical Success Factors for Implementation:

Problem-based learning (PBL) shifts the traditional teaching paradigm. Rather than being teacher centered, PBL is student centered. Rather than presenting content first, PBL presents the problem first. Rather than presenting the students with a well-structured problem with a clear answer, PBL presents the students with an ill-structured problem with no clear solution. The research evidence, although still limited, indicates that PBL is more effective than the traditional teaching paradigm. However, to implement PBL successfully requires significant rethinking. The article examines three critical success factors essential for making PBL successful in management education. Those critical success factors are orienting students to this new instructional strategy, picking the problem, and forming the teams. The author shares his experiences using PBL and an instrument he has found useful in forming the teams.

The ongoing legacy of R.L. Katz: An updated typology of management skills

Robert L. Katz first called attention to the problem of identifying those skills necessary for successful performance in managerial roles. This paper identifies the impact of Katzs classic 1955 work on managerial skills and notes the continuing legacy of his work. Modifications and additions appearing in the management literature, particularly introductory or principles textbooks, are noted with a suggested expansion of Katzs work that would subsume the dominant ones of those. The importance of managerial skills to the carrying out of managerial functions is also discussed.

Workspace technology's impact on individual privacy and team interaction

One way organizations increase their competitive advantage is through innovative strategies that improve human performance. Human performance can be enhanced or constrained by situational factors that are introduced into the organizations work environment. One situational factor is the organizations workspace. This study examines the impact of a new workspace technology on individual privacy and on team interaction. The research found that the participants were generally satisfied with the visual privacy but not with the auditory privacy. The research also found that the participants were satisfied with the workspaces ability to facilitate team interaction. Implications of the findings are discussed.

A Tale of Two Situations: An Empirical Study of Behavior by Not-for-Profit Managerial Leaders

Not-for-profit organizations experience crises just as for-profit organizations do. However, the managerial leadership behavior required in a notfor-profit organization may differ from that required in a for-profit organization. Since the terrorist attack of September 11, the managerial leadership behavior required in a crisis has received a lot of attention. Many different people are providing managerial leaders with advice on how to act during a crisis. Although the advice may be useful, a great deal of it is based on anecdotal evidence or personal opinion, not empirical findings. In fact, there is little empirical research on the managerial leadership behavior required in a crisis situation. Yukl and Van Fleet (1982) did the seminal work on this topic, but their findings are limited to military participants, with combat as the crisis situation. More recently, Peterson and Van Fleet (2003) reported findings for the for-profit sector; however, this study is the first to examine the not-for-profit sector. We find that whereas all three participant groups desired a few specific managerial leadership behaviors, there are also differences and shifts in priorities among groups. The implications of these findings, limitations to the study, and future research are also discussed.

What Managerial Leadership Behaviors do Student Managerial Leaders Need? An Empirical Study of Student Organizational Members

Student leadership is a buzzword on most university campuses. However, recent research indicates that the leadership learning assumed to be taking place may not have happened at the depth currently believed. One explanation is that, as management education and development scholars, we are not clear on what leadership skills these student leaders require. This manuscript identifies the critical managerial leadership behaviors these student leaders need to successfully move their student organizations forward. It is based on empirical data from student members of the very organizations the student leader is trying to influence.

Parallel Thinking: A Technique for Group Interaction and Problem Solving

If we want students to develop into good problem solvers and to be able to interact in decision-making groups, then we have to teach them techniques for thinking. The education system has generally considered thinking a by-product of learning other information. However, De Bono (1971, 1976) has convincingly argued and demonstrated that thinking must be developed directly. This article addresses a specific thinking technique to be used by problem-solving and decision-making groups. This thinking technique assists groups in thinking and interacting in parallel. The article describes the technique and then shows how to apply it to some very popular cases and experiential exercises.

Career Description Analysis: A Systematic Approach for Studying Qualitative Information

Some qualitative sources of information about leadership are rich with descriptive reports. Analyzing that information in ways that permit different researchers to verify those analyses can be quite difficult. This paper presents a method -- Career Description Analysis -- that could be used to facilitate such verification. Career Description Analysis -- the content analysis of biographies and/or autobiographies of leaders -- is outlined and an example of its use presented. The example uses both original data and data from an earlier study to show that military and business leaders, while similar to one another, nevertheless demonstrate important differences. Suggestions about future research using Career Description Analysis also are made.

Examining the Relationship between Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) and Objective Performance within Higher Education: An Exploratory Empirical Study.

While the common suggestion in leader-member exchange (LMX) research is that there is a strong relationship between LMX and performance, a closer look at these studies reveal that the performance measures in the majority of studies are primarily subjective in nature such as performance reviews. Relatively few studies examine the LMX-objective performance (OP) relationship. The findings from those studies are not consistent subjective performance studies. While most LMX studies are conducted in a work environment, this paper adds to the literature by examining this in a higher education. The findings indicated a significantly positive regression coefficient between Professional Respect and midterm grades. Based on the results, the authors introduce the idea of the “peer leader effect” and discussed the development of peer leaders.

Dance? I Can’t Dance! Developing an Understanding of Mental Models Through Line Dancing:

Mental models guide our attitudes and direct our actions. Senge defined a mental model as a deeply ingrained set of assumptions, generalizations, or images that influence how we understand and respond to the world around us. Line dancing is an example of a process that includes many types of mental models. In fact, each dance is a mental model of its own. In addition, we each come to dancing with our own mental models about dancing and our self-concept. In this article, we share experiences of using line dances in classes as a way to help students be engaged while learning about a complex topic. Three sets of supplemental materials are included: (a) music suggestions, video links, and steps to help teach each dance; (b) suggestions to apply line dancing in various business courses; and (c) reflections on dance and mental models by the instructors.

Leading Through Courageous Following The Artist’s View

Engaging a student’s mind is critical to the learning process. In this article, you will learn about an assignment that engages the whole mind of a student. You will also learn about the underlying learning theories that make this an effective technique. This art project could be used in many different management courses. Ideas for how to use art in other types of management courses are provided as a supplementary document to this article. Instructors who want an engaging assignment that integrates competencies such as written and oral communication, creativity, and problem solving would find this article useful. You will hear from a group of students and see their artistic depictions of followership and personal leadership. The students involved in this specific project were freshmen, but the authors have used similar art projects with juniors, seniors, and graduate students with positive impact on their leadership development.