JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF
BUSINESS EDUCATION
VOL. 3                                           CONTENTS                                          FALL 2002
 

1 Bridging Liberal And Professional Education: Management Studies And The Liberal Arts by Kathy Gardner Chadwick and Mary Emery

Recognizing the importance of integrating management education and the liberal arts, we present a model for a management studies program within a liberal arts college. Our program includes five courses, an experiential learning requirement and the preparation of an integrative folder. The integrative folder guides students in their transition from the classroom to the workplace by encouraging them to set goals, engage in career planning, and successfully prepare for job interviews. The flexible and compact nature of the program is very attractive to students, while administrators appreciate its cost-effectiveness.

8 Appearances Can Be Deceiving: Uncovering Hidden Differences and Similarities by Alexandra L. Anna, Christy A. Strbiak and Neal P. Mero

Most organizational behavior courses begin by exploring individual level concepts. This exercise is designed to explore individual differences and develop self-awareness. Frameworks from intergroup theory and the diversity literature are used to help students understand how we distinguish others and ourselves by the various identities that we have. Students often think of individual differences in terms of race or gender and seldom consider how we differ on deeper level differences. This assignment uses self-assessment instruments and a field research experience to get students to develop self-awareness about their similarities and differences and would work well for homogeneous or heterogeneous classes.

18 Serendipitous Active Learning Experiment In Labor Relations And Collective Bargaining by Mel E. Schnake and S. Andrew Ostapski

One month into a Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining course, a tongue-in-cheek request by a student to negotiate for a curve on the first examination led to a worthwhile active learning experience. Students created a negotiations team and negotiated with the instructor for a new "collective bargaining agreement," which replaced the course syllabus. The negotiations provided the students an opportunity to experience negotiations which had the potential to actually affect them personally, as well as an opportunity to experience many aspects of "real-world" negotiations.

32 Does Absenteeism Matter In Course Performance? by Yong U. Glasure

This paper uses ordered probit and OLS techniques to determine whether or not class attendance affects the student's course grade performance in a core economics course from two predominantly non-traditional, non-selective U.S. universities in the South, one private and the other public. Results of the study indicates that class attendance positively influences the student’s course performance. Attendance alone accounted for 44 percent of the variation in performance in the study.

35 Employing "Gap Analysis" To Measure Classroom Outcomes by Clare L. Comm and Dennis F. X. Mathaisel

The authors analyzed student-faculty course evaluations using a "Gap Analysis" approach similar to the SERVQUAL methodology. A longitudinal study was conducted. Data were collected from 200 students at the beginning of a semester in six courses at a private college and public university. At the end of the semester, data were again collected from these same students. The purpose was to assess the differences between student expectations going into a course at the beginning of the semester and their final perceptions of the course at the conclusion of the semester. Expectations are defined as the way students view the course or subject matter before taking the course. Perceptions are defined as the way students viewed the course or subject matter after completing it. The authors found that "gaps" do exist on various dimensions between initial expectations and final perceptions. They then discuss the implications of these gaps and offer strategies on how faculty can attempt to close the gaps.

43 Conducting A Senior Investment Seminar As A Self-Managed High Performance Team by Susan L. Manring and Wonhi J. Synn

Finance and organizational behavior faculty designed and conducted a senior investment seminar as a self-managed high performance team. The students achieved their task goals: learning about investment decision-making; beating the S&P 500; and writing the final project paper. Through their group process work they felt they had "created a solid framework for a high performance team." No causal link was assumed between beating the S&P 500 and their team performance. This design has practical implications for any number of courses where it would be desirable for students to learn experientially how to enhance individual and group performance toward self-managed high performance teams.

55 Aliens Abducted Me And Took My Homework: Three Exercises For Teaching Research Methods by Kenneth M. York

Knowledge of research methods and how to evaluate the research done by others enables managers to make more informed business decisions. Despite our best efforts, our students may not find research methods particularly interesting. Our culture is at the same time fascinated by technology, but unfamiliar with the methods of science. What is needed is a topic that catches students’ interest so that they can more easily learn sound research practices and how to recognize flawed research done by others. Three exercises for teaching research methods using alien abductions as the context are described.

61 The Principles Of Macroeconomics Course As An Early Predictor of Undergraduate Business School Performance by Kenneth H. Brown, Ken McCormick and Fred Abraham

Data from a Midwestern regional university are used to show that the Principles of Macroeconomics course is a good predictor of overall performance in an undergraduate business school. Because this course is taken early in the typical business student’s college career, a student’s performance in the Principles course can serve as a good early-warning indicator. The data also show that students who take the course at a community college do not do as well in the business school as students who take the course at the university, all else equal.

70 Assessing Marketing Journals: A Mission-Based Approach by Jon M. Hawes and Bruce Keillor

This paper examines academic journal quality within the marketing discipline. Several prior studies have offered excellent information, yet many have not been widely circulated and some of the sources could be described as obscure. By accepting the premise that these existing studies are fairly inclusive of the relevant respected journals within our field and that the research was reasonably rigorous in its preparation, it would seem appropriate to facilitate efforts to assemble and better utilize this knowledge. A classification of criteria for examining journal quality is presented, results of a relatively exhaustive literature review are discussed, the "top" marketing journals are identified, a more complete list of fifty important journals is shown, and recommendations for using a mission-based approach to ranking marketing academic journals are provided.

87 Ignorance Is Not Bliss: AIDS/HIV Coverage In College Management Textbooks by Alan N. Miller

This article reports the results of a study of 147 college management textbooks from ten subject areas, published between 1992 and 2000, to determine the amount of coverage AIDS and HIV receive and to determine if the amount of coverage varies by subject area and year of publication. Only 34.7 percent of the textbooks studied contain AIDS/HIV coverage. Coverage is unequal across subject areas but is not significantly different across years of publication.

99 Work Hours and Academic Performance by Marilyn Dutton and Omer Gokcekus

This paper examines the relationship between work at jobs outside of class and academic performance at the college level. In many respects working and non-working students are very similar. However, when we examine the distribution of letter grades for the two groups, we find that work has a clear adverse impact on academic performance. Working students are far less likely to earn A’s and correspondingly more likely to earn D’s or F’s than their non-working classmates. The results of a multinomial logit regression indicate that in addition to missing class, working is associated with a significantly reduced chance of making an A and an increased chance of earning a D or F (and consequently having to repeat the course).

106 Liability Issues Associated With Planning And Executing A Foreign Study Tour For Undergraduates by Barrie A. Bailey and Dorothy A. Harbeck, J.D.

In the Spring of 1997, the School of Business at The College of New Jersey began to offer a study tour abroad. The study tour to European Union member countries was part of a 3-credit course entitled "Introduction to International Business and The European Union." The purpose of this paper is to discuss the liability issues involved with planning and executing a short-term study abroad program, summarize recent judicial decisions pertaining to individual and institutional liability, and offer proactive measures that can be taken to help insulate the individual and educational institution from potential legal action.

Academy of Business Education