Teaching OR/MS Using Discussion Leadership

James Corner () and Patricia Doyle Corner ()
Additional contact information
James Corner: Department of Management Systems, Waikato Management School, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand
Patricia Doyle Corner: Department of Management Systems, Waikato Management School, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand

Interfaces, 2003, vol. 33, issue 3, 60-69

Abstract: The number of OR/MS courses offered has declined in the last 15 years. Academics and practitioners have debated how to reverse this trend to insure the managerial relevance of OR/MS courses. We use a teaching technique, discussion leadership, designed to augment the managerial relevance of OR/MS topics that is a variant of case teaching. It is nondirective and focused on management as problem solving. Discussion leadership also helps students develop managerial skills, including strategic thinking, communication, conflict resolution, logic, and visualization of links between technical solutions and competitive advantage. We particularly recommend it for teaching MBA and executive students. The synergy between the use of cases with their descriptions of managerial problems and the discussion leadership approach yields real benefits.

Keywords: Professional:; OR/MS; education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/inte.33.3.60.16006 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:orinte:v:33:y:2003:i:3:p:60-69

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Interfaces from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().