Business Students Should Learn Operations Management

Freshly minted graduate students have new knowledge and youthful energy but don't always have a great concept of how all of this fits together in an actual operation. The information is disconnected in their minds and a wider framework is difficult to find. An article in the Journal of Operations Management helps us understand what might be learned in a course that teaches practical operations management (Ellington, et. al.. 2014). 

Operations management requires a broad base of knowledge and covers concepts such as distribution, marketing, human resources, packaging, manufacturing processes, operation flows and a whole host of other issues. Student regularly learn these concepts one at a time throughout their MBA courses but don't take them all together. 

Offering an operations management course will help students put together all of the major concepts together into a single operation example. The student will be able to see how the things they learned create a flow of products and information that results in a final product. Without this framework each business component seems to work independently.

An operational management course doesn't need to be a one size fits all approach. It can be customized based upon which program a student is attending. For example, a student in marketing may need more emphasis on how marketing impacts operations while someone in human resources may need to know how employment policies influence production. 

Students without this course are more likely to see the trees but fail to see how they all come together to create a forest. A course in operations management offers the opportunity to see the forest and how their part influences and is connected to the rest. Learning the entire process from start to finish helps students know their part in it all. Without this course the learning curve will take additional time.  

Ellington, B. et. al. (2014). How operations management topics support U.S. students' career goals. Journal of Operations Management, 13 (3). 

Learning the Art of Negotiation

Negotiation is something we do every day of our lives but we may not be overtly aware of it. We often think of negotiating contracts, wages and other business related concepts but we also negotiate for many small things like household chores and car maintenance. Learning negotiation skills in college or through your own personal reading can make a large difference in helping you get what you want while not compromising your values.

American society doesn’t provide enough daily experience negotiating like you might find in Europe or other parts of the world. People that go to the grocery story may negotiate the price, find deals, and look for other ways to save money. Even though just about anything can be negotiated Americans don’t often see it this way; the stated price is the only price. This is partly the problem with a nation accustomed to large department stores.

Despite 66% of people trying to negotiate big ticket items in the past 6-months, negotiation skills are still underdeveloped (Carrell & Manchise, 2011). Colleges typically don’t teach negotiation skills within their curriculum. Occasionally the topic may be included in a broader communication course but these fail to provide even the fundamentals.

Americans do engage in teamwork negotiations during the course of their employment and education that provides them with entry level platforms for work. Business graduates often learn negotiation by engaging in group assignments that require them to interact and create terms with others (Lawrence, 2002). There are some limitations on this negotiation learning if they have not been provided a level of information that helps them reflect on their negotiation styles.

Negotiation skills are necessary whether you are looking for a raise, lowering the cost on home repair, or seeking equality in a relationship. Americans don't have the same opportunities to engage in negotiation in recent decades as much as people from other nationalities. Negotiation skills can be improved by following a few tips that can help in solidifying your positions:

-Understand Your Initial and Final Position: Everyone has something they want and in an ideal situation they can get. However, this isn't likely to happen often. Knowing your initial position and your red line position will tell you when to start and stop negotiating. 

-Understand Your Goals: Understand what you want to accomplish in your work, life, or relationships. Having goals when entering negotiations will help you stay on track when things get confusing.

-Try Power With versus Power Over: There are times when power over is the only way to negotiate but this often leads to encampment and stubbornness of both powers. When both parties can horse trade to get what they want or compromise they are likely to soften their positions. 

-Use Your Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication Skills: When negotiating people watch each other and look for clues and signs in the speech and impressions of others. Using strong verbal and non-verbal communication skills will improve upon the whole process of making breakthroughs and sewing a deal.

Carrell, M. & Manchise, L. (2011). Developing bartering skills: real world exercise for a negotiation course. Business Education Innovation Journal, 3 (2). 

Lawrence, C. (2002). Integrating writing and negotiation skills. Business Communication Quarterly, 65 (2).

Basic College Writing Enhances Business Course Outcomes

Business relies heavily on communication skills used in varying fields of study. Students often lack fundamental writing skills that can transfer into credibility, effectiveness and opportunity in the future. According to a 2013 paper by Dr. Carolyn Sturgeon colleges can do a better job at teaching students higher levels of written communication skills that can translate into productive projects. 

Students often resist courses in writing and English composition because they view these skills as secondary to their goals. Similar to the difficulty of getting your teenage children to throw out the trash these students are not excited about the tedious tasks of grammar, spelling, formatting, sentence structure, and citations. There is no denying that such classes are often boring and uninspiring and on the surface appear to be unnecessary.

Some students may need to complete 5-6 composition courses before effectively moving into their respective fields of study. There are other students that may not have mastered basic writing in high school and will need further remedial courses to perform at a college level. High school graduates who start at a lower rung will naturally need additional time, money and resources to improve their skills. Poor high school preparation equates directly to higher college costs. 

From the authors experience she has seen 90% of students avoid thesis writing and move more toward projects.  There is a natural avoidance of written work in classrooms as students lean more heavily on other skills. She suggests that students should be required to learn writing skills before entering their majors as this will make them more effective in their programs. 

The paper doesn’t move into this concept but it is possible to see an integration of more writing into traditional courses. For example, instead of 5-6 composition courses it may be possible to have 3 compensation courses and integrate graded writing into the colleges classes. This would require professors to understand the use of language and provide appropriate direction to students once their English composition requirements have been fulfilled to ensure they are developing their grammar, spelling, tense, clarity, formatting, and depth skills. 

Furthermore, online education is more heavily reliant on writing as part of the curriculum. It makes one wonder if graduating students are stronger at writing from an online institution than those coming from other types of universities.  Students are more likely to be judged on their individual writing skills than relying on an elite writer of a group assignment or a few assignments.

Sturgeon, C. (2013). Service courses: forays to bridge the gulf and invite new “citizens”.  CEA Forum, v42 n1 p208-245.

Business Communication Courses and Strategies of the Top 50 Schools

What did you say? Today is the time of massive communication that spans the globe over. From presenting a concept to stakeholders to sending an email the ability to communicate effectively in business makes a huge difference in the successful completion of goals. To write and speak clearly is to use the medium of thought transference effectively so as to ensure that others both understand and process messages accurately. Such important communication concepts are becoming more important as business school graduates seek ways of influencing their environment and gain recognition.

Business schools are an important avenue of learning about communication and how to effectively communicate important concepts and principles. The majority of business communication courses were taught by the business department versus other departments (Wardrope and Bayless, 1999). It is through this content that students can learn about how, when and where to effectively communicate in the modern business context.

Times have changed. A hundred years ago people spoke face-to-face and didn’t move far away from their social networks. Once the telephone was offered on every desk it became easier to pick up the phone and call upstairs than to trek the staircase. Soon after email was introduced in the market transference of information grew at unprecedented rates. In today’s world we are using videos, text, and streaming to communicate. Such changes are forcing colleges to adjust the way they teach communication and the classes they offer.

Even if the medium has changed the essential elements of communication have not. A thought leads to images or pictures that are then transferred through some medium and these are decoded by the receiver who makes meaning out of the information. The sender-medium-receiver sequence stays the same regardless of the medium that is employed. As technology becomes more sophisticated, so does the amount of information transference and the vividness of the messages.

Helping students understand how to write and speak well is important for their career success. Likewise, it is important to help such students use communication principles and adapt them to modern communication mediums. Through effectively communication methodology such students can better influence their environment and improve upon the innovative abilities of their organizations. Research helps highlight how business communication courses are becoming more important at the top 50 business schools.

The study by Sharp and Broomberger (2013) was conducted as a repeat of Knights (1999) research on the business communication offerings of the top 50 undergraduate business schools. The study only used those courses that were listed as communication courses within business schools. All of the schools are AACSB accredited and maintained comprehensive websites and information. The schools were chosen because they were listed in Bloomberg Business rankings for 2011 (Bloomberg, 2011).

Results: 

-102 business communication courses at 42 schools. 

-7 schools did not mention any communication courses. 

-For the 42 total schools that offered business communication courses 32 schools offered such courses within the business department when compared to English departments, media, etc…

-Out of the 102 business communication courses 76% were within the business department which indicates an increase from 69% found in Knight’s study.

-Out of the 42 schools that offered business communication 10 did not anchor their classes to a particular content area.

-27% of business communication courses offered was lower level courses.

-73% of business communication courses were upper division.

-Of the 44 courses required for a degree 29 were part of the business department.

-Out of 44 courses required 32 were optional and could be swapped out.

-Written and oral communication took precedence.

Analysis:

There was not much change between Knight’s 1999 study and Sharp and Broomberger’s 2013 study. Smaller changes were associated with an increase in business communication as part of curriculum. Some of the schools may have been inadvertently requiring duplication of similar content through different courses hosted in different departments. Greater preference appears to be on written communication which is growing in the Internet age as well as verbal communication needed to effectively work with others. 

Sharp, M. & Brumberger, E. (2013). Business communication curricula today: revisiting the top 50 undergraduate business schools. Business Communication Quarterly, 76 (1). 

Bloomberg. (2011). Best undergraduate business schools 2011. Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/bs_ugrank_tab_0303.html

Wardrope, W. J., & Bayless, M. L. (1999). Content of the business communication course: An analysis of coverage. Business Communication Quarterly, 62(1), 33-40.