Performance conversations are a critical and necessary part of performance management. Feedback is most effective when it is constructive and when it involves a dialogue rather than a monologue, but people often struggle with this skill. This activity includes an experiential exercise that applies a five-part process for performance feedback,…

This in-class, 75-minute exercise creates a context for students to observe some of the challenges to cross-functional collaboration and offers insight into processes to achieve more successful outcomes. By demonstrating how a failure by compliance and business operations to work cross-functionally negatively impacts outcomes in the form of…

This article reports on results from a qualitative study that sought to explore the teaching and learning of professional competencies in undergraduate international business management courses in Brazil. When synthesized as the mobilization of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and other cognitive resources (personal values, beliefs, personal…

Employee empowerment yields positive outcomes for employees, managers, and organizations. Yet, too many employees feel disempowered at work, and managers, while wanting to empower employees, often do not know how. Contributing to this state of affairs is the lack of published, high-fidelity exercises explicitly designed to instruct students on how…

In this paper, we examined managers' leadership behavior when working on a simulated team project regarding task-oriented versus relationship-oriented leadership behavior to effectively achieve successful project completion. Managers attending an advanced project management development program responded to the Fielder Leadership Behavior Style…

Research suggests that students today favor a collaborative learning style, short cases, and group activities over semester-long case studies, and they respond well to classroom activities characterized by the use of technology, entertainment, and excitement. Accordingly, this article presents an exercise designed using these types of activities…

Agile system development approaches, such as Scrum, have become popular with a wide spectrum of organizations from start-ups to government agencies. Recruiters and executives have been seeking graduates with Scrum competency beyond cursory familiarity. CIS programs responded with a variety of activities and exercises to address this need. This…

How one communicates concerns about another person's actions or performance can significantly affect both the extent to which the feedback improves behavior as well as the quality of the ongoing relationship with the feedback recipient. This article reviews evidence-based principles for delivering corrective feedback and describes an engaging…

This case study helps students better understand barriers to youth sport participation that low-income families face and then offer solutions to alleviate some barriers and create a more inclusive sport community. The case focuses on the struggle that many sport organizations face when trying to increase diversity and inclusiveness, regardless of…

Although written communication is a foundational skill, especially for careers in management, faculty can be reluctant to utilize writing assignments for a number of reasons including the subjective nature of and time involved in grading. In this article, we present the IDEAL framework--an andragogical tool developed in an effort to address these…

This article describes a 60-minute classroom activity using LEGO® bricks that demonstrates and reinforces the importance of the managerial process. The activity, Plan Before You Play (PBP), is targeted to introductory business classes, and differs from others in that it requires little investment or up-front planning, is easily scalable, and, with…

This article describes a "conscientious consumerism" project that involves the student as the consumer to either commend or complain to a company about a recent product or service experience. This activity and presentation helps students develop an understanding of the commendation/complaint management process within organizations while…

Focused on the use of teacher evaluation data, this case was designed for use in two principal licensure courses, one on data literacy and the other on supervision and personnel. The principal of Baker Middle School has been instructed by the superintendent to use data from the state's new teacher evaluation system to determine which teachers…

The adult learner is typically a motivated student who comes to class prepared to pay attention. They also come with cognitive and emotional stimuli not related to the course's content, which can be distracting especially at the start of a class or following a break. Ways of dealing with the problem of start-of-class attention, and for that…

Inspired by the educational benefits of project-based learning, a class project for leadership courses is described that takes interview assignments to a new level. Students use the findings from their interviews with managers to develop a book on leadership that they have had a hand in from start to finish. The project provides a comprehensive…