Article Information
Publication date (electronic): 31 December 2015
DOI: 10.emerg/10.17357.1f8e6f6fb223babaaa3fbccd2480051f
Critical reflections on decisive moments
Victoria University of Wellington
Bio:
Dr Jim Sheffield is Director of Case Competitions at Victoria University of Wellington and Senior Lecturer, School of Management. He has been employed as a software developer, project manager and consultant in the USA, South America and New Zealand. Jim graduated with a PhD from the University of Arizona in 1990. His doctoral work in group support systems led to the creation of a Decision Support Centre at the University of Auckland. He has designed, implemented and evaluated more than 100 action research initiatives. Most of these initiatives centred on complex inter-organisational situations involving considerable confusion and conflict. Major action research initiatives include the development of economic strategy, science policy, and comprehensive regional planning. He has over 100 publications. Books include: Globalization: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (with A. Korotayev, A., and L. Grinin); My Decisive Moment (Volumes I and II); Systemic Development: Local Solutions in a Global Environment. Articles have been published in various journals, including: Decision Support Systems; Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management; Emergence: Complexity & Organization; Group Decision and Negotiation; International Journal of Applied Systemic Studies; International Journal of Business Information Systems; International Journal of Health & Aging Management; International Journal of Project Management; International Journal of Human Technology Interaction; Journal of Arts Management, Law and Society; Journal of Globalization Studies; Journal of Knowledge Management; Journal of Management Information Systems; On The Horizon; People and Performance; and Systems Research and Behavioural Science.
Abstract
Managerial decision making is recognised as an important aspect of business school curricula, yet students often perceive a mismatch between pedagogy and preferred outcomes. If students view decision making as conflicted and confused, social and emotional, context-specific and time-urgent, how should the instructor respond? Can a business school decision course be designed so as to empower students? This report examines aspects of an innovative MBA managerial decision making course in which students critically reflect on a decisive moment that was important to their development. The research questions are: Did student feedback indicate that the course was successful? (RQ1) Did student’s critical reflections on decisive moments indicate that the course was empowering? (RQ2)
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