Otago MBA: week six update

We're in week six of eight and Term One is rapidly coming to an end.  Weekly reports from our lecturers indicate that all students are performing well and will successfully complete this term's courses.  

• Julia Richardson (Organizational Leadership) has scored students' reflective mid-term module assignments and she has one more lecture before students take over the class to present "Elective Topic Workshops," an assignment in which student syndicates (teams) design corporate training programmes for topics not previously covered in class.  

• Beth Rose (Statistics and Decision Tools) has finished delivering new material and students are actively analyzing data pertaining to a complex business problem, an individual level assessment.  

• Paul Hansen (Economics) will still introduce students to the topics of Behavioral Economics (e.g., bounded rationality, prospect theory, judgemental heuristics / biases) and Game Theory, as students concurrently complete syndicate-level applications of multi-criteria decision making with 1000minds software.

•  Term One final exams begin on 31 May.

One additional note: Our students returned from their International Exchange at Duke University

and report that they performed well (i.e., "with relative ease") in Duke's MBA

courses after completing our Otago MBA core programme. 

The Otago MBA: update

Our MBA students have settled into their routines and, from all reports, have embraced the expectation of actively contributing to the classroom experience.  Our MBA 38 class has gelled and all students are enthusiastically engaging in discussions, suggesting that the Power of Introverts Ted Talk may have helped to embolden our more reflective students.

Julia Richardson introduced her Organizational Leadership class to Intelligent Leadership Theory, a "who, what and why" overarching framework to students; discussed motivation and transformational leadership, (see Steven Jobs' Stanford Commencement Speech, below); and has emphasizing the critical nature of trust and justice in leadership.   Each reading for Julia's course introduces a specific perspective (i.e., definition and logic) on leadership (or motivation) with each perspective having legitimacy: no one right interpretation of leadership exists. The students were then asked to applied these materials to their first case, designed (as practice) to refine their ability to apply an academic frame to a complex business problem.

Julia reports that our MBA students enthusiastically engage in discussions, at times precluding mid-class breaks. They continue to refine their conceptual reasoning abilities, distinguishing between alternative definitions of leadership, as well as the value of alternative perspective to business practice.  The first syndicate case analysis went very well, with Julia reporting that our students conducted the best analysis she has ever seen: better than analyses of her Masters HR students at York University

Paul Hansen began his course with a focus on learning to think as an economist; he has strongly encouraged students to listen to NZ National Radio and starts each class with a chat about economic and/or political topics in the news.  The students have discussed the possible “tech wreck” as technology firms overseas (e.g. FaceBook & LinkedIn) and in NZ (e.g. Xero & PacificEdge) experience falling share prices.  They have also examined the link between the NZ Reserve Bank's increase in the Official Cash Rate (see RBNZ - ORC) to 3 percent and the response in the NZ dollar exchange rate versus the U.S. dollar.

Paul's contribution to the class has focused on the macroeconomic environment, with an analysis of New Zealand's transition from a regulated Welfare State (with a sixty-six percent tax rate) to a market-driven economy as a case study (see six-part Revolution).  Weekly tests scores indicate that all students in Paul's class are performing well.  Next up, Multi-Criteria Decision-Making and Conjoint Analysis.

Beth Rose continues to coax her students through an understanding of the research process, with both descriptive and exploratory analyses. The students have used SPSS to conduct cross tab analyses and are currently engaged in regressions analyses and modeling.  Beth reports that the nervousness of mastering stats has past and everyone seems to be performing well.

Meet our Term One Lecturers: Paul Hansen

Associate Professor Paul Hansen

Classes have begun, students are settling into routines and they're undoubtedly enjoying Economics under the guidance of Paul Hansen.  Paul is a Kiwi, or more properly a Pakeha (i.e., New Zealander of European descent), who maintains an easygoing attitude about life and learning: often wearing jandals to class.  He maintains an active classroom, encourages discussion and takes personal interest in knowing each of his students.  Paul refers to his role as a lecturer in the MBA as a high-wire act: exhilarating.  

Paul's objective for the class is to help students learn to "think like an economist;" he eschews "the systematic building of theories and models, or their empirical estimation" (from Robert Solow, 1987 Nobel Laureate) as an end in itself.  His course covers a wide breadth of topics including Macro and Micro economics, Multi-Criteria Decision-Making, Conjoint Analysis, Economic Psychology and Game Theory. Students conduct a syndicate (group) level analysis of a real business problem using Multi-Criteria Decision-Making, including the use of the 1000minds software invented by Paul and his business partner, Franz Ombler.

When 1000minds won a Consensus Software Award (sponsored by IBM and Microsoft), the judges said:

“In removing complexity and uncertainty from decision-making processes, 1000Minds has blended an innovative algorithm with a simple user interface to produce a tool of great power and sheer elegance.”

Paul has taught in the Otago MBA for several years and consistently ranks as one of

our best lecturers.  Office hours: "Whenever I'm around (most of the time!)"

Thanks Paul