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.