A curriculum compromised

Abstract

Business studies has enjoyed a remarkable change of status in the 14‐18 school curriculum since 1986. This change has been interpreted by Williams and Yeomans (1994) as a case of the ‘new vocationalism’ put into practice. It is argued here that this transformation has been rather more complex. If a school subject changes its status in the academic/vocational spectrum it is pertinent to ask whether this is a sign of an overall change in the curriculum (e.g. the ‘new vocationalism') or the development of a single subject title within a broadly static curriculum structure and philosophy. These alternatives are summarized and the recent history of business studies is reviewed. It is suggested that the changing status of business studies reflects the way in which it has successfully responded to the academic values which dominate the secondary school curriculum in England and Wales. However, it has achieved this transformation while, according to a deputy head interviewed in this study, retaining the image of being ‘vaguely vocational’. This ambiguity has enabled the subject to flourish in vocational (GNVQ) as well as academic (A level) contexts, but it leaves it vulnerable in each sphere. GNVQ advanced business¹ teaching in schools can bear a very close resemblance to A level teaching, prompting the question of whether a ‘vocational course’ is really providing a distinctively relevant preparation for future employment. The association of business studies with the vocational curriculum leaves its academic credentials under question.     

A Process for Developing Regional Business School—Business Community Relationships

ABSTRACT

The relationship between a business school and the local business community can be a mutually beneficial relationship. For the regional business school, building relationships with business executives can be a timely and difficult challenge, which can be compounded by the presence and influence of larger private and state schools. The School of Business Administration at Oakland University (Rochester, MI), faced with these challenges, devised a simple straight-forward process that overcame these challenges and successfully involved 35 local business executives in a mutually beneficial relationship with the School in a very short time. This article describes the process, which can be used by any school or college.     

Fulfilling Entrepreneurial Curriculum Needs in Rural Communities

ABSTRACT

This study examined the business curriculum offered by schools in the third largest community college system in the nation. The objective was to determine the degree that entrepreneurial-oriented curricula meet the needs of young people interested in starting their own business. By analyzing the business curriculum of community colleges throughout the state of Illinois, the study provides an unbiased evaluation of the course offerings. A comparison of rural/urban disparities was also conducted.     

Telling it Like it Is

Abstract

This study examined attitudes about business and the environment in a sample of 237 business students, using a 14-item measurement scale, the Business-Environment Questionnaire. The study also explored the underlying worldview concerning the environment using the New Environmental Paradigm Scale (Dunlap and Van Liere 1978). Overall, the study found the expressed attitudes of the sample to be strongly pro-environmental and primarily related to a concern for the balance of nature. The results appear consistent with the emergence of a “New Environmental Paradigm.” To the extent that attitudes of contemporary business students indicate the future orientation of the business community, corporate policies toward the environment may undergo a considerable shift in the future.     

The relationship between cultural and rhetorical conventions: Engaging in international communication

Understanding the relationship between culture and language has become a requisite for successful business enterprises in the developing global economy. Cultural conventions inform language, often creating differences in the content, organizational pattern, presentation of argument, style, and format of business documents. Differences in conventions can lead to readers’ misinterpretation or failure to understand a message. International business communication is evolving along with the global economy in four distinct patterns: as a hybridized language, as a business interlanguage, as a multiconventional language, and as an international language. The present workforce and those about to enter it need to become sensitized to the effects of multicultural conventions on their business communication.     

The National Development of TEC Programmes: A New Approach

Summary

This article arises from course design and curriculum development work carried out by the authors with respect to a novel engineering degree course, the Master of Engineering in Electronic Systems Engineering, at Kingston Polytechnic. This degree has been validated by the Council for National Academic Awards and commenced at Kingston in October 1984. This four and a half year course is innovative in that contains a significant business/management component as an integral part of the curriculm.

The background for engineers¶ education in the United Kingdom is out‐lined, and a somewhat polemical view of their education for the future is advanced. The authors believe that if engineers are to manage technological innovation, they must first of all become managers in business firms. They must be taught from the start to think of themselves as business professionals with others, and they must be taught to think as corporate technologists rather than as engineering technicians.

The structure of the course is outlined and the learning objectives of the subjects comprising the business/management component are given. The authors hope that the ideas presented in this article will contribute towards other educational initiatives to change engineers' attitudes and develop their expertise as managers of technological innovation in business firms.     

Modernist 16‐19 Business Education in a Postmodern world ‐ critical evidence of business practice and business education in the cultural industries

Abstract

This article examines the continued relevance of the 16‐19 business education curriculum in the UK, stimulated by doubts expressed by Thomas (1996), over its continued relevance. We express a concern that business education needs, but is struggling, to respond to significant societal shifts in consumption and production strategies that do not sit easily within traditional theories of business practice currently underpinning 16‐19 business education. We examine firstly, the extent to which a formal body of knowledge couched in a modernist discourse of facts and objectivity can cope with the changing and fluid developments in much current business practice that is rooted in the cultural and symbolic. Secondly, the extent to which both academic and vocational competences provide the means for students to develop a framework of critical understanding that can respond effectively to rapidly changing business environments.

Findings are based on research conducted jointly by the University of Manchester and the Manchester Institute for Popular Culture at Manchester Metropolitan University. The growth of dynamism of the cultural industries sector ‐ largely micro‐businesses and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) ‐encapsulates forms of business knowledge, business language and business practice which may not immediately fit with the models provided within business education. Results suggest increasingly reflexive forms of consumption being met by similarly reflexive and flexible modes of production.

Our evidence suggests that whilst modernist business knowledge is often the foundation for many 16‐19 business education courses, these programmes of study/training do not usually reflect the activities of SME and micro‐business practitioners in the cultural industries. Given the importance of cultural industries in terms of the production strategies required to meet increasingly reflexive markets, it is suggested that there may be a need to incorporate a postmodern approach to the current content and pedagogy; one that is contextual, cultural and discursive.     

Environmental Educators A Conversation With Bora Simmons

Abstract

As it did with the diffusion of the quality revolution in the 1970s, business education in the 1990s is lagging behind business practice in embracing the environmental revolution as a competitive reality. To accelerate support for environmental protection, business schools should reshape the prevalently anti-enviromental attitudes of present and future managers by demonstrating through outcome-oriented instruction how “green” can be profitable, particularly in the international arena. In this article, a southeastern university program of envirotech student internships in Latin America is described.     

Tenure and Academic Productivity

Abstract

The attitudes of male and female university professors at AACSB (The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) International accredited business schools differ substantially regarding certain aspects of traditional tenure. This survey of 1,306 professors at 307 AACSB International accredited schools in 48 states and Canada examines a broad range of tenure-related matters. Survey results indicate that although general agreement exists between male and female faculty with regard to the impact of tenure on higher education in business, eight significantly different tenure-related issues provide critical insight into problems that presently exist in academia.     

Teaching the Self

Abstract

Teaching a business program capstone class presents a double challenge, requiring the educator to integrate different functional areas of business and evaluate student learning. This paper discusses concept maps as an active learning assessment tool in teaching a strategic management capstone course. Concept maps are used to meaningfully depict knowledge and present illustrations of relationships between concepts in a particular course. This study reviews 54 individual and 19 group concept maps collected over three semesters. The analysis affirms that concept maps are a powerful pedagogical tool that requires students to reflect on the knowledge gained during a course.     

Transformational Journey of Educators in Technology: A Study of Tenured Business Faculty

ABSTRACT

Recent statistics show faculty in higher education question the value and legitimacy of online education as a viable educational format and are, therefore, less accepting of online degrees. The focus of this study was on business faculty and online education through the theoretical framework of transformative learning. Specifically, tenured faculty members who were initially resistant to teaching online – changed their perspective – and came to value and teach online business curriculum. To examine this phenomenon, a survey was distributed to business faculty worldwide. Qualified responses were received from 206 survey participants. The findings suggest that while business faculty, including those tenured, are resistant to teaching online and prefer to teach in a face-to-face environment, a perspective change toward teaching online resulted after spending time reflecting on various factors considered key to a successful entry to online teaching.     

The variation in academics’ experiences of teaching in an intense study centre compared with their traditional university settings

Abstract

Business and enterprise skills are essential for the future economic prosperity of any country, and many schools and colleges of Further Education in the UK run programmes or courses which specifically develop such skills. This article considers the current practices in the training of business awareness in some European countries and discusses an example of good practice — the Young Enterprise Europe scheme. The article concludes that there are a range of different methods for ensuring the development of business skills used within European countries, but there is no standard practice. The article argues that the Young Enterprise Europe programme could be launched throughout Europe to address such educational business development and proposes a model which is adapted from the Personal Effectiveness Model (Fennell, 1994). However, it concedes that further empirical research should be undertaken to draw more reliable conclusions.     

The mainstreaming of charities into schools

Abstract

This paper focuses on the ‘mainstreaming’ of charities into schools. There have been growing concerns about the permeation of business and business values in education, but relatively little attention has been paid to the ways in which schools are increasingly engaged in the ‘business’ of fundraising for charities. Drawing on survey data from the WISERDEducation Multi-Cohort Study (WMCS), the paper outlines young people’s relationship with charities. The data show that young people have a high degree of engagement with charities, in which schools play a significant part. There are likely to be many positive aspects to this engagement, inasmuch as it fosters and reflects young people’s sense of collective responsibility. However, there are also issues about the extent to which this high level of involvement marginalises other approaches to promote the social good and increases the permeation of business values and business into school. The paper concludes that the current mainstreaming of charities into schools is not necessarily a self-evident ‘good’ and that this under-researched phenomenon deserves greater critical attention within and outwith schools.     

“Ourselves among others”: A new metaphor for business and technical writing

Business and technical writing grows out of a need to “build bridges” between ourselves and others. With today's diversifying readerships and increasingly global marketplace, business and industry face a new challenge that is reshaping our conception of business/technical writing and the metaphors of the genre. The metaphors of “selling” and “reader‐centeredness” demand especially to be recast and subordinated to a new metaphor of interculturalism/ internationalism—"ourselves among others.” Grounded in a social theory of language and communication, this new metaphor signifies that “bridge‐building” across differences will be the key in contexts becoming at once more heterogeneous and global.     

The Analysis of a Discussion and Seminar Group

Abstract

This article examines the case for the sandwich degree as the flagship for undergraduate business education in the UK and uses a range of available evidence to show that the history of the practical implementation of the concept is such as to undermine its credibility. The theoretical benefits of the sandwich year are not delivered in practice, especially for students. The costs to students and to the public purse appear to outweigh the alleged benefits. The article uses existing published sources to cast doubt on the wisdom of pursuing the sandwich concept but concludes that available evidence is sketchy and inconclusive and that further research is planned at Bolton Business School to identify the impact of the business studies graduate on the labour market and alternative models for the development of business and personal competences.     

The contribution of reflective learning to experiential learning in business education

Abstract

Experiential learning theory states that reflection is just as important to learning as action. However, business educators often overlook reflection in their experiential learning activities, especially when it’s understood as a dialogue process. Drawing on reflective learning theory, we explored the case of an undergraduate business programme that has been combining experiential learning with three different reflective learning mechanisms for the past ten years. Results show that: (1) reflective dialogue is central for ensuring that impressions from experience translate into better-defined learning outcomes, (2) this dialogue process greatly benefits from a closely guided process, and (3) different reflection mechanisms contribute differently to the learning process. Considering how fast experiential learning has popularised in business schools, this study alerts educators to the importance of combining their experiential learning activities with a guided process of reflection. Otherwise, educators risk students extracting meagre, wrong or misleading impressions from their experience.     

Education and Business Links in St Lucia

ABSTRACT

In developed as well as in developing countries there is a continuing debate about the need for education and business to develop links (particularly in the area of technical and vocational education and training) In order to provide countries with the adequately trained manpower needed for their economic development. This paper is intended to add to this debate. It outlines some of the existing relationships between education and business in St Lucia, suggests a number of possible developments and makes a few recommendations.     

Training and Development for Small Business Managers. Part Two: a procedure for identifying management development needs

ABSTRACT

This is Part Two of a two‐part article, the first part having been published in The Vocational Aspect of Education, 44, pp. 211–231. Part One discussed the literature concerning small business management and its implications for the development of an instrument for identifying the training and development needs of small business managers. Part Two explains the assumptions underlying the instrument we have created before describing the instrument and its use in interviews and small group situations. The instrument is considered to be valid, but to require further validation trials and development.     

The Business Studies Sandwich Degree: a critique

ABSTRACT

This article examines the case for the sandwich degree as the flagship for undergraduate business education in the UK and uses a range of available, but limited, evidence to show that the history of the practical implementation of the concept is such as to undermine its credibility. The theoretical benefits of the sandwich year are not delivered in practice, especially for students. The costs to students and to the public purse appear to outweigh the alleged benefits. The article uses existing published sources to cast doubt on the wisdom of pursuing the sandwich concept but concludes that available evidence is sketchy and inconclusive. Further research is planned at Bolton Business School to identify the impact of the business studies graduate on the labour market and alternative models for the development of business and personal competencies.