Sustainable development is a powerful, significant, and occasionally controversial topic in management education. It usually refers to "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." The broad view of sustainable development is articulated on the United…

Decision-making is a critical topic in any management and organizational behavior course. Navigating and understanding the various processes and influences on decision-making, however, can be complicated. This article revises and expands on a common "employee ranking" format activity. It uses in-class student data to systematically…

In an ever-increasingly diverse workforce, cross-cultural communication skills are essential for success regardless of job title or task. We present an engaging and customizable 30-minute activity designed to develop participants' cross-cultural communication skills by increasing awareness and sensitivity to interpersonal differences in…

In this article, we outline an experiential exercise designed to teach students about cognitive schemas (what they are, how they are developed, and how they may influence us). Drawing on the literature related to implicit followership theories, the exercise encourages students to explore their perceptions related to the role of followers, thus…

Using stories written for young children can be effective in the education of college students. Storytelling is a helpful instructional method that is relevant to many management topics. This activity uses picture books, which can be read to students in "story hour" fashion and then tied to management principles being taught. This…

The Arena activity is an in-class, experiential learning exercise that requires student teams to navigate and assist a blindfolded team member through a maze-like setting. The goal of the activity is to seek and find all of the team's assigned objects. However, only the blindfolded team member can collect these objects in The Arena. This activity…

Storytelling is an important skill in management education for leaders. However, even though students learn about storytelling, they do not often practice it. When students do practice storytelling, they frequently prepare speeches that they deliver in front of a class. Interacting with theater students can help management students convey a…

Students are often frustrated and confused by the study of leadership since the field cannot offer an agreed-upon definition of the construct. Students are expected to develop leadership skills without understanding what leadership actually is. The Leadership Exploration Project is a multiweek exercise that gives late undergraduate or graduate…

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 article features an innovative and engaging assignment to help students learn about labor history events. Labor history is more than just a collection of dates, facts, and figures. Rather, it is the study of the men, women, and children who fought for a workplace that many of today's employees take for granted: paid leave, a 5-day workweek,…

This article describes an in-class, noncomputerized, bingo game to accompany coverage of the topic of organizational structure. The game allows students to be actively involved in learning, solidify recognition and understanding of organizational structure terminology, apply understanding of organizational structure to an analysis of…

Although the annual performance review has received much criticism from practitioners and researchers alike, organizations continue to use coaching and/or reviews to maximize employee effectiveness and minimize liabilities. A semester class is a great context to practice skills relating to tracking and reviewing performance. This article describes…

Research on the use of experiential exercises to encourage exploration of professional networks shows that such exercises are effective and provide value for students seeking to enter or navigate careers. Often students in the early phase of their undergraduate experience are unaware of the process involved in building a professional network or…

In teaching leadership, a key element to include should be a discussion about vision: what it is, how to communicate it, and how to ensure that it is effective and shared. This article describes a series of exercises that rely on videos to illustrate different aspects of vision and visioning, both in the positive and in the negative. The article…

The action research method of appreciative inquiry (AI) was employed to develop a teaching tool. This exercise involves students' reflections on a course, noting when they learned the most. The AI process of appreciating, envisioning, dialoging, and innovating is used to help students reflect on how they learn. Instructors of all types of courses…