As colleges and universities go through Commencement exercises and mint new graduates, it is perhaps time to reflect on yet another school year gone by. Some highlights and lowlights of my academic year:
Highlights
- I taught a new, interdisciplinary course titled "Local Choices, Global Effects" focused on sustainability. This course was an 'elective' and did not count towards a student's "major" and had a rather abstract title (at that time). I did not have high expectations for enrollment but the course attracted 13 students, of which 8 were truly outstanding. Through the course all students made a difference on campus, altered their life styles and influenced other students and faculty. An academic lives for this type of success. Of course, the term 'Local Choices, Global Effects" is now commonplace.
- I ratcheted up my own expectations of students' communication skills. I was dismayed to see abysmal writing skills in GRADUATE students, who have had years of experience. To a degree I am more tolerant of errors by undergraduates, but not one of the graduate students I taught this year could put together a decent one page paper. Recently, even Warren Buffet echoed the importance of these skills. I put in significant effort in getting students to improve their writing skills.
- In graduate school where every student expects to get an A for even mediocre work, I clamped down and tried to make As harder to achieve.
- I was tenured and promoted.
- Cheating, Plagiarism, and other dishonest behavior. I did not have to read the article "MBA students swap integrity for plagiarism" in the Financial Times to comprehend the scale of dishonest behavior among students. I caught one graduate student taking another student's paper and turning it in as his own. Another graduate student copied entire sections of a website and included it in her paper, without any citation. In both cases the students received only minor punishment. Says something about my ethics as well.
- I am finding that the percentage of students unable to do basic math is increasing. In one of my courses 7 out of 22 students could not do an 8th grade level math problem. This is rather depressing, because these students/adults will have as much say as others in the future of this country.
As Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney might say, Writing ge(r)ms from students:
- Seattle Sutton has been presented with several requests from major grocery chains to distribute meals throughout its grocery store chain. This would go against the companies current business model, however would provide the opportunity for growth.
- The difficulties facing SSHE have a lot to due with the product they are providing customers.
- The consumer who was more focused on buying a shoe that fit and felt great then based on color or trend.
- Haier entered the US refrigerator market in 1995. By 2005 they had established themselves as a leader in the US compact refrigerator market with a 20% share totaling $275 M in revenue.
- Haier entered the United States market in 1995. Refrigerator’s are the core of Haier’s total U.S. sales and is the core of their growth plan.
- Haier has a proven to have an established R&D setup, as it has proven to develop an item in five months in comparison to one of its competitors who took 18 months.
- Determine the most responsive and cost effective distribution model that would adversely impact inventory carry cost at New Balance or at both larger and smaller retailers of New Balance products.
- The article mentions that New Balance received a lot of it feedback from smaller retailers, customers and employees alike.
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3 comments:
Hello, r_o_e.
I’m curious: what is the typical undergrad profile of the MBA students who lack adequate writing skills?
You wrote: “I was dismayed to see abysmal writing skills in GRADUATE students, who have had years of experience.” (I assume years of experience working in the business world.)
Do you think this means that many employees of business, including those aspiring to advanced degrees, do not actually need to write much (or well) in order to adequately meet business’s expectations for satisfactory job performance?
Our graduate students often have five plus years of experience in the business world. Unfortunately the school does not publish statistics describing the undergraduate profile of the graduate students.
Having worked in the corporate sector for more than fifteen years, I can say that good communication skills, including writing skills, are a significant asset. I have seen plenty of middle managers with poor writing skills, but they are often stuck at that level. Of course, one can overcome the liability of poor writing if he/she is exceptionally skilled in some other area.
I too worked for decades in business. I agree that good writing was a rare skill, but it also was not a highly valued skill, nor was it, generally, highly rewarding for those who possessed it.
You wrote: “Of course, one can overcome the liability of poor writing if he/she is exceptionally skilled in some other area.” I agree.
Another tactic of mid and upper managers is to find and ‘exploit’ the writing skills of a ‘ghost’ underling within their chain of command. When such a manager needs to deliver a substantive presentation or proposal, the ghost writer does the work and the manager gets the recognition.
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