Can a department faculty, or a school's faculty, line out the
behaviors they feel are necessary for information transfer/synapse
adjustment in a classroom or lecture situation? Probably.
Can said faculty delineate means to communicate these behaviors to
students, with continuing feedback? (practice makes perfect!)
Certainly - Madam (or should I say Krista) Milion's example is
excellent.
Is it easier to gripe about how things are going to H__l in a
handbag? Yup.
Is griping effective in achieving significant change? Obviously, no.
I myself confronted eating in class for years. - it makes me
jealous. I should have addressed it as Krista Milion did -
demonstratively.
I've wrestled with talking in class as both student and instructor.
The talking student may interfere with the education delivery for
which the other students have paid. Do the talking students want to
tick off their cohorts in this way?
What does the faculty want their campus culture to include, or
exclude? We may not make it entire, but we can influence it strongly.
Enough soap box for one day,
Jay
Since I wrote this earlier today some valuable postings have led the
discussion toward the concept of 'professional' or 'appropriate'
communication modes for all sorts of interactions.
Perhaps a school intent on educating future managers could take the
time to instruct on the niceties of when & how communication 'tone'
is suitable? No, it doesn't fit a regular academic curriculum on its
own, but somehow I think it could be fitted into a course, somewhere.
And yes, practice communicating with professors will most quickly
instill suitable thinking on the part of the students. Just think
how business will look upon those graduates who have learned to tune
their communications to the situation! I'll be these graduates are
highly rated, over and above the students' academic prowess.
Jay
On Mar 9, 2006, at 8:06 AM, Krista MILION wrote:
> Hello Christie,
>
> Maybe I wasn't clear - I was the professor who carried out this in-
> class
> lesson/lab experiment - and yes I probably was particularly
> motivated to
> respond to the issue because when you lecture on organisational
> behaviour and HRM you obviously are sensitive to individual
> organisational members' behaviour (more so than a Finance Professor
> for
> example) and because you understand how behaviour can be modified if
> addressed intelligently. By the way, to answer one of your questions,
> the course in question is mandatory for all of our 2nd year business
> students so obviously we have students who are quite indifferent to
> "behaviour" be it their own, their neighbour's or the organisation
> which
> will deliver them a business degree!
>
> In my smaller classes I sometimes encounter the same lax email
> etiquette
> - and probably are a little more tolerant with it because I have
> already
> met/discussed the students individually and I know who they are - even
> though now I remind them (to help them professionally) that using
> appropriate etiquette is vital to making a good impression on others.
>
> Some of the students' laziness - ignorance - indifference - or
> whatever
> it may be labelled might be due to the fact that as I'm Canadian of
> origin I appear more informal than some French Professors in my
> rapport
> with the students- collectively and individually. I do find, on the
> whole, international students more courteous - but then again they
> often
> are a cut above other students who don't go abroad as they have
> accepted
> an extra challenge.
>
> Nevertheless, after conversing with other (French) Professors I found
> they also were struck by the same lack of etiquette in email
> communication and they do gripe about it... but no one, as far as I
> know, has taken the effort to confront the students with it. I, like
> you, also wonder whether female professors react differently than male
> professors, etc.
>
> This leads me to 2 points:
> 1) Our department is quite sensitive about student behaviour which
> increasingly seems to reflect the "mals" of contemporary society
> and we
> are very interested in learning about how other business schools
> successfully address student behavioural problems which are in
> contradiction with management competencies we try to develop(ex.
> effective communication). Do professors implement personal
> strategies in
> your schools or are there organisational-wide policies which bring
> about
> positive results?
>
> 2) Judging from our French students overseas experiences a number of
> in-class behavioural norms are culture-bound. French students are
> shocked that American students dare to arrive 10 minutes before the
> end
> of a class, and also when American students eat or drink during class,
> sit on a table to discuss with a teacher, sniff or sneeze during
> class,
> do not dress well for presentation exactly, etc. American students are
> frustrated by French students incessant talking during class, etc. Is
> anyone else on the list interested in pursuing research in this area:
> the identification of in-class behavioural norms and problems which
> could be culture-bound?
>
> Best regards,
>
>
> Krista Finstad-Milion
> Associate Professor
> Management of Organisations and Human Resources Department
> ICN School of Management
>
> 06.12.89.12.69
>
> ESIDEC
> Technopôle de Metz
> 3 place Edouard Branly
> 57070 Metz FRANCE
>
>
> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : Management Education and Development Discussion
> [mailto:
MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] De la part de Christie Mason
> Envoyé : jeudi 9 mars 2006 10:03
> À :
MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
> Objet : Re: RE : Impolite student email to their instructors
>
> I have to admit that at my first read of your informal poll I was
> struck
> by
> the irony of students of that particular topic being perceived as
> impolite
> in their communication style.
>
> I'm wondering if you developed any informal perceptions on why these
> professors of that topic reported this problems. Was it the large
> class
> size? Did those professors tend to expect more formal communication
> styles
> than professors of other topics? Type of students attracted to study
> that
> particular topic?
>
> Curious,
> Christie Mason
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Management Education and Development Discussion
> [mailto:
MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU]On Behalf Of Krista MILION
> Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 1:33 AM
> To:
MG-ED-DV@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
> Subject: RE : Impolite student email to their instructors
>
>
> Hello all,
> I'm very happy to have read this letter because this year, new to my
> school, I carried out my own informal poll enquiring whether other
> professors also receive impolite emails. The problem mainly
> occurred for
> a big (impersonal) class of 259 students in Organisational
> Behaviour and
> Human Resource Management. ..
>
> Best regards,
>
> Krista Finstad-Milion
> Associate Professor
> Management of Organisations and Human Resources Department
> ICN School of Management
>
> ESIDEC
> Technopôle de Metz
> 3 place Edouard Branly
> 57070 Metz FRANCE
>
Jay Warner
Principal Scientist
Warner Consulting, Inc.
4444 North Green Bay Road
Racine, WI 53404-1216
USA
Ph: 262.634.9100
Fax: 262.681.1133
email:
quality@a2q.com
web:
www.a2q.com
The A2Q Method (tm) -- What do you want to improve today?