teaching the wrong thing
Teppo
Nicolai Foss at Organizations and Markets highlights recent research by Rich Makadok (a former Emory colleague) which essentially suggests that one of the dearest and most taught (though rather simple) models (the SWOT model) in strategic management may in fact be wrong.
This brings up a related matter which I wrestled with in my teaching this semester (org theory to the MBA students). That is, how do you teach foundational matters of org theory, even if you think some of these foundations are wrong?
My approach was to treat all the important matters of org theory with passion and verve (even ones that I strongly disagree with), equally highlighting differing perspectives, though also concealing my own opinions so as to not interrupt what I think is an important learning process. I hoped that the students would begin to see some of the dichotomies and begin to themselves arbitrate (with their developing theoretical abilities, which we tried to hone) between theoretical perspectives and underlying assumptions.
In an MBA culture of – give me the 2-3 learning points, 7 habits etc (not that there's anything wrong with that!) – this was frustrating for some students, though on the whole I resisted losing focus of a broader pedagogical effort to hopefully develop critical thinking. In part, I hope I succeeded.
I sometimes wonder about what the MBAs get taught – the material in Harvard Business Review might be a bit too watered down, and often even downright wrong. For example, I remember a recent exchange at a research conference where a particular paper was presented and it was concluded that given the paper's lack of theoretical content (the propositions were blatantly false), but its 'clever turn of the phrase,' it might be an appropriate piece for a managerial audience.
