Reflecting on 25 Years of Teaching, Researching, and Textbook Writing for Introduction to Management: An Essay With Some Lessons Learned

Abstract

This essay describes innovations made and lessons learned while teaching introduction to management courses during a 25-year career. The essay describes how teaching two approaches to management increases students’ critical and ethical thinking, and reverses the tendency for business students to become increasingly materialistic and individualistic. It also describes ways to supplement and enhance teaching facts related to management theory (“knowing”) by providing assignments where students put their knowledge into practice (“doing”) and reflect on what sorts of managers they want to become (“being”). Present and future teaching needs, especially related to addressing socioecological externalities caused by business, are also discussed.