Teach OMT

Welcome to Teach OMT, brought to you by the Organizations and Management Theory (OMT) division of the Academy of Management.

Our objectives are to provide scholars, managers and students of organizations with:
     (1) real examples of course ideas and materials through which compelling course experiences might be constructed
     (2) background sources for a range of key concepts within organization theory, and
     (3) a venue for community participation in this process.

Syllabi

Courses, by category

Change in Organizations

Leadership of Organizational Change
Organizational Change and Redesign
Organizational Structure and Change
Managing Organizational Change
Managing High Growth Organizations

Entrepreneurship

Venture Opportunities & Business Models
Institutions
Venture Design

International Management

International Management and Organizations

Organization Design and Analysis

Institutional Analysis of Organizations
Managing Organizational Identity
Organizational Analysis for Management
Organizational Dynamics
Organizational Structure and Change
Organizational Behavior For Management
Organizational Change and Redesign
Organizational Theory and Design

Organizational Theory and Design

Organizations in the 21st Century: Theories of Organizing
Organizational Theory and Design
Organization Theory in Sport & Physical Activity
Sociologia das Organizações e Inovação
Organization Theory (doctoral seminar)
Organizations & Administration
Complex Organizations
Complex Organizations (seminar)
Organization Theory

Leadership

Strategic Leadership
Leadership of Organizational Change
Leading Innovation and Organizational Effectiveness
Leadership

Human Capital

Human Resource Management

Power

Power and Influence in Organizations
The Paths to Power

Social Networks

Network Structures of Effective Management
Six Degrees of Separation

Strategy & Policy

Alliances and Partnerships
Business Development
Topics in Strategy

Business Policy
Manual Strategy & Innovation
Implementing Public Policy

Other topics

Individuals and Organizations
Foundations of Business Thought
Markets and Society
The Rise of the Networked Society

Courses in Spanish & English

Organización de Empresas

Courses in Portuguese & English

Sociologia das Organizações e Inovação

Interviews

Three Questions: Ellen Auster (Professor of Strategic Management), Schulich School of Business at York University,

We ask experienced faculty what three issues they feel are most important when planning and teaching courses and what they do to manage these challenges.  Ellen Auster was kind enough to share her “Three Questions” and answers to these questions.

Three Questions:

1) “What are some things to think about when preparing for class?”
2) “What are some tips for delivering a class?”
3) “How can I learn from what I do in class?”

1) “What are some things to think about when preparing for class?”

Determine what content will be covered

  • Ensure content covered in class reinforces core learning objectives
  • Don’t try to cover everything
  • Play to your strengths
  • Apply learnings to real life organizational challenges
    • Add story to build emotional connections

Determine how content will be delivered

  • Plan agenda
    • Select varied delivery modes (lecture, pair chats, debates, role plays, cases, utube clips etc.)
  • Build a process map (content/timing/process)
    • Focus on nurturing the learning community as well as content

2) “What are some tips for delivering a class?”

Emphasize key learning points

  • Share learning objectives at the beginning of class
  • Reinforce key learnings during class
  • End each class with a wrap-up (ask them for key learnings? pair chat? post on-line – vary modes)

Involve your students in your classes

  • Leverage students’ experiences and inputs (have students fill out info card at beginning of term)
  • Manage student participation effectively (play volleyball not ping pong)
  • Encourage quieter students to participate (side bar before class, heads up on possible topic, wait before calling on someone to give quieter students a chance to raise their hands)
  • Respond to questions you are unable to answer with honesty
  • Inject energy into the class(move around the room, enjoy the class and they will too)

Adjust your plan in “real time”

  • Consider modifying delivery modes if needed
  • Spend more or less time on a class segment – ask them if they’re ready to move on?
  • Adapt when you run out of or have too much time

3) “How can I learn from what I do in class?”

Use informal feedback to adjust your teaching plan on the fly

  • Monitor non-verbal cues to assess student interest and engagement
  • Obtain verbal feedback by asking students for direct input (e.g. have you covered this in core OB?)

Take the time after each class to denote how things went

  • Highlight key points to incorporate into the next class
  • Note thoughts and ideas for the next time you teach the course

Collect written feedback to make ongoing improvements to the course

  • Determine what elements of the course you want to assess (pace, content, delivery, evaluation etc.)
  • Obtain the input you need (e.g. ask what’s working well? what ideas do have for improvement? anonymous forms handed in)
  • Develop a plan to act on the input (some things you may change but also sometimes just making students aware that others feel differently is useful)
  • Share and discuss your plan with the class

Leverage end-of-term evaluations to improve the next iteration of your course

  • Conduct any evaluation processes required by your school
  • Supplement with customized feedback to obtain more detail
  • Synthesize findings to determine what to do differently next time

Roundtables

The OMT Teaching Roundtables are a PDW session organized around the theme of—you guessed it—Teaching.

The goals of the Teaching Roundtables are for participants to gain not only an understanding of how a course is structured (e.g., readings and assignments) and taught (e.g., method), but also further insights into why a course is structured and taught as it is, how a course was built upon a knowledge base in organization theory (or some other base), the process of developing and revising a course over time, and/or the skillsets and methods invoked to manage courses of any kind as effectively as possible.

The roundtable sessions are best thought of as small-group discussions built upon the frame of a course or teaching method. These roundtables are not best thought of as presentations, with a few moments at the end for questions.

The session consists of three 30-40 minute rounds of informal discussions. Each facilitator leads a table, introducing and discussing a course or teaching method(s) a total of 3 times with 3 different small groups of participants. Participants, based upon their interests, select Facilitators in advance and rotate according to pre-assigned tables based on these preferences.

All OMT Junior Faculty Consortium and MOC/OMT Doctoral Consortium participants are automatically enrolled in the Teaching Roundtables, and a set of additional attendees often sign up independently of the consortia. It is not unusual for us to have at least if not greater than 100 people in the room, spread across 10 or more tables.

There tend to be two general types of table discussions at the Teaching Roundtables:

Course Tables engage in a broad overview of a course. For example: For whom the course is targeted, the reasoning behind the course design, how the course links to OMT and even faculty research, the method adapted in the classroom, the major learning objectives, and a short description of major assignments, with time for questions and discussion along the way.

Method Tables engage in a broad overview of some set of teaching methods or skillets.  For example: faculty might define a set of skills, describe how they incorporate this set of skills/methods into their courses, offer some examples, talk about set up and/or resources needed, address some common challenges in implementation, with time for questions and discussion along the way.

FAQ

Q: How many people are at each table?

Not counting the facilitator(s), there have tended to be between five and ten participants at each table.

Q: Do I need to make a Powerpoint?

Absolutely not. This is not a formal presentation (i.e., Powerpoint), but rather an informal presentation/discussion of the makings of a course or the transference of some teaching skillset.

Q: Should I, or can I, bring handouts?

If you feel handouts will be helpful, please feel free to bring some along.  We will, however, with your permission, make your syllabus or other documents available in some digital form to participants in advance of the roundtables.

Q: Can you provide an example of a course title and description?

Course Title: Wicked Problems
Course Description: Most of the world’s most vexing challenges (e.g., hunger, disease, poverty, energy shortages, etc.) are more than just big problems; these are truly wicked problems. In 1973, Rittel& Weber distinguished the characteristics of wicked problems in the hopes of informing solutions the might require methods beyond those of traditional problem solving.  The purpose of this course is to engage students with: (1) the characteristics of wicked problems, (2) the structure, methods, and mindsets of the social impact community, and (3) the application of these methods and mindsets to address and dissolve wicked problems.

Q: Am I just teaching people how to teach my course?

Preferably not. While you may undoubtedly feel like you are teaching participants how you teach your course, please also take a step back and share insights into the methods and mindsets of teaching, in general—such as course development, classroom engagement, even (gasp) grading. In other words, the roundtables are about the general process of developing and managing a course built upon the foundations of organization theory, with your course/skillset just so happening to be a specific example on the table for discussion, such that this somewhat intangible process can be made more tangible.