Porter's five forces model is an important tool in strategic management. Strategy students use the five forces model to conduct industry analysis by evaluating the external conditions that impact firms in a given industry. The five forces model is deceptively simple, yet it encompasses important nuances that students sometimes struggle to fully…

The sitcom "The Good Place" can be used by management instructors to teach ethical frameworks and concepts. This series, familiar to many undergraduate students in the US, features a Professor of Ethics and Moral Philosophy who gives mini lectures applied to what the characters are experiencing. These mini lectures can be shown to…

This exercise is designed to introduce business students to the concept of implicit theories, a foundational concept for individuals and organizations interested in developing more effective learners. This easy-to-implement exercise can be used in any type of management course, with any level of student; it is best positioned at the beginning of…

Studies have revealed the challenges facing management and the role the manager has with respect to facilitating team development. This exercise builds upon the knowledge a management student gains via textbook and/or classroom lecture concerning the stages of team development and offers real-world examples of the challenges facing managers when…

"Kinky Boots: The Musical" is a filmed version of the London West End production that tells the story of the unlikely collaboration between Charlie Price, inheritor of a struggling family business, and Lola, a high-energy and creative drag performer, who together radically change Price & Son's focus from men's dress shoes to fetish…

Work motivation is a core component of many management courses. However, its effective teaching can be hampered by the fragmentation and seeming incoherence of the various theories of work motivation. To address this challenge, we describe an interactive role-play activity that induces students to synthesize, apply, and compare several theories of…

It is easy to believe, after decades of research and ever-increasing awareness, that gender bias issues in our classrooms have subsided. Our current students, both undergraduate and many graduate, comprise what is arguably one of the most equity-aware generations in history. Equality, fair treatment, and unbiased interactions should be the norm…

Situational leadership is a popular management training tool, yet scholars criticize the model's limitations and conflicted empirical support. Management educators are left with a lack of clarity on how to present situational leadership, and this article seeks to address the gap in teaching practice. The experiential role-play activity presented,…

In-class debates are an effective teaching method to cover contentious subjects. This article presents an experiential exercise in which students participate in debates pertaining to the inherent conflict between businesses' profit motive and the broader interests of society. Included in this article are classroom instructions for the exercise and…

This article reviews stock-trading simulations as a resource for use in management courses. Stock-trading simulations have three highly desirable qualities for educators: (1) they cost nothing to use--instructors can choose from various free simulators that all have the same general functionality, (2) they provide real and continuously updating…

We present a fictional short story about embezzlement, "Great Experiment" by Jeffrey Eugenides, as a resource for management classes. We begin by providing a brief description of the story, in which a decent and law-abiding 40-something man's lack of professional success and envy of his wealthy neighbors contribute to his decision to…

General and strategic management courses frequently provide external analysis tools through which students identify, classify, and assess how changes in the general external environment impact industries and firms. In this exercise, we facilitate analysis of the general environment through a popular song from the 1980s. Through analyzing an event…

$50K @ Play Day is an in-class activity in which student groups apply their knowledge of organizational justice in a managerial decision-making scenario. In this simulation, student teams assume the leadership role of a successful corporate team and are tasked with distributing a monetary team award in a just manner. A comparison of student…

Workforce variables routinely place top-of-mind for corporate decision makers in choosing where to locate. This article presents an experiential exercise in which students simulate human resource consultants in a site selection exercise. Suitable for face-to-face or online classes, students work individually, pitching their chosen state to other…

Sustainable development is a powerful, significant, and occasionally controversial topic in management education. It usually refers to "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." The broad view of sustainable development is articulated on the United…