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Teaching Philosophy
My teaching philosophy is based on active learning, which involves asking
students to solve problems, formulate and answer questions, and debate
during class, and is complemented by cooperative learning, where students
work in teams on projects under conditions that generate both positive
interdependence and individual accountability. In addition, I strongly
believe that establishing rapport with students and creating an atmosphere
conducive to learning is as important as having command over the subject
matter. I teach courses on comparative management, international business,
global strategy, and comparative employment relations to undergraduate
and graduate students. My emphasis is the international dimension.
Learning about international issues cannot be accomplished by merely memorizing
the facts found in course readings. The teacher must spark the students’
curiosity about how management practices and business organizations function
around the globe. To this end, I try to equip students with a set of conceptual
tools to navigate through the often contradictory and ambiguous mass of
information about how international competition takes place, to instigate
an appreciation of the differences between multi-domestic and global industries,
to provide a set of criteria for evaluating exactly which global strategy
will help enhance the firm’s long-term profitability and value, and to
show a clear understanding of how to measure and interpret the effects
of economic, cultural, financial, political, and social factors on international
management decisions. My ultimate goal in my teaching is to train competent
future managers and responsible citizens in an increasingly interdependent
and global world.
Pedagogical Implementation
My pedagogical style, like my approach to research, draws on the comparative
method complemented with multiple other techniques depending on the subject.
For example, if the topic at hand is employment systems around the world,
we start by discussing what students know the most, the employment system
in the U.S. Then, we build from this knowledge and analyze the similarities
and differences with the employment system in Canada, and week by week
we move across different countries all the way to employment systems in
China.
A key challenge for a teacher is to transmit the knowledge to students
in an efficient and stimulating manner. I rely on a variety of pedagogical
techniques to achieve this goal. First, I combine short lectures on different
topics (e.g., the challenges in cross-border merger and acquisitions)
with case studies that allow students to apply the tools required for
that topic to a particular real-life case (e.g., the cross-border merger
of Daimler-Benz and Chrysler). This is supplemented with hands-on discovery,
in that students are responsible for (1) active class participation, (2)
global team work, and (3) class presentations.
First, I seek active student discovery by asking all students to write
short reaction papers to the assigned readings. This allows me to incorporate
their thoughts into my class. In addition, students are encouraged to
participate in an on-line forum that relates the course content to current
business events, and live in-class discussion with relevant information.
Second, due to the nature of the classes that I teach, I tend to have
a fairly diverse international student body or at least functional (disciplinary)
diversity. Hence, at the beginning of the semester, I assign students
into global teams and/or multi-functional teams to work on an assigned
course project. This gives students an opportunity to interact with individuals
with different cultural/functional backgrounds and experience the challenges
and advantages of these complex teams. Our reflections on how to make
multi-cultural and/or multi-functional teams more effective is incorporated
into the course content. Finally, students are asked to put together a
short presentation on an international business or managerial issue that
is not formally covered in class. Some of the presentations have involved
research parks in China, corporate governance issues in India, and the
challenges of expatriate mangers.
Since international issues can be hard to grasp in the abstract, I actively
incorporate state-of-the-art pedagogical tools and technology resources
in my teaching such as simulations of cross-cultural negotiations, use
of technology, and multi-media exercises. For example, in graduate courses
such as global strategy, students are given an interactive multi-media
CD on a Spanish winery whose sales have done very well in Spain, Germany,
and the United States, and poorly in Australia. Students are asked to
work in their global teams to analyze and come up with a technical report
that discusses what went wrong in Australia and suggests other potential
markets as well as the different entry modes. This is an example of “learning-by-doing”
that is undertaken towards the end of the semester. Another example is
that I encourage students to participate in business case competitions
that complement the class.
Measurement and Evaluation of Student
Learning
My assessment of student learning is two-fold: individual and group-level.
In the case of undergraduate teaching, I put more emphasis on individual
work, as these students are developing basic skills and acquiring new
knowledge. In most of my undergraduate courses, students are asked to
write two essays, several individual reaction papers, and two in-class
exams, which count about 60 percent of the grade. The group work involves
a group presentation and a group project, which counts about 40 percent
of the grade. For graduate students, I draw more heavily on group work
as it is my expectation that students need to learn how to work in teams.
I also put more weight on class participation. I believe that a key element
of learning, as well as measurement of learning, is to be able to assess
whether students are making progress throughout the semester. Therefore,
I provide multiple opportunities to give feedback to students by responding
to their reaction papers, grading their essays, and giving detailed comments
on their presentations. Finally, all of my courses include an in-class
committee of two or three elected students that meets with me two or three
times during the semester. The purpose of the course committee is to provide
the class a formal means of communication with me about the course and
the teaching.
Doctoral Student Supervising and
Advising
I play a significant role in advising doctoral students interested in
international business issues. I have been fortunate to work closely with
doctoral students, serving as a dissertation committee member for 14 students
(three of them have already graduated) from Business Administration, the
Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, and the Sociology and Psychology
departments. In addition, most years I am responsible for a first- or
second-year doctoral student as his/her academic advisor. Because I believe
that the best way to learn how to write and do research is “learning-by-doing,”
whenever possible, I try to give the opportunity to students to collaborate
in research projects with me. This arrangement has worked out quite well
most of the time, and, as a result, I have working papers or published
papers with seven doctoral students from the University of Illinois. The
successful completion of these collaborative projects helps these students
learn how to perform high-quality research in a very effective manner.
Professional Development for Teaching
Excellence
When I joined the faculty of the University of Illinois, I had never taught
a course. So, I took it as a personal challenge to become as good as a
teacher as I could be. I did several things to accomplish this goal. First,
I sought guidance from the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University
of Illinois in developing my syllabi for different course levels as well
as my teaching techniques. I worked very closely with several staff members
form the Center who provided extensive feedback. Second, also during my
first semester, I wrote and was awarded a CIBER Teaching Development Grant
to develop and gather course materials for teaching international business
and management. With this grant, I was able to purchase a variety of multi-media
cases and videos as well as to attend a workshop at Duke’s Fuqua School
on “Strategies for Teaching International Negotiations.” Finally, I continue
to participate in the Provost’s Initiative for Teaching Advancement (PITA)
that the College of Business offers to its faculty as well as discuss
with my colleagues new cases and teaching techniques that I am always
eager to incorporate in my class. This keeps my teaching alive and exciting
for me, and, hence, I hope some of my excitement inspires my students.
To conclude, student evaluations provide some evidence of teaching effectiveness.
I have been included in the University of Illinois “Incomplete List of
Teachers Rated as Excellent” almost every semester since I started teaching.
Additional proof of my teaching effectiveness is that my elective courses
such as LIR554: Comparative Employment Relation Systems or BA 384: International
Management tend to be over-subscribed.
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