Who will save the company? NEWTON’s new module puts students in charge

The company is in trouble. Its management team, meanwhile, has confidence to spare and a knack for making everything sound fine. A new module being developed at NEWTON will draw students into a fictional story and put the next decisions in their hands.

Contents:

1. Management egos on camera
2. The next move is up to the students
3. From MSc research to classroom storytelling

A manager who needs to control everything and will never admit a mistake. A colleague more concerned with making an impression than getting things done. This fictional company has no shortage of strong personalities at the top, but solving problems is another matter. It is the setting for a new module built around storytelling.

Management egos on camera

Working with colleagues from the theatre, Martin Cenek has created a series of filmed scenes as part of a project led by the Centre for Management and the International Institute of Applied Management. The characters form the senior management team of a struggling company, with their flaws deliberately exaggerated for comic effect.

Behind the scenes, we discover characters who care more about their own image than the business. Beneath the confident speeches and management jargon, the company’s problems gradually come into focus. Humour helps expose behaviour that can have serious consequences for people and organisations.

The next move is up to the students

The filmed scenes will gradually draw students into the story and present them with specific management decisions. They will then explore the consequences of those decisions in class. The story will provide a shared starting point for analysing situations and considering possible courses of action.

“We wanted to take this approach further and create a module where students encounter management problems beyond textbooks and presentations, stepping directly into the story themselves,” explains Martin Cenek.

What would you do in the management team’s position? Why would you choose that approach, and what might follow? These are the questions students will explore, applying theory to a concrete situation that calls for a decision.

From MSc. research to classroom storytelling

The idea grew out of Cenek’s MSc dissertation on the use of storytelling in university management teaching. His research found that students responded positively to teaching that combined theory with stories, dramatisation and interaction.

The new module takes this approach further. Its creators hope it will help students engage more fully, retain what they learn and, above all, apply theory to decisions with tangible consequences. How they tackle the company’s problems will be up to them.