Meg Joseph, associate professor, Global Fashion Management, co-authored an academic article exploring how management is taught in schools. The article, “What management is versus what managers do: An investigation into required management course offerings for undergraduate business students,” was published online on April 1 and is forthcoming in the July 2022 print edition of the International Journal of Management Education, a double-blind peer-reviewed scholarly journal.
In her research, Joseph and her coauthor, Jason Fertig of the University of Southern Indiana, selected 114 schools with undergraduate business majors to investigate the degree to which four fundamental management principles—planning, organizing, leading, and controlling—anchor the discipline. They found that less than half of the schools examined required a “Principles of Management” course, with many business schools adopting courses more focused on individual and group behavior for their core management requirement. Since differing viewpoints can leave gaps in students’ education, the authors argue for a more holistic approach that reflects the full spectrum of the manager’s job—managing people and managing work.