Our goal is to every month add several new articles to our “What’s New” here on the CBE Website. This semester the section will feature numerous articles related to a “Common Sense Practitioner's Approach To Management:” written by current Elmhurst College MBA students. Please enjoy!

September 2006

Over the first several weeks, The MBA Organizational Management Class has had the chance to read and discuss many different ideas about management, leadership and changes in organizations. There has been much debate and controversy about the real difference, if any, between management and leadership. The class was asked to agree or disagree with a statement used in the class. Here is a sampling of the results of the papers:

• Paper by Mr. Michael Capezio
• Paper by Mr. Calvin Wong

October 2006

The last several weeks of the MBA Management Class has been exploring various different topics related to leadership and management within organizations such as decision-making, diversity and culture and climate. The goal of each week’s class has been to prepare a foundation for discussion by reading literature from the Harvard Business Review on the select subjects than applying those ideas, concepts and theories to a ground level, practical approach to management. The assignment for this portion of the class was to take one of the subjects presented and develop an article for a trade publication in their field. Here are samplings of the results of the papers:

• Paper by Ms. Erin Rind
• Paper by Mr. Calvin Wong
• Paper by Mr. Anthony Whelen

November 2006

Several weeks in November were devoted to motivation and using people as a competitive advantage for organizations. As excerpted from an article on h2g2..September 2004

"For years, managers, psychologists and academics have been interested in theories about motivation - why we get out of bed and go to work every morning; why some people are willing to do a great job despite being faced with huge challenges on a daily basis; why others can't do even the simplest thing without making mistakes; and why seemingly small things such as the removal of a water-cooler in the canteen can have hugely detrimental effects on work performance. A large body of research has been written attempting to tackle these issues - some of which have gained considerable currency inside businesses as they try to get the most from their workforce.

Some theories state that all workers are motivated primarily by the need for money; so if you want to get the most out of your workforce, you pay them more. This has particular effectiveness in areas where payment is directly linked to the accomplishment of objectives."

The goal of these articles was to have the MBA candidates to write an "journal" article discussing and debating the idea that money is a motivator. Here are some examples:

• Paper by Ms. Erin Rind
• Paper by Ms. Jennifer Smolzer
• Paper by Mr. Anthony Whelan
• Paper by Mr. Robert Wojdelko