Enhancing Undergraduates' Capabilities Through Team‐Based Competitions: The Edward Jones Challenge

Abstract

The Edward Jones Company recently initiated financial sponsorship of team-based competitions in six undergraduate business core classes at Baylor University. The challenges were chosen to take place in an introductory freshman business class, Managerial Accounting, Principles of Marketing, Corporate Finance, Operations Management, and Strategic Management. Teams of students in each course competed for monetary awards ranging up to $1,000 per team member. This article describes the rationale behind the Edward Jones Challenge, reviews the literature as to the expected benefits of the group projects involved in the competition, summarizes the projects used in the various classes, analyzes the results of a student survey, tests a set of hypotheses relating project structure to the expected benefits, examines the positive results derived from the Edward Jones initiative, and discusses the lessons learned from the experience.

The Use of Case Study Competitions to Prepare Students for the World of Work

“…Hartman and McCambridge (2011) contend that effective communication skills will continue to be important to employers and organizational success. Participation in case study competitions is one means by which educators can emphasize further and reinforce the importance of effective communication skills, which are deemed an essential component of proficiency as an individual employee or as a member of a work team (Umble et al, 2008). In addition, case study competitions have also been shown to assist in developing and refining students' capacity for efficient problem solving and decision making -capabilities most managers and supervisors routinely indicate they want in their employees (Kreber, 2001).…”

“…As a form of grounded learning experience, case study competitions expose students to real world experiences, encourage them to take ownership of their learning and help to assimilate their ideas into theory and practice (Rebeiz, 2011). Umble et al, (2008) found similar opportunities for enhanced team learning through complex, unstructured projects such as case study competitions: group-based activities tend to enhance the student learning experience and provide a better forum for engaging students in an active learning experience.…”

“…Over the last couple of decades, however, case study competitions have become much more common among undergraduate programmes (Maier-Lytle et al, 2010). Some empirical studies have suggested that undergraduate students' participation in case study competitions is positively linked to learning outcomes such as strong oral and written communication skills, more mature critical thinking skills and a heightened awareness of the inherent complexities associated with real-world problems and solutions (Umble et al, 2008).…”

“…Case study competitions are widely recognized as useful co-curricular activities in the field of business education; they are considered excellent avenues for preparing students for the workforce (Umble et al, 2008). In a typical competition, teams of students are provided with a realistic scenario -usually a particular situation that requires developing an appropriate action plan (Rebeiz, 2011).…”

“Supply Chain—Marketing Shark Tank” Experiential Lab Game in Interdisciplinary Business Education: Qualitative and Quantitative Analyses

“…Experiential learning is defined as “a process of constructing knowledge that involves a creative tension …… that is responsive to contextual demands” (Kolb & Kolb, , p. 194). Previous researchers have developed experiential games to teach subjects including production and operations management, project management, and SCM (Fish, ; Hoogeweegen et al., ; Heriot et al., ; Kolenko, ; Klotz, ; Piercy, ; Umble, Umble, & Artz, ; Visich, Gu, & Khumawala, ). The SC‐Mark experiential lab game adds to the body of literature on interdisciplinary learning, experiential gaming, and simulation.…”