Case Study: Teaching economics to MBA Students

The fifth and final point on my list of "small matters" concerns how you deal with student enquiries. Although, once again, it may seem a small point, it is hard to overestimate how much this matters to MBA students.
Let us focus on enquiries in class. MBA teaching must be more interactive than most other types of teaching. MBA students expect to have the opportunity to interact with lecturers, and with each other, in class. It has a pedagogic role, of course, but is even more important as a signal that you are responsive to their views and questions.
Some MBA students say in their feedback that lecturers should be much tougher on those who ask stupid questions or give stupid answers. This will always be a matter of personal style and preference, but my view is that such toughness can be dangerous. It is well known that Keynes' practice was to be rather gentle with students when they made foolish remarks, even if he was quite intolerant of stupidity from his colleagues. I believe that is a very sound strategy for dealing with MBA students, at any rate.
MBA students tend to be hugely impressed if you remember questions raised in one session and then come back a few lectures later and say, "as that student said in lecture 2." Does this sort of thing really matter? Yes, I think it does. It is all a part of the strategy of keeping within the "good will threshold". If you can do that, then you have a far better chance of persuading them to engage with your subject matter.
Economics within the MBA CurriculumThere is a perception in many business schools that MBA students do not want to learn about economics, and especially not micro! Sometimes this perception originates with colleagues in other fields and disciplines, rather than with the students themselves. It is true that MBA students are usually cautious at the start, and wonder why they are expected to study economics on top of everything else. A key part of the economist's strategy must be to show them very early on how economic concepts provide powerful tools to understand everyday business issues. While some MBA students will never be persuaded, I think that it should almost always be possible to overcome the initial skepticism in the class.
Moreover, several MBA students have told me that they appreciate the substance - and even the rigour - which is missing on some other courses on the MBA. The key here is to make the rigour work for you and not against you, and there is a very fundamental asymmetry in how the MBA student perceives rigour. When rigour is combined with relevance, that enhances the attraction of economics over some other fields and disciplines. But when rigour seems to be combined with irrelevance, then that just makes things worse. This relates to my earlier point about intellectual modesty. In short, rigour enhances relevance but exacerbates irrelevance.
A good strategy in teaching economics to MBA students is to show them that economics underpins many of the other fields on the curriculum - such as strategy, marketing, finance, etc. (note 3) In general this is something that we must do ourselves, because our colleagues in other fields are unlikely to make the point on our behalf. But to do this requires that one knows some marketing and strategy (and other fields), and is familiar with some of their key references. It is difficult to overstate the importance of this. MBA students sometimes wonder why they are expected to cover so many different fields when many of their teachers are only familiar with one field. There are high dividends to be gained from showing the class some of the linkages between fields and disciplines. Last year, one student said to me after studying economics and several related fields, "now I see economics in everything." It is easier to show these linkages in a convincing manner if you maintain a good dialogue with cognate disciplines and fields - and this has some implications about the sorts of economists who may flourish in business schools, which we return to at the end.