ACTIVE

LEARNING
PROJECTS
to accompany

MANAGEMENT
Thirteenth edition
John R. Schermerhorn, Jr.
Daniel Bachrach

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INTRODUCTION
These Active Learning Projects include suggestions for student projects (individual or group),
including management in popular culture and service learning.

PROJECT 1
Diversity LessonsWhat Have We Learned?
QUESTION
What are the current facts in terms of progress for minorities and women in the
workplace? What lessons of diversity have been learned? What are the best employers
doing?

Possible Research Directions:

Examine case studies of employers reported as having strong diversity programs.

What do they have in common? What do they do differently?
Find out what we know about how well people of different racial, ethnic, gender, lifestyle, and generational groups work together. What are the common problems, if
any? What concerns do managers and workers have?
Get specific data on how the glass ceiling affects the careers of women and
minorities in various occupational settings. Analyze the data and develop the
implications.
Take a critical look at the substance of diversity training programs. What do these
programs try to accomplish, and how? Are they working or not, and how do we
know?

PROJECT 2
Corporate Social ResponsibilityWhats the Status?
QUESTION
Where do businesses stand today with respect to the criteria for evaluating social
responsibility discussed in the textbook?

Possible Research Directions

Create a scale that could be used to measure the social responsibility performance of
an organization. Review the scholarly research in this area, but also include your own
ideas and expectations.

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Use your scale to research and evaluate the status of major organizations and local
ones on social responsibility performance. How well are they doing? Would you use
them as models of social responsibility for others to follow, or not?
Conduct research to identify current examples of the best and the worst
organizations in terms of performance or social responsibility criteria. Pursue this
investigation on an (a) international, (b) national, and/or (c) local scale.

PROJECT 3
GlobalizationWhat Are the Pros and Cons?
QUESTION
Globalization is frequently in the news. You can easily read or listen to both advocates
and opponents. What is the bottom line? Is globalization good or bad, and for whom?

Possible Research Directions

What does the term globalization mean? Review various definitions and find the
common ground.
Read and study the scholarly arguments about globalization. Summarize what the
scholars say about the forces and consequences of globalization in the past, present,
and future.
Examine current events relating to globalization. Summarize the issues and
arguments. What is the positive side of globalization? What are the negatives that
some might call its dark side?
Consider globalization from the perspective of your local community or one of its
major employers. Is globalization a threat or an opportunity, and why?
Take a position on globalization. State what you believe to be the best course for
government and business leaders to take. Justify your position.

PROJECT 4
Affirmative Action DirectionsWhere Do We Go from Here?
QUESTION
Consultant R. Roosevelt Thomas argues that it is time to move beyond affirmative
action and learn how to manage diversity. There are a lot of issues that may be raised
in this contextissues of equal employment opportunity, hiring quotas, reverse
discrimination, and others. What is the status of affirmative action today?

Possible Research Directions

Read articles by Thomas and others. Make sure you are clear on the term affirmative
action and its legal underpinnings. Research the topic, identify the relevant laws,
and make a history line to chart its development over time.

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Examine current debates on affirmative action. What are the issues? How are the
for and against positions being argued?
Identify legal cases where reverse discrimination has been charged. How have they
been resolved and with what apparent human resource management implications?
Look at actual organizational policies on affirmative action. Analyze them and
identify the common ground. Prepare a policy development guideline for use by
human resource managers.
As you ponder these issues and controversies be sure to engage different
perspectives. Talk to and read about people of different majority and minority
groups. Find out how they view these thingsand why.

PROJECT 5
Fringe BenefitsHow Can They Be Managed
QUESTION
Employers complain that the rising cost of fringe benefits is a major concern. Is this
concern legitimate? If so, how can fringe benefits best be managed?

Possible Research Directions

Find out exactly what constitutes fringe benefits as part of the typical
compensation package. Look in the literature and also talk to local employers. Find
out what percentage of a typical salary is represented in fringe benefits.
Find and interview two or three human resource managers in your community. Ask
them to describe their fringe benefits programs and how they manage fringe benefits
costs. What do they see happening in the future? What do they recommend? Talk to
two or three workers from different employers in your community. Find out how
things look to them and what they recommend.
Pick a specific benefit such as health insurance. What are the facts? How are
employers trying to manage the rising cost of health insurance? What are the
implications for workers?
Examine the union positions on fringe benefits. How is this issue reflected in major
labor negotiations? What are the results of major recent negotiations?
Look at fringe benefits from the perspective of temporary, part-time, or contingent
workers. What do they get? What do they want? How are they affected by rising
costs?

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PROJECT 6
CEO PayIs It Too High?
QUESTION
What is happening in the area of executive compensation? Are CEOs paid too much? Are
they paid for performance, or are they paid for something else?

Possible Research Directions

Check the latest reports on CEO pay. Get the facts and prepare a briefing report as if
you were writing a short informative article for Fortune magazine. The title of your
article should be Status Report: Where We Stand Today on CEO Pay.
Address the pay-for-performance issue. Do corporate CEOs get paid for performance
or for something else? What do the researchers say? What do the business periodicals
say? Find some examples to explain and defend your answers to these questions.
Take a position: Should a limit be set on CEO pay? If no, why not? If yes, what type
of limit do we set? Who, if anyone, should set these limitsCongress, company
boards of directors, or someone else?
Examine the same issues in the university setting. Are university presidents paid too
much?

PROJECT 7
Gender and LeadershipIs There a Difference?
QUESTION
Do men and women lead differently?

Possible Research Directions

Review the discussion on gender and leadership in the textbook, Chapter 14. Find
and read the articles cited in the endnotes. Then, update this literature by finding and
reading the most recent scholarly findings and reports.
Interview managers from organizations in your local community. Ask them the
question. Ask them to give you specific examples to justify their answers. Look for
patterns and differences. Do male managers and female managers answer the
question similarly?
Interview workers from organizations in your local community. Ask them the
question. Ask them to give you specific examples to justify their answers. Look for
patterns and differences. Do male workers and female workers answer the question
similarly? Do the same for studentspressing them to share insights and examples
from their experiences in course study groups and student organizations.
Summarize your findings. Describe the implications of your findings in terms of
leadership development for both men and women.

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PROJECT 8
Superstars on the TeamWhat Do They Mean?
QUESTION
Do we want a superstar on our team?

Possible Research Directions

Everywhere you lookin entertainment, in sports, and in businessa lot of attention

these days goes to the superstars. What is the record of teams and groups with
superstars? Do they really outperform the rest?
What is the real impact of a superstars presence on a team or in the workplace?
What do they add? What do they cost? Consider the potential costs of having a
superstar on a team in the equation: Benefits - Costs = Value. What is the bottom line
of having a superstar on the team?
Interview the athletic coaches on your campus. Ask them the question. Compare and
contrast their answers. Interview players from various teams. Do the same for them.
Develop a set of guidelines for creating team effectiveness for a situation where a
superstar is present. Be thorough and practical. Can you give advice good enough to
ensure that a superstar always creates super performance for the team or work group
or organization?

PROJECT 9
Management in Popular CultureSeeing Ourselves through Our
Pastimes
QUESTION
What management insights are found in popular culture and reflected in our everyday
living?

Possible Research Directions

Listen to music. Pick out themes that reflect important management concepts and
theories. Put them together in a multi-media report that presents your music choices and
describes their messages about management and working today.
Watch television. Look again for the management themes. In a report, describe what
popular television programs have to say about management and working. Also consider
TV advertisements. How do they use and present workplace themes to help communicate
their messages?
Read the comics, also looking for management themes. Compare and contrast
management and working in two or three popular comic strips.
Read a best-selling novel. Find examples of management and work themes in the novel.
Report on what the authors characters and their experiences say about people at work.

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Watch a film or video. Again, find examples of management and work themes. In a
report describe the message of the movie in respect to management and work today.

Note: These ideas are borrowed from the extensive work in this area by my colleague Dr. Robert (Lenie)
Holbrook of Ohio University.

PROJECT 10
Service Learning in ManagementLearning from Volunteering
QUESTION
What can you learn about management and leadership by working as a volunteer for a
local community organization?

Possible Research Directions

Explore service learning opportunities on your campus. Talk to your instructor about how
to add a service learning component to your management course.
List the nonprofit organizations in your community that might benefit from volunteers.
Contact one or more of them and make inquiries as to how you might help them. Do it,
and then report back on what you learned as a result of the experience that is relevant to
management and leadership.
Locate the primary schools in your community or region. Contact the school principals
and ask how you might be able to help teachers working with first- through sixth-grade
students. Do it, and then report back on what you learned with respect to personal
management and leadership development.
For either the nonprofit organization or the primary school, form a group of students who
share similar interests in service learning. Volunteer as a group to help the organization
and prepare a team report on what you learned.
Take the initiative. Create service learning ideas of your ownto be pursued individually
or as part of a team. While working as a volunteer always keep your eyes and ears open
for learning opportunities. Continually askWhat is happening here in respect to:
leadership, morale, motivation, teamwork, conflict, interpersonal dynamics, organization
culture and structures, and more?

Copyright 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.