Professors Release Textbook with a New Management Approach

Newswise — This generation of students and future business leaders is asking for a business education that thoughtfully considers issues of environmental sensitivity, employee well-being, social justice, and sustainability. In response, Baylor University Professor Dr. Mitchell Neubert and University of Manitoba Professor Dr. Bruno Dyck have delivered a compelling and revolutionary management textbook "Management: Current Practices and New Directions."

This new textbook is unlike any other currently on the market. It includes the traditional view of management, or "Mainstream management," which focuses on the bottom line of maximizing productivity, profitability and competitiveness. But it also introduces a new style of management called "Multistream management," which is becoming increasingly evident among vanguard award-winning practitioners who have an eye to things like sustainability and social justice. This form of management teaches students "to think of management in such a way that you consider multiple stakeholders, such as employees, customers, stockholders, the community, and environment, and multiple forms of well-being, which includes but is not exclusively focused on profitability," Neubert said.

While the book does introduce a new approach to management, it also includes an in-depth explanation of the traditional or "Mainstream" approach to management and is organized around the classic functions of management: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Vivid and compelling examples are offered for both perspectives, offering students the opportunity to exercise critical thinking skills in deciding how to live out their values in the context of both for-profit and non-profit organizations. In their own class testing, the authors have found that students have responded enthusiastically to unique examples such as firsthand accounts of working in a garment factory in the Philippines, and to descriptions of companies like Semco where workers choose their own hours, their own salaries, and their own managers.

Dyck points out that teaching the new "Multistream approach" alongside the traditional approach actually helps students to understand the traditional approach better. "Just like learning two languages helps you speak the first language better, so also learning two approaches to management gives students a richer understanding of each approach and also of management in general," he said. "Students have not complained about it (learning two forms of management) being too tough, but students have complained about teaching only two approaches to management!"

While educating students on the fundamentals of management, Neubert said he also hopes the text encourages the development of integrity as the text challenges students to "consider the values inherent in management practice and commit to living out their own values as managers." Neubert also said that the approach of exploring two approaches to management helps open students' minds to be creative and come up even more innovative ways of managing.

Professors from across the country are already raving about this new approach to teaching management. "It is a unique book, bringing in a fresh approach to Management thought, and incorporating a traditional approach, contemporary views, and practical applications," Peter Antoniou, of California State University, San Marcos campus said. Many professors are also excited by the timeliness and applicability of the text; "this text brings my classroom and students into the 21st century," Dr. Bruce Charnov of Hofstra University said.

About the Authors

Dr. Bruno Dyck is a professor at the University of Manitoba where he teaches in the I.H. Asper School of Business. He has been published in scholarly journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Review, Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, and Journal of Management Studies. Dyck received his Ph.D. in Business for the University of Alberta in 1991.

Dr. Mitchell Neubert is an associate professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas where he teaches in the Hankamer School of Business as the H.R. Gibson Professor of Management Development. He promotes virtue-based ethics and leadership in his classes and the community by serving on the board for the Better Business Bureau of Central Texas, the Academy of Leadership Development and Civic Engagement, and the Servant Leadership Institute of Central Texas. He also has been published in a variety of journals including Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Relations, Leadership Quarterly, Business Horizons, and Journal of Business Venturing. Neubert received his Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Iowa.