Concrescent Conversation as a Group Communication Tool in a Chinese University MBA Course

Abstract

In order to be more competitive in the global marketplace, China has adopted a long-term plan to reform their higher education system. One specific aim of this plan is to facilitate the achievement of China’s goal of building a world-class market-driven economy through the development of an adequate supply of MBA-trained professional managers to lead their organizations. This case study presents an exploratory and descriptive research approach to assess the effects of an instructional delivery scenario in which concrescent conversation was used as a communication tool to create a cooperative learning setting in a mainland Chinese MBA course. The Index of Learning Styles (ILS) model was used to determine the learning style preference of the Chinese students. The study also investigated the relation between a student’s preferred learning style with gender and major (business, engineering, math, and science). Sensing-intuitive was the only ILS subscale with a significant difference across gender and major. Females exhibited a moderate preference for sensing learning while males exhibited a mild preference for sensing learning. Among majors, only business and engineering were significantly different from each other. Business majors tended to prefer the moderate sensing learning style and engineering majors indicated a preference for mild sequential learning style. Contrary to the literature on learning style differences attributed to specific cultural orientation, additional observations and results revealed that the Chinese MBA students accepted the instructional delivery scenario in which concrescent conversation was used to implement a student-centered learning setting.

Keywords:

• Cooperative learning
• Student learning styles
• Chinese MBA education
• Instructional design
• Concrescent conversation

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Obasi Haki Akan

Obasi Haki Akan has 30 years of experience in personnel management with Federal Government agencies including: The Federal Reserve System, Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He earned a PhD in Organizational Behavior and MS in Organizational Development from Case Western Reserve University, BA from Howard University, and was an MIT/Harvard Sloan-Ford Foundation Fellow.

Hayward Andres

Hayward Andres is currently an Associate Professor of Management Information Systems in the Department of Management at North Carolina A&T State University. He received his undergraduate degree for Southern University in New Orleans. He earned his PhD in Management Information Systems at Florida State University. His current research focuses on cognitive and social aspects of learning, technology-mediated collaboration, team-based problem solving, enterprise systems, knowledge management, and project management. His research has been published in the Journal of Management Information Systems, Information Resources Management Journal, Journal of End User Computing, International Journal of e-Collaboration, International Journal of Knowledge Management, International Journal of Information Technology Project Management, Journal of Information Systems Education, Journal of Educational Technology Systems, Journal of Managerial Psychology, and Team Performance Management.

Barbara C. Medley

Barbara C. Medley (Deceased) was an associate professor of sociology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and director of the Center for Applied Social Reserach.