Using hackathons to teach management consulting

ABSTRACT

In the current article, the already existing process of hackathons was used to teach management or organisational consulting. Two separate events were conducted with dozens of students working in teams for twelve straight hours to solve real organisational challenges. Results from post-event surveys indicate that participants − students, faculty, industry mentors and company representatives – were highly satisfied with these intense experiential learning events, both due to their educational value and the contribution of the solutions for the organisations if further developed.

KEYWORDS:

• Experiential learning
• students’ motivation
• consulting
• innovation
• hackathons

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the following: Bank Leumi’s innovation unit for their generous support and sponsorship of the hackathon events and this research; Mrs. Dana Barda, Ms Tair Shcur, and Ms Yam Piudik for their help in producing and running the events; and - Mrs. Sandra Segal for her assistance in preparing this article for publication.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yossi Maaravi

Dr. Yossi Maaravi is the Vice Dean of the Adelson School of Entrepreneurship at the IDC – Israel’s most prestigious private university. Dr. Maaravi has more than 20 years of experience in teaching and training students and managers from across the globe, as well as vast field experience both as an entrepreneur and as a management consultant. Yossi’s research focuses on behavioral decision-making, negotiation and creativity.