Valuable Learning Experience. The Structured

¶ … valuable learning experience. The structured methodology allowed us to gain a strong sense of the position the business was in. From this, our strategy came much more easily and was a better strategy overall. Incorporating strategic goals into our marketing strategy was one of the greatest strengths of the model. Another key strength was the use of teamwork. Working in teams can be difficult at times, but ultimately you must find ways to break down communication barriers and align all the team members to the common goal. This is a valuable managerial skill that came out of this module.

We found, however, that the module also had some weaknesses. It seems that there may be times when using such a rigid structure is difficult. This is especially true with a creative discipline such as marketing. Use of such well-structured tools may at time inhibit thinking outside the box. Another weakness is that perhaps the module did not provide adequate opportunity to explore the full complexity of the issue. It set up action based on strategy, but failed to provide tools for more in-depth exploration on topics such as the root causes of action. Ideally, a learning module would get us to the point where our conclusions are based on true insight rather than application of basic theory.

To maximize the strengths more emphasis can be placed on the front end of the module, evaluating the company. The more that can be understood with regards to their objectives, in particular with regards to the products in question, the stronger the outcomes will be. We found that our teamwork was better once we had a more clear understanding of what we hoped to accomplish with the project. There was a point in the beginning, however, when that clarity appeared impossible to come by. If more understanding about the company is at the outset, the team may have gelled a little bit sooner, because we would have understood the firm's objectives a little bit sooner. The more sense of where the company is and where it wants to go that can be instilled early on, the more the value of the teamwork can be leveraged.

In terms of addressing the weaknesses, perhaps it would be beneficial to allow students to stray from the structure, just to get a feel for two things. One, what the students are capable of accomplishing on their own. The other is the value of the structure itself. I feel that it is very important to encourage creative, critical thinking and sometimes overreliance on following structure discourages this. That creativity and critical thinking may also result in more in-depth exploration of certain aspects of the case as well.

The team did not function well initially. There were some problems with regards to communications and role assignments. Some members seemed unclear on what the expectations of the assignment were going to be, or unwilling to take equal part in achieving those expectations. The team came together eventually, when after some discussion we were able to paint a more clear picture with regards to the assignment, the company and what sort of outcomes we were attempting to create.