26 June 2023, Bengaluru: The Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) at IIM Bangalore hosted an online discussion titled ‘Use of Stories in Management Education’ on June 16 (Friday), 2023, as part of its Samiksha series of webinars.
The discussants were Prof. Kamal K Jain, Mentor & Coach to Dean (Academic), IIM Raipur, who joined as the Keynote Speaker, and Prof. Sushanta Kumar Mishra, Faculty of the Organizational Behavior & Human Resources Management area in IIM Bangalore and Chairperson of CDOCTA, Research & Publications, and CTL.
Prof. Kamal shared insights as to how an instructor can effectively use stories in the management context by tweaking or tailoring them to meet the learner’s requirement and keeping it simple. He incorporated a number of relevant videos in his presentation for better engagement with his audience. One of the crucial points to keep in mind, according to him, is the framing of language. He also drew attention to the use of multimedia, as it can be of great help when it comes to keeping up with learners of the current, fast-paced world.
Prof. Sushanta added constructive weight to the discourse by raising some intriguing and thought-provoking questions. One of his enquiries was regarding the application of stories to teach quant-based subjects in management. In response, Prof. Jain offered the suggestion of improvising a popular topic or story to fit into the context of the subject being taught. In his words:
The instructor must see if the case methodology and the story are complimenting each other. Stories are primarily driven by the instructor, whereas the very nature of a case study is that it has to be driven by the participants.
One of the key principles of storytelling in management studies, according to the Keynote Speaker, was to share only the parts that were necessary and leave the rest. He noted that improvision must be done in a way that induces a healthy debate or discussion among students. This can help bring up diverse perspectives on the same topic and enhance the process of learning.
Towards the end of the session, Prof. Kamal recommended the book Stories for Work: The Essentials Guide to Business Storytelling by Gabrielle Dolan as a resource to further explore business storytelling.
Prof. Sushanta concluded the session by delivering a vote of thanks and emphasized the beauty of communicating management concepts through storytelling.
Watch the discussion here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWyYr_k0QCY