دانلود رایگان مقاله استفاده از مذاکره اطلاعاتی برای درک بینش حرفه ای یک مدیر

abstract

An informational interview, also known as the exploratory meeting or networking interview,“is a chance to pick someone's brain about a profession, business, or industry”(Decarie, 2010, p. 306). The purpose of the study was to explore whether, when modified,this assignment could benefit second-year management education students in understandingof the profession of a manager. This assignment provides students an opportunityto interact with a professional in a business setting on a variety of topics that help studentsunderstand what it is like to work in this industry, type of company, or a position. Whileinformational interviews have been used in communication courses in management educationprograms, nothing is known about the use or usefulness of this assignment inother management courses. One hundred eleven students in a human resource managementcourse were asked to complete a modified version of the informational interviewassignment. Data were collected using a survey from 89 students. The results show thatoverall students learned more about the profession of a manager and got an insight intocareers in the chosen industries and companies. Implications for teaching are providedalong with the discussion of each main result.

6. Conclusion

The informational interview is a well-known training and development technique and an assignment usually taught in communication courses at the undergraduate level. However, this assignment could be a great addition to other courses in undergraduate management programs when students have little experience with organizations and management and could benefit from a purposeful conversation with a successful professional. Colleges of business and management have been criticized for inadequate preparation of students for their future careers in the field (Thomas, Lorange, & Sheth, 2013). The assignment could also help them explore a possible career path and identify areas for their own professional development. The assignment should follow the general basic guideline (e.g., Croft, 1995; Crosby, 2002; Decarie, 2010); however, the instructor could make changes in many aspects of the assignment depending on the course and the goal of the assignment. Finally, as reported by others (e.g., Mulvaney, 2003), the students in this research found the assignment enjoyable and useful. The assignment often “turns into one of the most important activities, if not the most important activity, they do throughout the course” (Decarie, 2010, p. 308). In the future, it would be interesting to know how other instructors teaching in undergraduate management or business programs modify the informational interview to help students better understand the course and what aspects of the modified assignment receive positive feedback from students.