which exist between the business form and the method of financing. For example, debates occurred regarding
whether the financial contributions should be accepted within the context of a partnership or corporate business
form. After carefully reviewing both the text and supplementary readings, the students decided that neither the
partnership nor the corporate form was applicable to their organizational needs. Accordingly, they created a
special organizational arrangement in which group members received a pre-determined number of points for
both time and money invested. This organizational form was perhaps most like a cooperative. Total points
varned at the close of the project were then used for the assignment of scholarship monies to each participant.
Since puitits were earned based upon time as well as money invested, the students were able to understand how
personnel management is intimately linked with all of the other phases of business management. Additionally,
the students were able to “learn” business.

Although classes began in late January, Donuts Galore was able to open its doors on March 19, 1984. The
students took the first several weeks to write their business plan, get the necessary permits, set up an account-
ing, system, write job descriptions, and plan all phases of their marketing strategy. Their profit objective was
that of earning $1,000.00 by May 4, 1984. They successfully met this financial goal. Although obstacles were en-
countered and experiences were shared for which textbooks could not adequately prepare them, all of the stu-
dents evaluated the experiment as an excellent learning experience.

While this experiment provided opportunities for students to do reality-testing, it also created certain prob-
lems. First, the project tended to create so much excitement among the participants that some students began
investing too much of their limited time in the project-related activities. (Several of the students were counseled
about their poor performance on quizzes and other “textbook” evaluations.) Second, the net effect of the pro-
ject, on almost one-half of the students, was that of creating an over-reliance upon practice and an underestima-
tion of the importance of theory. Third, the project created certain administrative problems with accurately as-
sessing and assigning grades to students’ performance. Although each student was required to maintain a de-
tailed log documenting his/her contribution to the business and the log was checked against the performance ap-
praisals of the group’s personnel manager, discrepancies still appeared.

In order to formally evaluate this experiment, five open-ended questions were formulated, asking the stu-
dent to respond to the project in terms of its strengths and weaknesses. As previously mentioned, while all stu-
dents described the project as an excellent learning experience, two major areas for possible revision were identi-
fied. First, the instructor’s role in the initial project was that of “business consultant’; thus, the instructor did
not attend company meetings without invitation and did not make decisions for the business. Rather, alterna-
tive courses of action were brought to the attention of the project managers. [In the classroom, however,
Donuts Galore activities were used as a case study as new concepts were introduced.] Almost half of the stu- —
dents involved in the project felt that a major weakness was the relatively passive role played by the instructor;
in contrast, the other half saw the instructor's posture as a vote of confidence. Second, several students voiced
the objection that the students/managers tended to assume an autocratic management style. Resentments grow-
ing, out of this perception tended to create disharmony occasionally within the classroom.

All outcomes considered, this experiment served as an important step in introducing business realism to
the sometimes surrealistic classroom experiences.

Betty Watson
Howard Community College

For further information, contact the author at Howard Community College, Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia,
MD 21044.

 

 

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor
October 12, 1984, Vol. VI, No. 27

INNOVATION ABSTRACTS is a publication of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, EDB 348, The University of Texas at Austin,
Austin, Texas /8712, (512) 471-7545. Subscriptions are available to monconsortium members for $35 per year. Funding in part by the W. K. Kellogg
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Further duplication is permitted only by MEMBER institutions for their own personnel. ISSN 0199-106X