Undergraduate business students in North America are often unfamiliar with the labor organizing process and frequently fail to identify with the reasons why workers join unions. This article suggests a discussion exercise based on the 1979 film, Norma Rae, by 20th Century Fox, as an effective tool for familiarizing students with fundamental topics in labor relations such as the union organizing process, union avoidance strategies, and unfair labor practices. In addition, the film and the discussion-based exercise can be used to help students further explore the sources of individual attitudes toward unions, union instrumentality perceptions, union voting intentions, and contemporary issues in private sector labor relations. Collected data show positive responses from students who viewed the movie and participated in the discussion-based exercise. Suggestions are offered for using the film and the discussion-based exercise in the classroom to engage students in the study of labor relations.
Teaching leadership can be challenging with all the theories and models of leadership available to professors today. This paper suggests the film Facing the Giants (2006) as an effective way to introduce management students to the study of leadership. A leadership model is introduced to participants and then a movie is shown in its entirety. When the film is over, a discussion-learning session is conducted. The discussion-learning approach is used to help students discover the application of a leadership model coupled with the rationale of analyzing leadership styles used in the film. The article begins with a general discussion of the use of film in management education, introduces a method of application of leadership theory, and explores various scenes and how the leadership model can be applied to the scenes in the film. Then, discussion questions for spirituality and leadership are provided to help facilitate discussion-learning after the movie is shown. In addition to the discussion format, students complete a questionnaire after watching the movie and engage in the open-ended discussion. This article presents both the discussion questions and the survey questions that will be used in the research. The pilot study indicated that students found the movie to be entertaining and an enjoyable experience. Participants also provided feedback that showed a perceived application of the leadership model and how to apply the model in the workplace.
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