My Teaching Philosophy
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” (Aristotle)
My belief and enthusiasm for teaching is grounded in my passion for business and incorporates the encouragement of students to develop mastery, competency, knowledge generation techniques, research and deliberative skills with a special focus on content mastery and critical thinking. Exposing problem solving strategies and concepts that are at the heart of both academics and business and are strengthened with an appetite, enthusiasm, excitement and anticipation that provides the greatest successful business solutions.
My goal as a teacher/mentor is to provide a balanced environment that stimulates student development, high standards of excellence and pride in their efforts and accomplishments. The role of the instructor and the university requires constant self-evaluation and improvement while teaching in dimensions of student-teacher interaction. An additional goal I have for myself is to teach at the highest measure, exceeding the students and administrations expectations by providing exceptional value during the educational process helping my students and university to be the best that they can be.
My goals for students are intended to be clearly articulate, specific and go beyond the knowledge level, including skills, attitudes, career goals, etc. I would like for students to understand that the present and future highly competitive global market, is the accumulation of historic strategies, concepts and economics that provide a magnifying glass into why these theories have evolved into academic study.
Additionally, my goal for students is to enhance their academic program and process to include research, discussion, deliberation and critical thinking as to how these concepts and theories can be applied in real world situations as these new business leaders enter the market place. All aspects of the curriculum and communications will be in an atmosphere that enhances candid discussion and challenges students to cogitate what they study and what it means to them.
Methods I use to achieve these goals include challenging students through the use of case studies, current events examples, work groups, lectures, tutoring, interactive presentations and personal experience that represents applications of business concepts and theories. In today’s global commercial environment, communication skills, critical thinking and confidence are essential for students to develop, through an exciting scholastic experience provided by energetic and stimulating teachers.
An additional tool in teaching is student assessment. I believe in accurate, constructive, detailed, fair grading, and timely positive responsiveness which are paramount in student feedback, the developmental process and the overall educational experience. Students need to appreciate any differences between their expectations in feedback and actual feedback, to have confidence and grow, from the knowledge they seek and deserve. Assessment should be continuous and ongoing, not episodic. Plagiarism is not learning, in fact is damaging to the solid, ethical and productive advancement of knowledge and is assessed accordingly.
In summary, I am dedicated to providing a learning environment that is exciting, stimulating, energizing, rigorous, and challenging for students to obtain knowledge through participation. I encourage students to develop sound arguments for concepts and theories to foster their confidence and passion in their crusade for excellence.
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” (William Archer Ward)
My Research Philosophy
My research interest continues my Ph.D dissertation’s focus on the influence of cultural barriers to co-investment between Chinese and American commercial interests. These influences spark a range of reactions, from low end wars for market share, where consumers suffer, to top end loss of talent, where innovation is stifled. On either side the lack of mutuality results in a loss of any concept of shared value; cultural practices on both sides reinforce a gap in expectations regarding notions of equity, motivation, management, negotiations, and leadership.
Behavioral sciences are providing fresh and exciting insight into international management theory and practice. Classical approaches to policy, economics, finance, negotiations, and management are being reshaped by new thinking from behavioral science. In line with this research my area of application is on studying how Asian and American joint-ventures perform against key success factors.
My research plan over the next 2-5 years includes a focus on understanding how “Omni-channel” technologies and similar “flattening’s” in the age of globalization are influencing the structure (profitability), nature and style of deal formation. One hypothesis has been that the more “cloud” oriented (transparent) an enterprise or venture is, the less likely it is that traditional cultural biases will discount the value of any underlying deal to the interest of any particular party. The expansion of global brands provides litmus tests across Asia for studying how industries modernize and how perceptions of the underlying value of the industry change.
There is broad support for research in my areas of interest. Any numbers of grants from academic, philanthropic, governmental and other institutions are available for support of field initiatives I would plan to undertake with the involvement of students and peers. It is my aim to coordinate to the extent possible and desired, my work in the department with the work of colleagues. No doubt the combined talents of the core faculty may well represent a powerful source of ideas for collaborative research funding.
“Research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I’m doing.” (Wernher von Braun)
Steven J. Clarke Ph.D.