MBA Course Adapted from TV Show by MGSM: MBA News

By Tim Dhoul Updated Feb 26, 2015

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Introduction
Macquarie Graduate School of Management partners with XVenture

MGSM MBA course takes inspiration from TV show

Sydney’s Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM) has taken inspiration from a TV show that pitted teams against each other in a series of mental, physical and emotional challenges to create a new MBA course offering.

‘Leadership & Teams in Action’ is to be an elective experiential learning course designed to take MGSM MBAs out of their comfort zone by means of a two-day field trip full of practical exercises, supplemented by a roster of online mini lectures.

Working together as teams, students will tackle topics ranging from leadership theories and philosophy to risk management and emotional intelligence.

MGSM dean, Alex Frino, described the elective as, “a blend of challenges reflecting contemporary business as well as an understanding of reflective learning practice – something which is often lacking in MBA studies,” adding that it “gives every participant the opportunity to work on their own development in a unique team environment.”

Macquarie Graduate School of Management partners with XVenture

The new MBA course offering sees Macquarie Graduate School of Management partner with the group behind the XVenture Corporate Challenge television series, which aired in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region in 2011. The series, which saw XVenture stage a competition between teams representing 14 Australian companies, aimed to emphasize that an organization’s success lies with its people.

This televisual theme will continue when the MBA course gets underway in April, as students will be filmed so that footage of their efforts can be used for learning purposes both during and after the trip. XVenture’s CEO and creator of the TV series, Mike Conway, has been appointed as an adjunct professor for MGSM to lead the elective.

The school points to the uniqueness of its new MBA course offering as it seeks to look at new ways to engage its students, yet some parallels can be drawn between MGSM’s active approach and those of institutions in North America who call on military-style training camps to give their MBAs a boost in the leadership development department. What these initiatives have in common is a desire to offer MBAs the chance to venture (or should that be ‘XVenture’?) into unfamiliar terrain as they seek to build and develop their skillsets.

Take a look at the following excerpt from a video released by Macquarie Graduate School of Management:

Written by

Tim Dhoul

Tim is a writer with a background in consumer journalism and charity communications. He trained as a journalist in the UK and holds degrees in history (BA) and Latin American studies (MA).