The Efficiency Challenge: Creating a Transformative Learning Experience in a Principles of Management Course

Abstract

This article describes the results of the “Efficiency Challenge,” a 10-week, Principles of Management course activity that uses reflection and goal setting to help students understand the concept of operational efficiency. With transformative learning theory as a lens, we base our report on 4 years’ worth of student reflections regarding their experiences and the evolution of the activity. The students report identifying explicit behaviors and uncovering implicit, unconscious aspects of those behaviors that they then have the opportunity to evaluate and change, if desired. We have also learned that a traditionally mechanistic, linear, causal, and rational approach can be transformed into a more holistic one by systematically introducing new experiences into the learning cycle, especially the link between student-learning-through-experience and empowerment. The goal of this article is twofold: explore the application of transformative learning activities in the classroom and provide a “road map” for instructors who opt to use an activity such as the Efficiency Challenge.