This Course at MIT

This Course at MIT pages are part of the OCW Educator initiative, which seeks to enhance the value of OCW for educators.

Course Overview

This page focuses on the course ESD.S51 Systems Leadership and Management Praxis as it was taught by Michael Davies in Summer 2014.

SL&M (Systems Leadership and Management) Praxis is a course designed to introduce students to the dynamics of strategic decision making in corporate boardrooms through team exercises, simulations, and role playing. The case studies and team exercises introduce students to strategy choices in the high tech sector, but these learnings are just as valid in other industries. Invited guest speakers from the industry who have lived through difficult corporate situations provide insights into the cases discussed in class.

Course Outcomes

Course Goals for Students

  • Learn how senior leadership teams in technology businesses make decisions
  • Become highly effective at making decisions in teams under time pressure, with incomplete and ambiguous information, and in the context of significant uncertainty
 

Instructor Insights

At the beginning … it was very scary to teach through role-play and simulation, because I didn’t know how it was going to go. It’s not a didactic form of pedagogy. You really have to think on your feet.

—Michael Davies

In the following pages, Michael Davies describes various aspects of how he teaches ESD.S51 Systems Leadership and Management Praxis.

 

Curriculum Information

Prerequisites

Permission of instructor

Requirements Satisfied

None

Offered

ESD.S51 is typically offered during the summer session.

The Classroom

  • Office conference room with a large wooden table in the middle of the room. Fourteen black chairs on wheels arranged around the table. Windows on two walls. Potted small tree in the rear right hand corner of the room.

    Room 1 of 2 Click for next classroom.

    Seminar

    Class sessions were held in a Cambridge Innovation Center conference room.

  • Maclaurin Buildings (dome and pillars) as viewed from the lawn. Green grass. Five mature trees to the right of the dome and pillars.

    Click for previous classroom. Room 2 of 2

    Role Play

    Students enacted a role-play scenario in MIT’s Killian Court.

 

Assessment

Grading for this class is on a Pass/Fail basis. All individual and team assignments are graded on a Complete/Incomplete scale.

There are, however, also significant prizes for competitive performance in the online simulation exercises, based on objective performance criteria. The finale of the course is a scenario-based exercise, called “War Games.” In this exercise, students work together in small teams to take on real-world problems of today and the near future. Business leaders participate in this exercise and evaluate the performance of each team.

Student Information

Fewer than 10 students took this course when it was offered in Summer 2014.

Breakdown by Year

Graduate students

Breakdown by Major

Mostly students in the System Design & Management master’s program

Typical Student Background

Students have typically had experience as executive directors or vice presidents. They’ve had some exposure to top-level management decision-making, and have had trouble making sense of it.

 

How Student Time Was Spent

During an average week, students were expected to spend 12 hours on the course, roughly divided as follows:

In Class

3 hours per week
  • Met 1 time per week for 3 hours per session; 10 sessions total.
  • Teamwork, role-play, simulation
  • Debriefing, reflection
 

Out of Class

9 hours per week
  • Background research and preparation for role-play and simulation exercises
  • Individual and team preparation for class
 

Semester Breakdown

WEEK M T W Th F
1 Case study and teamwork sessions held. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
2 Case study and role play sessions scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
3 Teamwork session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
4 Teamwork session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No classes throughout MIT.
5 Simulation session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
6 Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
7 Writing session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
8 Class session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
9 Simulation session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
10 Class session scheduled; project presentations. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
11 No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT.
Displays the color and pattern used on the preceding table to indicate dates when classes are not held at MIT. No classes throughout MIT
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when teamwork sessions are held. Teamwork
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when simulation sessions are held. Simulation
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when writing sessions are held. Writing session
Displays the symbol used on the preceding table to indicate dates when role play sessions are held. Role play session
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when no class session is scheduled. No class session scheduled
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when class sessions are held. Class session
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when case study sessions are held. Case study
Displays the symbol used on the preceding table to indicate dates when project presentations are held. Project presentations