PRODUCTION/OPERATIONS MANAGEMENTKEONG LEONG, Feature Editor, Fisher
College of Business, SO YOU WANT TO BE A PROFESSOR?by Chan K. Hahn, Bowling Green State University Over the years, I have had many opportunities to meet and interact with aspiring doctoral students and faculty members at various conferences as well as in recruiting interviews. I have enjoyed the experience a great deal. However, one of the most disappointing impressions I get from this experience is the general negative attitude toward teaching. Many paint teaching as a necessary evil or a nuisance to a productive professional career. I rarely hear about one's philosophy or vision of becoming an excellent teaching professor, or about the desire to nurture and prepare doctoral students to become a better teaching professor. In recent years, the public has demanded more and better teaching performance from universities. Moreover, business schools throughout the country are faced with drastically reduced student interest. It is time to reexamine the proper role of a teaching professor. Let us revisit the basic objectives of university teaching and the central role and responsibilities of teaching faculty. A typical mission statement of a modern American university is organized around three aspects of academic activities: transmitting knowledge to students through teaching activities, creating knowledge through research activities, and applying knowledge through community services. Nevertheless, many universities, particularly large universities with doctoral programs, have shown a tendency to over-emphasize one activityþresearchþ over the other two activities. This emphasis on research in modern universities, captured in the infamous phrase "Publish or Perish," contributes heavily to a mistaken notion that teaching is not important. I do recognize that teaching is probably the most complex and difficult task to be performed by any faculty member--it involves constant interactions with young and uncultivated minds. Because teaching entails complexity and dynamism, it is extremely difficult to do it well. Perhaps that is why most doctoral schools do not offer formal courses in teaching. Yet, teaching, in my opinion, is the central and most critical mission of a university. Historically, the contemporary university evolved from schools known as Studia Generalia in medieval European cities. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the term university referred to societies or guilds of foreign scholars from all over Europe who were engaged in the teaching of students without any permanent buildings or properties. Students were free to move around and choose the university of their choice. It was said that Cambridge University was formed in 1209 by dissatisfied students from Oxford University, and later Oxford benefited from students who migrated from Paris. Even in those days, universities apparently had to compete fiercely for their students, and teaching was the central and most critical part in the competition. The primary objectives of teaching are to provide students with a broad base of knowledge that will become the foundation for their thought process and understanding, and to guide them in acquiring necessary skills needed to apply their knowledge and understanding in practical situations. It also involves helping students to shape their own value systems and discipline which will guide their actions throughout their lives. Good teaching involves bringing all these aspects together and delivering them effectively. In this process, the primary role of a professor is to motivate students to learn and help them realize their fullest potential by setting a high standard which is simultaneously fair and reasonable. A professor should provide maximum assistance to students for true learning by relating abstract theories to the reality surrounding them. In order to carry out this seemingly abstract yet critical task, a professor must first understand and be dedicated to the fundamental objectives of university teaching and must prepare him/herself for the role. Over the years, I have had the good fortune to meet many excellent teaching professors and have learned about the critical roles of teaching professor from them. I would like to share with you some of the more specific thoughts gathered from that experience. First, a professor must develop an enthusiastic attitude toward teaching and the subject matter that is being taught. This enthusiasm must be translated into a learning environment in which intellectual curiosity and desire for self learning can take place freely. Without this positive attitude, classroom experience becomes boring and mechanistic for both students and instructors. It turns into an endurance contest. Second, a professor must master the up-to-date knowledge of the subject matter. This involves continuous learning through professional development and research activities. Any professor who is not engaged in these learning activities will quickly be outdated and outmoded in the dynamic environment of academia. Third, a professor must develop a sincere concern for all students' learning and development. This involves recognizing individual differences among students in ability and motivation, and stimulating them to realize their fullest individual potential. This involves, on the part of the professor, developing a sense of fairness and genuine interest in the long-term welfare of students. Inevitably, this sincere concern for the students will be translated into a strong moral character which can be a good positive role model for many students. I acknowledge that the path to becoming a good teaching professor is not an easy one to tread. It can be, however, made easier by concentrating on the excitement of being part of the cultivating process in which the unsophisticated becomes the sophisticated and the undisciplined becomes the disciplined. It is made easier by recalling that teaching creates value for the society. Universities can also assist in this process by recognizing their responsibility to produce good classroom teachers as well as good researchers.
CHAN K. HAHN is NAPM Professor, Owens-Illinois Professor, and Distinguished University Professor of Management at Bowling Green State University. He teaches in the areas of Purchasing/Materials Management, Production Planning/Control, and Manufacturing/Materials Strategy. He has published many research articles in various journals. He also has been an active member of many professional and scholarly organizations including NAPM and the Toledo Chapter of APICS. His past and present leadership positions include associate editor, Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management, vice president of the Decision Sciences Institute, and Production/Operations Management Division chair of the Academy of Management. He is a past president of the Midwest Decision Sciences Institute. He received his M.B.A. and Ph.D. from The Ohio State University.
Dr. G. Keong Leong
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