The Best MBA Faculty: Yale SOM & Virginia Darden

FINDING YOUR AUTHENTIC VOICE

At Virginia Darden, faculty applies the case method to stir critical thinking. Think of cases as true-life stories, ones that pose dilemmas and place students in the role of decision-maker. Trouble is, there are no right-or-wrong answers in cases – just better-or-worse. In preparing for case discussions, students evaluate the how-and-why, pit alternatives against tradeoffs, and weigh long-term strategy alongside short-term relief. In the process, they identify patterns and test underlying assumptions, with a backdrop that’s uncertain at best. In class, students advance solutions, facing questions designed to pick apart their arguments. Over two years, they develop a systematic and strategic approach to making conclusions and persuading peers.

Naturally, the case method is student-driven, with professors moving from the “sage on the stage” to the “facilitator on the floor.” The best part, says Sankaran Venkataraman, is that teaching cases is never cookie-cutter. Each professor approaches cases with a different style.

“The trick of the case method is that you have to find your own voice in the classroom and your own persona with the students,” he points out. “When you’re not authentic with your students, then you’re going to run into trouble. Sometimes, when younger faculty come in and attend other professors’ classes, they try to be those other people. It doesn’t work. It is a search-and-discovery and self-creation. It takes a couple of years to find your “voice” in the classroom.”

“HIGH TOUCH, HIGH TONE, HIGH OCTANE”

This authenticity, coupled with the case method, creates an engaging environment for students, says Venkataraman. He points to the previous dean, Bob Bruner, who called the Darden classroom, “High touch, high tone, high octane.” By this, he meant the levels of preparation and conversation at Darden are higher than students have ever experienced – as are the expectations of faculty and peers.

“There is a sense of high touch in the classroom; they are all engaged in this together and they rely on each other to have a productive learning experience,” explains Venkataraman. “It is high octane: the energy levels are high. The stakes are high because class participation is a significant part of the grade – 30% to 45%. When a group of 65 high achievers gets involved in a topic of importance, the intensity level cranks up.”

These electrifying classes aren’t the only perk to Darden faculty. Being a professor also confers a high social status, Venkataraman observes. “You are respected by the staff, colleagues, and students. You can walk with your head held high. That’s not necessarily the case in other schools where I’ve had experience. Sometimes, when you’re an exceptional teacher, senior faculty will come up and say, ‘Perhaps you’re not allocating your time optimally and should spend more time on other areas like research.’ You don’t have that here.”

Better yet, Darden students often act as the faculty’s biggest cheerleaders, even stepping up sometimes to ease the load. “It is a small community,” Venkataraman adds. “You get positive strokes. There is a self-selected set of people, faculty, and students, who value teaching here. So there is an intrinsic motivation. Teaching well is rewarding; you see students grow and develop in front of you. The students help faculty members a lot too. They are so supremely well-prepared that they do 50%-60% of the job for you. Even if you have a bad day in the classroom, they can carry the conversation forward.”

SOM FACULTY AND STUDENTS “IN SYNC”

You’ll find this same dynamic at Yale SOM. Like Darden, Yale earns high scores from students and alumni because they support the method and the mission. “Students who come to SOM know what they are going to get,” Edi Pinker stresses. “When the product is matching what the customer is looking for, you are more likely to get higher customer satisfaction. That’s true of all service businesses.”

It helps too that faculty buy into the school’s mission to “educate leaders for business and society.” It is a recipe that is embedded in every corner of every course. This faculty commitment quickly rubs off on students.

“The students have selected SOM because they believe in the mission,” Pinker affirms. “With the faculty committed, then you have the two sides of the classroom in sync in a very fundamental way. The students see the faculty are sharing these ideas because they think it is important to better understand how our society works and how business impacts society. Our faculty believes that students who excel at what we’re teaching them will have a more significant impact on society. The faculty is not just there to punch a clock. They think it is important to be doing the teaching that they are doing. That carries over to the student assessment of what is happening in the classroom.”

DIFFERENT PATHS, SAME ENDPOINT

Such ends can entail several different means. Like Darden, Yale SOM champions the case method…raw cases, that is. Rather than a traditional 15-20 page case, raw cases supply a simple narrative that is supplement by magazine articles, videos, interviews, corporate reports, and website links. In other words, students comb through a hodge-podge of raw sources that are often maddeningly inconsistent and incomplete – a true simulation of management decision-making. However, SOM doesn’t force a certain approach to faculty. Instead, the school has opted for a Darden-esque push for authenticity, as lectures, games, role plays, and simulations are part-and-parcel to the MBA experience.

“There are schools that are rigid about the teaching methods that they use,” Pinker admits. “We’re flexible and diverse there. Every subject and every individual has its uniqueness. If you want someone to be effective in the classroom, they should teach in the method that fits their personality and skills and the material that they are going to teach.”

This spirit is also an extension of the program being deeply student-centered. Pinker points to the design of Evans Hall, where professors’ offices and classrooms sit on the same level – deliberately ushering student and faculty traffic along the same lines. Overall, he describes the SOM culture as “open and accessible,” with a smaller size that forges greater intimacy between faculty and students.

“The faculty is very involved in student social events,” Pinker adds. “There are all kinds of traditions where faculty participate to bond with the students, such as faculty versus student ping pong tournaments or faculty auctioning off their time to raise money for the student internship fund.”

DARDEN FACULTY AND STUDENTS FOLLOW SAME PREP PROCESS

The Darden faculty is also heavily involved and easily accessible. Here, the overriding virtue is preparation. Sankaran Venkataraman cites the program’s legendary core, where each of the school’s five sections is taught by five different faculty members. According to Venkataraman, the sections follow the same syllabi and use the same materials lockstep. More than that, students follow the same four-step process for class preparation:

1) Individual Preparation: This involves reading their case and developing their responses.

2) Learning Team Discussions: Prior to class, five team members – one from each section – come together to review case details and coach up peers who may be struggling.

3) Classroom Participation: After completing individual and team preparation, students join their 65 member sections to delve into the case.

4) Post-Class Reflection: Students review the discussion to reinforce their understanding and follow up with questions on areas where they remain unclear.