Group T Staff Speaks Up

Members of the Enterprising faculty and management team reveal all.

“Enterprising is not just doing a bit of everything," explains Professor Guido Vercammen. “ In the first instance, enterprising presupposes vision: the ability to see, to look ahead and to know who you are and what you want to achieve. Vision becomes a mission or quite simply a declaration as to how the presupposed objective can be reached."

"The next step is to arouse the interest of others in the mission in that one of the basic tenets of enterprising is that you do nothing on your own but as a team. Enterprising is always for people and by people. This means that enterprising involves much more than mastering management techniques."

"Management is of course indispensable from a professional perspective but a good manager is by definition not always a good entrepreneur. What differentiates the entrepreneur from the manager are specific traits such as creativity, risk-taking, motivating and kindling enthusiasm in people, a willingness to look further in time and space.”

“The Postgraduate Program in Enterprising is not just the umpteenth management program,” says Paul Goossens. "We aim to impart to young graduates who have already obtained a qualification in higher education the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes, and perspectives so that they can function competently as entrepreneurs in either their own or in another company."

The various courses of the International Postgraduate Program deal with all the major activities that take place in a company. As Guido Vercammen says: “Every company develops, produces or delivers one or other product or service, the success of which requires an extensive Operations Management system. In order to be able to operate, money is needed—Financial Management —and what you produce has to be sold. Here Marketing Management comes into play. As previously stated, team work is vital as opposed to operating on your own which in turn involves recruiting, educating and coaching personnel. This is Human Resources Management. Of course all these activities must be coordinated and directed in keeping with the strategic options of the company. This is the field of General Management. These courses provide the student with a solid foundation with respect to the so-called 'functional domains' of a company.”

The program is by no means all theory. The Enterprising Simulation Project (ESP) is a response to the fact that enterprising does not come from a text book. “The ESP plays a pivotal role and is good for one third of the program,” says the ESP coordinator Geert Waeyenbergh. “The assignment consists of a team running a company in a virtual environment. All key aspects of entrepreneurship are dealt with, such as vision and creating involvement as well as cost price calculation, investment analysis, marketing, human resources, communication, computer skills, etc. It all comes down to students putting into practice the knowledge and insight provided by the program. Courses have been conceived in such a way that they immediately provide relevant output for the ESP. No theory for the sake of theory, but knowledge which students can use and perceive as being useful.”

A new and particularly interesting aspect of the program is the didactic concept which is covered not only in individual courses but throughout the program as a whole. The basis of this is a five-step model consisting of 'listening', 'studying', 'understanding', 'experiencing', and 'feedback'.

Paul Goossens refers to the stages in the learning process: “In the first stage—listening—the students' interest in the subject matter is aroused. Case studies, testimonials, and company visits all serve to highten their curiosity.

In phase two—studying—theory comes to the fore with an immediate link to phase three—understanding—, these are exercises and cases. If in Human Resources Management for example recruiting and job applications are being covered, it is then expected that the students themselves can actually apply for a position in a company. On this basis they are assigned to an ESP team.

Phase four—experiencing—is the ESP project: each team forms a company to compete with the other teams in a virtual world. Teams are required to make a series of decisions, both strategic and operational. These decisions are brought into the computer so that the teams can see how their company and the market is evolving.

In phase five—feedback—the previous stages are reflected upon. The students are asked to make a strength-weakness analysis of their company, compile a report and present it to a jury. This phase also includes specific assessments such as the drafting of a long-term budget, a prognosis of the sales for the coming year, cost price calculation of each product etc.”
 

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