FUQUA STUDENTS LEARN IMPROVISATION TECHNIQUES

Improvisation instructors, including some who write and perform for Second City, the comedy company that launched the careers of Bill Murray and John Belushi, were on campus at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business the week of March 13-17 to train MBA students in the art of improv.

"Dynamic Management: Workshop in Business Improvisation," is part of Fuqua's Integrated Learning Option, weeklong mini-courses designed to accomplish several interrelated objectives in a highly focused format. The course, organized and coordinated by Fuqua's Craig Fox, associate professor of management, and Bob Kulhan, visiting senior improv instructor, is designed to help the students develop and cultivate skills needed in business today: teamwork, observation and listening, thinking creatively on your feet and adaptive problem-solving.

"Although tried and true planning techniques such as market research, scenario analysis, forecasting and decision analysis are still useful, today's most successful managers also rely on a new set of tools for adapting to and exploiting change - improvisation," Fox said.

In addition to using some of the typical course material, Kulhan and Fox designed some classes exclusively for Duke. At the end of the week, the students performed for their fellow classmates and the instructors put on a show of their own.