Labyrinth helps business students find answers
written by Tom Woolf
 CARBONDALE,
Ill. - "Star Trek's" Spock would probably find Reed E.
Nelson's approach to teaching management classes at Southern
Illinois University Carbondale totally illogical.
Fascinating, but illogical.
Conversely, Capt. James T. Kirk, commander of the starship
Enterprise in the popular TV and film series, would probably embrace
Nelson's somewhat unconventional method.
A melding of the best of what the stoic Vulcan Spock and the
sometimes-emotional human Kirk had to offer is exactly what Nelson
is trying to achieve.
An associate professor of management in the College of Business
and Administration, Nelson's main specialties are comparative
management, organization theory and organizational behavior. He has
created instruments and software for analyzing organizational
culture that are used by, among others, General Motors Corp., Shell
Oil Co., Exxon Mobile Corp., Procter & Gamble Co. and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.
Nelson uses traditional management models in his senior-level and
MBA-level organizational behavior courses.
He also uses a labyrinth.
"Management education historically has been all about trying
to turn out Mr. Spocks, with little calculators, little
formulae," Nelson said. "That's exactly why the labyrinth
is so much fun."
He stumbled across the idea during a teaching conference two
years ago in Atlanta and came away so excited he created a labyrinth
in the back yard of his home near Marion. Some of his students walk
through the home labyrinth, though most choose the one at
Carbondale's Interfaith Center, across Illinois Avenue from campus.
In post-World War II America, corporations began to employ an
operational method that called for very precise allocation of
resources and tracking of results.
"All these things are wonderful models, but we have a
paradigm where we teach people to get all these unprofessional
intuitive tendencies out of the way," Nelson said. "The
fact of the matter is the world is very, very messy, very
unpredictable, and things move so rapidly that although we rely on
very technical things, it takes a human being to get them to
work."
His discipline, behavioral science as it applies to management,
tries to address the issue of human intuition and inspiration and
help people develop those traits.
"The way we have to teach management is that we march 30 to
100 students - and sometimes more - into a space with four walls
twice a week and talk to them," Nelson said. "How do you
at least let people know there are faculties that they have, that
they need to develop, that are not so easily expressed by formulae
or in a test?"
Enter the labyrinth.
Originally a required part of his courses, Nelson now makes the
labyrinth walk voluntary. Students who complete the project receive
five extra points on the final exam. Most of his students take
advantage of the opportunity, Nelson said.
Students are asked to walk the labyrinth circuit three times.
"In the first circuit, confront a problem you're having, all
its ramifications, all the tension, everything that's been
unpleasant about that problem," Nelson said. "You don't
find that that often in management courses. We have chapters on
stress but not on 'your life is a zoo, how are you going to handle
it?' Before you think about an issue in logical construction, you
have to purge yourself of the emotions."
During the second labyrinth walk, students are asked to imagine
themselves as another person with no investment or emotional
interest in the problem. They then are asked to imagine an image or
symbol that expresses the essence of the problem or dilemma. In the
third walk, they are to consider what insights they have gained and
what concrete steps can be taken to deal with the problem.
"I'm trying to shake them out of the standard analytical
straitjacket, give them time in a different setting doing something
unusual," Nelson said. "I'm trying to put them in touch
with their own intuition, their subconscious resources."
Textbooks are fine, Nelson said, noting he invests plenty of
class time talking about intellectual theories of conflict,
motivation, ethics and other topics.
"What I try to do is say, 'Here are the theories, here's a
mess, can you use any of these theories?'" Nelson said.
"The more theories you have, the better. When you confront a
sticky situation, you may find one or two that fit. No theory will
work perfectly, or all the time. If I give you several, you'll have
some ammunition that's logical but at the same time you're in touch
with your emotional side and can make a fruitful connection."
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