Careers Built Upon the Sand
They aim to be captains of industry, men and women who will steer the ship of capitalism through the rough seas of the 21st century. So how do 140 UC Irvine business administration students learn to get the best out of their employees, to run the most efficient businesses?
On Friday, class convened in Huntington Beach, where professors told the first-year master’s students to build sand castles.
The exercise was supposed to let students make decisions about flexibility and specialization, worker training and planning.
The graduate students will learn the theory that guides decision-making when they are building corporations instead of sand castles. “They’ll say, ‘Oh yeah, now I see. That’s what I should have done,’ ” said business professor Reynold Byers, dressed in red swimming trunks and sandals.
The premise of the assignment was that a fictional company needed five sand castles made to certain specifications, complete with towers, walls, bridges and a moat.
The students were divided into 25 teams, and each team had to decide what tools to use--buckets, molds and shovels--assign jobs, and estimate how long construction would take.
After nearly two hours, the castles were complete, most of them. “We’re the Kmart of castles,” said Elliot Kato, pointing to the not-so-perfect towers. “We did it fast and cheap.”
Teammate Margaret Juergens turned to the immaculate sand sculptures next door and said, “It’s beautiful. I want to go live there.”
