The Cyber Road to Hell : The Scholastic Road to Wisdom

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." We have all heard this statement, a statement which is loosely attributed to Samuel Johnson by his emanuensis, Boswell. We have also heard that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Why is this and what does this have to do with our MBA/MSc assignments?

The Cyber Highway is studded with little bits of knowledge. Are these gems, treasures or are they junk? If you are writing a paper on organizational behaviour and culture, for example, a simple search on Google, will find the University of San Francisco and a number of articles at their website at:
http://cps.usfca.edu/academics/obl/obresources.htm

There is an article on Maslow here and the application of his Hierarchy of Needs and another article on Elton Mayo. None of them have the kind of source materials you will need for an academic paper at the MBA level. This is why these aren't good places to get our thinking processes started for an assignment on organizational behaviour.

Notice that there aren't any sources given for most of this information although it comes from a university. A broad strokes version of Martin Luther and the work ethic is given on a page entitled "Ageless Search for Better Ways." It says: "With the Reformation, the Protestant 'work ethic' emerged based on Luther's glorification of work theory. Calvinism brought further consolidation to this principle and with it the virtues of thrift, frugality and the honorable acquisition of wealth." Sweeping statements - but where are the sources to back up these statements? All of this may be true but the information to back it up isn't here. You would need good resources on Calvinism, the reformation and the tie between religion and the 'work ethic'.

Obviously, University of San Francisco is reaching out to find potential students and attract them to their programme in business. This is good business practice but these pages are not intended to be scholarly material. You will find plenty of other similar sources on the internet. They look good but they aren't meant for use in scholarly papers. Students at institutions such as University of San Francisco, must also look for sources for their papers, not at their university's popular website, but in the books, journals, databases and other literature that is the scholastic backbone of the subject. There is no easy way out.

Many students begin their assignments by first surfing the web. As many of my regular blog readers know, this is the wrong way to scholastic achievement. What students should do is begin their work with a highlighter in hand, re-reading the module tutor's phrasing in the question to consider important words in the question such as analyze, apply or evaluate. These words signal what the module tutor is actually looking for in this assignment. Module textbooks and workbooks are a good second place to look to ensure you understand what all the words in the assignment actually mean. If you have trouble with meanings, you should invest in a good comprehensive Oxford Dictionary. Additionally, the library at Leicester has several copies of the Handbook of Organizational Studies by Stewart Clegg (pub. Sage) for more unfamiliar terminology in the field. Handbooks often have fuller discussions of terms, such as 'Organizational Culture' or 'Maslow', and these are sources you can cite in any paper. You can interlibrary loan materials from books such as this handbook, through the library. The business librarian, Andrew Dunn, may assist you if you need any help in this regard.

Next time we will talk about understand the meanings of some key words in assignment questions.

KB