Students deal with real issues

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Presenting management students with real life issues affecting small business and communities is the focus of the recent publication of 27 case studies by the Centre for Aboriginal Management at the University of Lethbridge.

"This is the first publication series of its kind. Case studies on aboriginal issues have been done before but nobody has ever put them together as a collection and made

an effort to offer them to other institutions," said the centre's Kate Chiste.

"The cases involve Indian, Inuit and Metis individuals and communities in a wide variety of Canadian locales."

They focus on unique situations and problems associated with aboriginal communities and economic development and range from proprietorships, such as restaurants and convenience stores, to collaboration, as in bands and tribal councils.

For example, one case deals with a commercial printing business and art gallery

in northern Ontario which faces personnel problems of tardiness and absenteeism. The case is seven pages long and the issues involved are relatively simple. A complex case, such as a band-owned forestry operation in Quebec facing socio-economic development, technological change and band governance, delves more deeply into complicated issues and is 31 pages long.

The cases have been used in classrooms at the U of L and students are challenged to resolve issues using theoretical information they already have.

What happens if the students find an innovative way to resolve the issue?

"I'll give them an A," said Chiste.