Improving Oral Presentation Skills Using Videotape: a Strategic Management Course Experience

There is a substantial amount of discussion on the exact nature and educational objectives of the Strategic Management (Policy) course. However, irre-spective of the goals selected, cases are the most widely used pedagogical device with the majority of class time spent on case analysis (Hegarty, 1976). In many strate-gic management courses, including mine, students are called upon to present their case analyses and conclu-sions on the assumption that one of the objectives of the course should be the development of oral and writ-ten communication skills, particularly those skills needed in communicating and defending one’s analysis before an involved group (Hodgetts et al., 1976). I have found videotape recording as the best means for developing these communication skils. The purpose of this paper, then, is to describe my experience with videotaping in graduate level strategic management courses over the past two years and to provide an analysis of the associated advantages and problems.