Marc Le Menestrel

Trim 2 - Class 9, 10, 11 & 12: A Relevant Research Question & Some method January 28, February 1st, 4, 8

Marc Le Menestrel — 2013-02-04T10:12:06Z

Claude Lévi-Strauss is quoted to have said “The scientist is not a person who gives the right answers, he's one who asks the right questions.” What is the question your work is trying to answer?

In this class, each student formulates his/her research question and begin the formulation of the unknown.

At the end of the session, each student is able to express his/her subject in a single, clear and motivating question.

The classes on February 1st & 8 are dedicated to coaching, on an appointment basis only.

Summary of January 28th Class (By Estève Giraud):

1) Introduction of the course(10 min)

– Which grade would you give to your courses this semester? Why? Compared to the previous semester?
– Chat with the students. Ask them how they feel about their workload and the other teachers.

2) Students' presentations of their topic(45min)
– Where they are in the process, what they want to do with their thesis, their challenges.
– Try to help them to focus during their thinking. Mirror effect of their speech and guidelines for furthering their work. Encourage them, give them ideas.

3) Small group thinking: express your inner interests(20 min)
– Why are you interested in this topic? Why is it important to you?
– Connect their global interest on the topic to an inner interest

4) Summary (15 min)
– What did you lean during the class?

In short:

– Be proactive with your topic: read about it, talk about it, write about it
– Do not wait for your supervisor's availability to start searching
– Write often not to lose your ideas, it will be a material for the draft
– Use a dedicated file to your thesis including all your notes
– Make a bibliography as a “to-read” check list
– Personally engage with the topic you chose
– Follow your intuition in research
– Praise yourself and keep your intrinsic motivation

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Trim 2 - Class 3 & 4: An Inspiring and Convincing Subject (1) - January 7 & 11 2013

Marc Le Menestrel — 2013-01-09T12:11:00Z

On Monday January 7, we shared our progress on subject definition and gather feedback from the other students present.

On Friday January 11, Gert and Marc are available for individual coaching in office 20.1E34. Please make an appointment with each of us before showing up.

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Trim 1 - Class 2: Starting the Search (2)- Dec 5, 2012

Marc Le Menestrel — 2012-11-21T17:06:05Z

In this class, we use a "blinded feedback" process to discuss subjects in groups.

Slides for this class

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Trim 2 - Class 8 & 9: A Method to Learn

Marc Le Menestrel — 2012-09-27T15:21:30Z

Even improvisation requires a lot of previous work.

To write a thesis, learning a rigorous method is the most important step to move from a consumer of knowledge to a producer of knowledge. In these classes, each student identifies the method appropriate for his/work, be it a conceptual framework, a design of data collection or a statistical analysis. Further sources where a particular method can be learned are identified.

Each student is able to write a pragraph describing the method he/she will use for his/her Thesis.

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Trim 2 - Class 5, 6, 7 & 8: An Inspiring and Convincing Subject (2) - January 14, 18, 21st, 25th 2013

Marc Le Menestrel — 2012-09-27T15:00:02Z

Students have 5' to present their Subject Proposal to other students. Presentations are invited to address the following questions:

Why is this subject interesting? for you? for others?
If you are successful, what will you have achieved?
How do you intend to organize yourself to accomplish your ambition?

The class on January 18 is dedicated to coaching, on an appointment basis only. We will continue the presentations of subjects on January 21st in plenary session.

Assignment:

At the end of these classes 5 & 6, each student is able to express his/her subject in one page, with a title and introduced by a couple of clear and engaging sentences. This document is to be handed in before class #6 on Friday 18th of January.

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Trim 1 - Class 1: Starting the Search- Nov 22, 2012

Gert Cornelissen, Marc Le Menestrel — 2012-09-26T12:16:51Z

In this class, we present the organization of the Master Thesis at the BSM and discuss the different types of thesis.

Students are then invited to start the search for their interesting subject, looking for an appropriate topic and type of thesis that can match their intention and the standards of the school.

Finally, students identify keywords that they can use to search for material related to their topic of interest.

Questions to spur imagination:

Is there something you always have been willing to understand about the way people/companies/society behaves?

Is there something you are emotional about regarding the way people/companies/society behaves?

To you, what is they key challenge facing business today?

What is the future of the role of business towards society?

Are there some things that you think are necessary/essential for you to know before going back to business life?

Is there some event that happened recently and that you found particularly remarkable for its relation with business?

Do you see evidence of current business transformation? What could be a good example of this?

What would be needed for business to succeed in the future?

What do you imagine will be the needs of consumers in the future?

What are opportunities for technological innovation?

What are opportunities for social innovation?

Slides of the class

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