Faculty Interaction

From the period of establishing the relations (1998 - 2000) to successful collaboration (2001 - present) the progress of communication between faculty members of SOM and TAM is significant.

1998 - 2000

During the early stages of partnership program planning (August'98) UM-Flint and TAM Project Directors proposed that six courses would be taught for TAM Faculty. When Dr. Volkov visited UM-Flint in December 1998, he proposed that courses should be taught for TAM students. One of the major reasons for this suggestion was ENGLISH, because language differences posed problems. SOM faculty members, with one exception, don't speak Russian, and many TAM faculties have weak understanding of English, as is typical of most adults over 30 in Russia (due to schooling traditions and norms of Soviet educational system). Four-year experience of cooperation confirmed that interpreting is ineffective, costly and doesn't assist in open communication. Orientation on students could be explain by one of TAM strategic goals, which is to train specialists that are capable of working and adapting in the continuously changing global environment. Therefore, Project Directors together with faculty of both institutions agreed to bring true market economy for a new generation of globally-oriented Russian managers via Core Business Management Curriculum.

Most of faculty members from UM-Flint, who taught at TAM in 1999/2000, were paired with their appropriate colleague at TAM. Faculty members corresponded via email to discuss course content and outlines. However, there was an obvious lack of communication, but not only because of language barrier, but because of different economic systems faculty members live in, and thus have different knowledge background. CBMC courses are oriented on studying the principles of well-developed economic system. But the reality is that Russia has no well-developed functioning market, but live in emerging economy. Consequently, TAM faculties have only theoretical knowledge of the principles of market economy, and SOM faculties are slightly familiar with emerging economic system.
Concluding, faculty members from both schools communicated with each other, but were limited with language barrier and differences of background.
Although the inhibiting effects of language and background differences were anticipated, PIME-I confirmed that we underestimated the challenges. On the other hand, Phase I also demonstrated that TAM students have excellent academic preparation and capability, as well as excellent fluency in the English language.

Another key objective of collaboration program is to engage both faculties in the development of curriculum materials - to bring SOM and TAM faculty together to adapt the best of Western management education to the circumstances of the developing Russian market economy. However, PIME, Phase I, was a period of acquaintance and establishing relations, that's why the emphasis was made on the delivery of original SOM courses, but not on the development of new ones.

Nevertheless, UM-Flint and TAM faculty met regularly in their respective institutions to discuss the ongoing activities of the collaboration, to review materials included in each class, to evaluate student comprehension of the underlying concepts of a market economy, and to explore the use of case studies and simulation activities in their classes.

Lack of e-correspondence between SOM and TAM faculty was being eliminated in personal interaction, while SOM faculty visited Togliatti to teach TAM students (eight SOM visit professors taught six courses at TAM). Also two representatives from the TAM Department of Finance spent one week in Flint during July 2000 (Chronology). While at SOM, they met and discussed curriculum issues and teaching pedagogy with their UM-Flint colleagues.

2001 - present

Upon the completion of grant program (PIME-I), Project Directors together with Faculty members agreed that program was an outstanding success, and true partner relations were established. Altogether, program Participants decided to continue and broaden the existing partnership by jointly engaging faculty from SOM and TAM in courses delivery via distance learning technology.
SOM and TAM mutually decided to run a two-course "pilot online program" in the Fall2001: "Introduction to Marketing" and "Operations Management". There were forty students in each section, twenty American and twenty Russian. The innovation in faculty cooperation was that besides delivery of original SOM web-courses, TAM faculty designed a so-called "Russian part", where the differences and peculiarities of a subject in Russian Federation were discussed. This way faculty of both institutions became co-teachers of a course, which certainly effected positively the faculty interaction itself, and encouraged PIME participants to continue the "pilot online program" in Winter 2002 semester with three online courses: "Introduction to Marketing", "Operations Management" and "Principles of Finance". Remarkably, that some of the assignments are being done in international groups, and discussions are based on Western life and Russian realities.
These facts combined with the demonstrated feasibility of web-based course delivery and increased faculty interaction make it abundantly clear that the most promising avenue for the collaboration involve distance-learning strategies and equal involvement of faculties from both institutions.

There is also an anticipated activity, which demonstrates the ongoing partnership and faculty-to-faculty cooperation. In Spring 2002 the University of Michigan Flint's International and Global Studies Department introduced a new course entitled "Russia: An Economy in Transition", in which UM-Flint studentsl traveled to Russia, more specifically to Samara, Togliatti, and Moscow. Concurrent with classroom discussion, there were field trips to various Russian financial institutions, government entities, small and large businesses, including AvtoVAZ, and the Moscow stock market.

In Summer 2002 the delegation of TAM professors visited UM-Flint in the frames of the Togliatti-Flint Initiative 2002 Summer Faculty Workshop. The aim of this visit was acquaintance of TAM members with BlackBoard platform at which online-courses of UMF are held, discussions and trainings to make TAM members acknowledged with the system of distant courses.
Also in frames of this Workshop delegation has visited General Motors University, Chamber of Commerce, has met with representatives of local business-society at lunch at Rotary Club. Few meetings with UMF professors also took place.
This Workshop allowed faculty members from each institution to prepare for the next phase of our partnership.

Overall, UM-Flint and TAM have an active collaboration going, in which faculty successfully work together in order to internationalize their curricula. Though faculty-to-faculty cooperation pose difficulties, participants face them courageously and resolve them jointly.