Teaching communication in an MBA operations research/management science course

This paper discusses the inclusion of a writing requirement within a first-year Operations Research/Management Science (OR) course of a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) curriculum. The inclusion of a writing requirement addresses the importance of communication in OR. It is the authors’ supposition that many of the recent criticisms of OR teaching have their roots in poor OR communication. Although OR faculty members can well argue relative values, we have failed to adequately prepare our students to communicate relevant insights from OR studies. The integration of a writing requirement, consisting of short executive summary-style reports and a major term project, within an MBA OR course can do much in promoting further OR study and OR work. This paper describes our experience in instituting a writing requirement within a first-year MBA course in OR.