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Outstanding Teacher: Stanley Han

Stanley Han

It was his introduction to teaching as a teaching assistant at USC that set the tone for Professor of Business Administration Stanley Han’s approach in the classroom.

“I remember my graduate school professor telling all his teaching assistants what he wanted the students to learn,” said Han. “I’ve learned that teaching is about reaching students and helping them retain what you are teaching.”

Han, who teaches courses on strategic management, last spring received the Outstanding Teaching Award for the College of Business Administration for 2005-06. The award program is designed to recognize excellence in teaching.

Han, who earned his bachelor’s degree in international economics from Peking University in Beijing, received his doctorate in business administration with a concentration in strategic management from the University of Southern California. His research focuses on venture capital, innovation management, strategic alliances in high tech industries and global strategies.

Teaching those subjects requires creative methods to get students thinking as problem solvers, Han said. “These students are preparing to go into the business world, and they must learn how to think strategically to stay competitive,” he said.

In his approach to teaching, students probably learn as much from other each other as they do from Han. “My classes involve much discussion about how students would solve a problem. The students question each other and defend their decisions. It is good business training,” Han said.

For example, Han uses the case study method of instruction in his course on strategic management. He said the technique strengthens the decision-making skills of students. “Managers must be able to function in situations where the right answer is not known, without falling into the trap of assuming that any answer is as good as another,” he said. Han often reminds his students that “there are no right answers, but there are wrong answers.”

He also teaches courses in the College of Business Administration’s Executive Master’s of Business Administration (EMBA) degree, which teaches working professionals the skills needed to become top executives. Han’s case study method of teaching works extremely well with the EMBA program.

In one case study, for example, students examine Wal Mart’s strategy and why it is so successful in such a competitive industry.

We discuss things such as how Wal-Mart handles labor issues,” he said. “Professionals often only have a narrow view of how their company or organization operates. We are giving students the broad view they will need to move into the upper levels of the organization.”