Abe  Bakhsheshy
  • Professor (Lecturer), Department of Entrepreneurship and Strategy
  • Professor/Lecturer of Organizational Behavior, Entrepruensship and Strategy, School Of Business Dean
  • Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative Professor and Director, University of Utah, School Of Business Dean

Current Courses

Spring 2025

  • ENTP 5880-001
    ENTP Internship
  • MGT 6154-011
    Compet. Adv thru People
  • MGT 6154-022
    Compet. Adv thru People

Fall 2024

Professional Organizations

  • Academy of Management, Society for Human Resources Management, Daniels Fund Consortium. 02/17/2016 - 01/01/2024. Position : Member.
  • Society for Human Resource Management. 02/17/2010 - present. Position : Member.
  • Scoiety for Human Resources. 01/01/2010 - 12/31/2016. Position : Member.
  • Academy of Management . 07/21/2009 - present. Position : Member.
  • Academy of Management . 03/23/1998 - 12/31/2016. Position : Member.

Teaching Philosophy

 

“The ideal teachers are those who use themselves as bridges encouraging their students to cross and thereafter encouraging them to create new bridges of their own.”

                                                                                              Nikos Kazankakis

 

Each individual has a unique perspective on the world and their place in it.  For many people, their identity is tied in with what they do for employment and the interaction with their peers at work.  Teaching is my labor of love; a philosophy motivated by a personal value system that is applicable whether I teach a lower or upper-division course. It is one in which I believe that:

·         Each student deserves a professor's special attention and respect

·         Well designed courses and class sessions should be developed with the goal of challenging conventional perspectives through innovation and creativity, thus stimulating and maintaining the participant’s constant interest

·         The subject matter must hold value to the extent that it penetrates the soul and captures the imagination

·         Every student has a personal voice, experiences and thoughts that can enrich a class

·         Studying a variety of management concepts and theories allows the students to grow both intellectually and humanely

·         Diversity in age, gender, culture and thinking is not to be feared but rather encouraged

·         People learn by teaching others through actively engaging and applying the theories and practices they've learned in class

In fact, I believe that teaching happens everywhere --- it is not confined to a classroom, it is not confined to teacher-student relationships, and it is not confined to course material.  I enjoy teaching and strive to always be teaching, whether it takes the form of formal tutorials or classes, showing people how to accomplish a goal, or simply informal conversations.

Students become interested in a subject when the teacher is enthusiastic, friendly, knowledgeable, and displays respect for them.  Respect that is demonstrated through simple gestures, such as learning people's names, being pleasant and helpful, and listening to what others have to say.  If a student feels that they are respected they are more likely to seek help when it is needed and they are more likely to participate in conversations, both in and out of the classroom.  Additionally, if the teacher is interested and enthusiastic about the subject being taught, this enthusiasm will be passed on to the student.  It has been my experience that if a professor has high expectations from students and exerts a great deal of effort into the course, then students will rise to the occasion and perform well.

My goal is to ensure that students walk away with a clear idea of how education can enrich their lives, both on a business and personal level.  I believe that students can best learn by expanding their breadth of knowledge, developing critical thinking skills, and practicing concepts in real life business situations.  By creating an arsenal of both theoretical and practical concepts, I hope to give my students the tools to develop powerful arguments that they can use in a day-to-day business settings.  This will instill a level of confidence that the knowledge they attained in class can be incorporated in real life situations that not only enhance success for themselves, but for their organizations and society. 

Courses I Teach

  • 6150 EMBA - Leading in High Performance Org.
    In this class we will be covering multiple topics on the nature of social systems. We will cover topics at the individual, group, and organization level of analysis. These topics are frameworks that you can use to understand activities of managers and other leaders in organizations. The objective of the class is to provide you with theoretical frameworks and a common vocabulary to understand and be able to interpret things that happen in organizations
  • 6540 - Business Ethics (PMBA &MBA)
    The purpose of this course is to help students understand the ethical problems that confront managers and to approach their role as leaders with a sense of purpose and vision. The course explores students' own ethical orientations, the values of practicing managers, and alternative approaches to ethical problems. Representative topics include making choices about influencing and obeying the law, profits versus other values, the relationship between the interests of individuals and groups, how corporate policies affect the ethical choices of individuals, and criteria for making ethical decisions. The course follows a practical and effective model for analyzing ethical dilemmas in the work place in order to reach optimal decisions.
  • Mgt. 3800 - Business Ethics
    This course focuses on the following: A) Students will be made aware of the demands that emanate from stakeholders and are placed on business firms. B) As prospective managers, students need to understand appropriate business responses and management approaches for dealing with social, political, environmental, technological, and global issues and stakeholders. C) To have an appreciation for ethical issues and the influence these issues have on management decision-making, behavior, politics, and practices. D) To help students to understand that the entire question of business’s legitimacy as an institution in a global and diverse society is at stake and must be addressed from both a business and societal perspective. E) To assist students to understand that the increasing extent to which social, ethical, public, and global issues must be considered from a strategic perspective is crucial in such courses. F) To enable students to become more knowledgeable and effective contributors to groups and organizations in which they participate. G) To develop insight into the multi-faceted nature of ethical behavior in business, exploring the conflicts that arise from such aspects as self-interest, power, incurred obligations, competition, and fair return, diversity, stating the truth, rights of individuals, and rights of management. H) To develop a consciousness for management’s responsibility in the resolution of key problems facing society, such as ecology, racial discrimination, urban blight, financing education, efficiency in government and international relations. I) To assist students to develop personal guidelines on how to handle ethical conflicts
  • 6051 PMBA - Managing & Leading
    In this class we will be covering multiple topics on the nature of social systems. We will cover topics at the individual, group, and organization level of analysis. These topics are frameworks that you can use to understand activities of managers and other leaders in organizations. The objective of the class is to provide you with theoretical frameworks and a common vocabulary to understand and be able to interpret things that happen in organizations
  • EMBA 6154 - Competitive Advantage through People
    This intensive course will examine human resource management function in a corporate setting and focuses on the development of knowledge and skills that all managers and leaders need. The course will focus on such subjects as the selection process and behavioral interviewing, work life balance and regulations, performance development, positive discipline, coaching, motivating and maintaining effective environments. The classes are designed to familiarize participants with current human resource practices that apply to their careers regardless of their field. Class content is delivered through lectures, group discussion, learning activities, and case studies. This course will instill a strong understanding of the role of Human Resources in creating competitive advantages for organizations and how the people resources within the organization can be optimally combined with other resources to enable the organization to thrive in the market place. This course is for MBA students who expect to manage people and it is not intended to prepare students for a specialist HR role, though the learning from the course can have such applications.

Teaching Interest

Organizational ethics- Leadership- Human resources management