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Acta Polytechnica Vol. 52 No. 2/2012

Teaching Management at Technical Universities, Business Reality in
the Academic Environment

V. Baroch, B. Duchoň, V. Faifrová, Z. Ř́ıha

Abstract

Students of technical universities often do not understand why their studies should include learning management skills
(in addition to the study of economics). However, not only the experience of graduates but also the requirements of
their future employers show that education in the field of the management should provide training, skills and practical
testing. It is only a matter of time before graduates of technical university take up leading positions or become part of a
team working on some complicated technical problem. A classical technical education is no longer sufficient and, above
all, it is employees with knowledge of economics and with managerial skills, specifically soft skills that come to the fore.
It is evident from ample experience that people’s individual dispositions play a role in learning soft skills, but many

of these skills can also be acquired by progressive training. The question is which form of teaching to choose to enable
necessary skills to be learned, without at the same discouraging students by offering them potentially unattractive
courses. These are the issues that will be treated in this paper.

Keywords: management, business requirements analysis, teaching, business simulation.

1 Introduction
The solution of any problem must be based on a de-
tailed analysis. Crucial information concerns the ex-
tent of the need for various skills required by the
employer. CTU inPrague has been carrying out sur-
veys among its graduates over a long period, as the
following text will show. The results of two long-
term surveys are in strong agreement. In response
to questions about which knowledge and skills they
use most, graduates begin by mentioning technical
knowledge (93 % of the respondents), but this is fol-
lowed immediately by communication skills and skills
for dealing with people (78 %) [1]. The list of skills
to be worked on in the years at the university be-
gins with foreign languages; work with information
technology and practical skills are next in the list,
followed by managerial skills (leadership, presenta-
tion, teamwork and social competences) [1]. These
findings are illustrated in the graphs 1, 2.
A second way to study the need for managerial

skills is to pose questions directly to the personnel
managers of businesses employing CTU graduates.
As Petr Fiala, former president of the Conference of
Rectors said: “Business should mainly play a sub-
stantially larger role in education quality assessment.
Feedback must exist of the type: You have prepared
them poorly, or: The graduates cause us the follow-
ing problems.” [2]
This feedback was the target for the second part

of the survey. 35 businesses took part in the sur-
vey. They were asked about the particular skills of
graduates: on one hand the real level of skills of the

Graph 1: Knowledge used by graduates of the CTU in
their work (perentage of graduates using each type of
skill), source [1]

Graph2: Skills that graduates had towork on extensively
after graduation, source [1]

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Acta Polytechnica Vol. 52 No. 2/2012

graduates, and on the other hand the level of skills
required by the business. Thus the survey answers
the questions: Howdoes an business evaluate partic-
ular skills, and to what extent does it require them.
This focuses attention on skills that are required,
but not obtained by business. These are above
all foreign language skills, soft skills and issues of
decision-making and business economics. The survey
validates the original premise that the labourmarket
requires above all graduates with a technical edu-
cation supplemented by management and economic
knowledge and skills, all supported by knowledge of
at least one foreign language.

The results of the survey are illustrated in the
graphs 3.
The graph shows selected skills of graduates of

the Faculty of Transportation Sciences of CTU in
Prague, as assessed by their employers. All of the
skills are situated above the diagonal of the graph,
which means that employers require these skills at
a higher level than they really obtain. This is
true above all for soft skills and analytical think-
ing. Similarly, the following graph shows that busi-
nesses also seek additional management skills, above
all decision-making and exact methods for use in
decision-making.

Graph 3: Assessment by their employers of the skills of graduates of the Faculty of Transportation Sciences of CTU in
Prague, source [1]

Graph 4: Assessment of the skills of graduates of the Faculty of Transportation Sciences of CTU in Prague by their
employers, source [1]

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Acta Polytechnica Vol. 52 No. 2/2012

It shouldbepointedout that the conclusions from
our survey match the conclusions of similar projects
implemented at other technical universities. It also
follows from these surveys that businesses require
management skills to be trained at universi-
ties (in-service training courses are an additional ex-
pense for business companies [3]). However, busi-
nesses should realize that they need to provide finan-
cial and material support for the implementation of
managerial “laboratory teaching” at technical facul-
ties. The businesses also mentioned that while tech-
nical skills can be acquiredwithin half a year ofwork
experience, soft skills can requiremuchmore time [4].

Management conception

Until this point we have used the concept of man-
agement and the concept of hard and soft elements.
However, the word “management” is widely used
to express a variety of concepts, but the practi-
cal meaning of the word is not sufficiently well un-
derstood. Management should be understood as a
broadly based field in which many disciplines inter-
penetrate, frommathematics to psychological factors
(see Figure 1).

Fig. 1: Penetration of disciplines, source [5]

Many business managers confirm what is taught
e.g. at CTU in Prague and at other technical uni-
versities. Some opinions from this field can be cited
[6]. P.Kafka, President of the CzechManagerial As-
sociation, affirms the width of disciplines needed for
management. He points out that it is necessary “to
aimatcreativity, at theacceptanceofnewdisciplines,
at links between technical disciplines and other dis-
ciplines, e.g. economics and the arts”. Kafka argues
that it is essential “to join the ability to assess the of-
fers in thewholeproduction context, fromthe techni-
cal viewpoint and from the viewpoint of cost/price”.
In the next part of the article wewill concentrate

on ways to make the teaching of management more
attractive, and ways to adjust it to the practical re-
quirements of business life. A priority is to transfer
business practice to the laboratory conditions of a

university. In teaching that is organized in this way,
the main accent should be on teamwork, and on the
simulation of the business environment.

Business simulation
It is essential for students to master the integration
of managerial activities, so that they can apply this
integration both in projectmanagement and in busi-
nessmanagement. The problemdescribed in this pa-
per can provide a basis for a general idea of a draft
concept for management teaching for master’s stu-
dents. The main problem is how to transfer real sit-
uations into academic teaching. One way is to simu-
late the operation of a real business in management
teaching.
The simulation itself does not solve a manage-

ment problem by reaching a strict conclusion. How-
ever, it provides support for the final decision, which
must be made by the decision-maker, i.e. the man-
ager responsible formanaging the company. The im-
plementation is realized by means of a management
game that simulates business activities.
The students influence the result of the simulation

on the basis of their actions, so that the simulation
employs them actively in business management, and
teaches them to think strategically. Students take
active decision steps based on changes in the system
environment, and also based on the changes in the
learning curve of the student-decision-maker’sknowl-
edge. Students try variousways, and evaluate the re-
sults of their decisions. Simulations are appropriate
where students learn to solve problems, to integrate
information and to react to changes in environment,
including the risk that the business may collapse.
The simulation can take the form of electronic fi-

nancial models for business decision-making, or can
take the form of a contact board game. Both forms
are based on simulating business processes that are
very close to the way real companies operate. Team-
work should be an essential element.
The concept of the business simulation board

game is not based on the virtual reality of computer
applications. It attempts to recreate a real contact
situation from everyday business activities. Besides
specialist knowledge, students learn face-to-face how
to behave with other people. They also learn team-
work, and to take the individual responsibility for
the results of the working group. Students improve
in team communication and in operational decision-
making, and they learn to take a personal role in
the team. Theywork on their presentation skills and
they have to react to the questions of the lecturer
and of their teammates. The lecturer is a part of
the game; he functions as a consultant, coordinator,
auditor and supervisor.

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Acta Polytechnica Vol. 52 No. 2/2012

Software versions of management games have
been becoming increasingly popular all over the
world, because they are able to create a very real
business environment in an e-learning form. They
enable a trained participant to experience real situ-
ations from everyday business practice. A great ad-
vantage ofmanagementgames is that they save time,
because simulation can be used in a remote form via
the Internet. This makes simulations highly suitable
for teaching students by distance study. Worldwide
experience has shown that this method using com-
petition provides efficientmotivation for activework.
The teammembersmeet regularly for businessmeet-
ings and, thanks to e-learning and the communica-
tion technologies thathavebeendeveloped, themeet-
ings can take the very modern and desirable form of
a video conference. Experience of teamwork through
videoconferencing is nowadays in great demand in
preparation for carryingout the time-demandingpro-
fession of a top manager.
Software business simulations depend greatly on

mathematical methods that express thousands of
complicated relations among hundreds of simulated
elements.
The following part of the text is devoted to our

experience of working with students using the board
versionof a businessmanagement simulation. A soft-
ware version is under preparation.

Experience from management
teaching for
technically-oriented students
through business simulation

The concept of unique management contact business
simulation (SIM) was developed on the basis of our
experience of teaching management at a technical
university, with emphasis on the practical require-
ments of MSc graduates. The chosen approach was
further tested in the pilot version with a sample of
approximately 130 technically-oriented students, ac-
cording to the following process:
1. After the teams have been formed, each student
teamwasgiven a functioning virtual company in
the form of a board game, but without a com-
pany management.

2. The starting state of the companywas the same
for all, and its further fate depended fully on
the team’s decisions (at the beginning of each
laboratory seminar the lecturer distributed the
components of the board game according to the
balances recording the movements of assets and
liabilities from the preceding seminar).

3. In this way, a certain competition element
among the student teams was incorporated into

the implementation, and above all the need for
good team cooperation.

4. The students took on the role of top managers
of a virtual company, and took on responsibility
for the further running of “their” company.

5. During the seminars, the teams led their virtual
company according to established rules, which
were laid down in the game manual, for a pre-
defined period of time. At certain times they
were able to direct andmanage the operation of
the company.

6. Each teammadedecisions e.g. about the capital
structure of the company, and made long-term
production plans and research programs.

7. All decisionswere transparent, as the simulation
took place in the form of a board game.
For the evaluationweused theopinionsof the tar-

get group of an anonymous sample of 128 students
out of those who had taken part in our laboratory
verification of the business simulation game. In this
wayquality feedbackwas acquired. The sample com-
prised in an equal ratio all the main study profiles
at the Faculty of Transportation Sciences of CTU
in Prague, including 29 students from the part-time
study programme.
The sample of 128 addressed students was seg-

mented into 2 disjoint classes, with a total of 7 seg-
ments:
• 1st class:
1. Men
2. Women

• 2nd class:
3. Students of the profile Transportation Sys-
tems and Technology

4. Students of the profile Air Traffic Control
and Management

5. Students of the profile Management and
Economics of Transportation and Telecom-
munications

6. Students of the profiles Engineering Infor-
matics of Transportation and Communica-
tion, Intelligent Transport Systems, Secu-
rity of Information and Telecommunication
Systems

7. Part-time students
The students were asked to respond to 10 ques-

tions through an anonymous questionnaire. They
were able express their experience and opinions
through a free text, after passing through the pilot
project. To summarize the most substantial results,
we can state that 93 % of the respondents greatly
welcome this form of innovation, 74 % would also
add the SWversion of the business simulation to the
teaching programme, 5%do not know, and only 2%
were in favour of preserving the traditional form of
teaching. 90 % of the respondents expected to gain
better employment on the labour market after com-

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Acta Polytechnica Vol. 52 No. 2/2012

pleting the innovated course. 77 % favoured further
teaching beyond the number of lessons at present al-
located for this subject. A detailed overview of the
survey is published at the URL http://www.esim.cz.

Conclusion
The commercial sector calls for better preparation of
graduates of technical universities in the field of lead-
ing practical projects, team decision-making, strate-
gic management of operations and entire businesses.
Students and graduates of CTU inPraguehave good
specialist and technical knowledge. However the de-
velopment of soft skills and practical skills is usu-
ally not adequately provided at the university. Most
businesses support the idea that youngpeople should
already acquire these skills during their university
studies. The teaching concept should be as close as
possible to business practice. Students should there-
fore adopt teamwork and project work as much as
possiblewhile they are still at the university. A team
approach is nowadays used increasingly in all fields.
This trend is related to the need for rapid and effi-
cient changes in decision-making. Appropriate team
forming is a condition for efficientandsuccessfulbusi-
ness functioning.
The key competences developed in the frame-

work of management classes should include the abil-
ity to assert oneself and promote one’s ideas, the
art of teamwork and team leadership, the ability
to reach decisions independently, to integrate easily
and rapidly into the ever-changing economic environ-
ment, including knowledgeof business terminology in
English.
Teaching based on business simulation enables

business reality to be implemented into the univer-
sity environment. Although this type of teaching has
been increasingly requiredby the business companies
in which future graduates will be employed, there is
still inadequate provision. Moreover, a survey among
128 students who participated in the laboratory test
showed clearly that students are interested in this
form of innovation.
Commercial courses offered in this field for com-

pany employees are generally much more expensive
than early preparation during students’ university
studies, and they are less efficient.

Acknowledgement

The study reported in this paper was supported by
the European Union and co-funded by the Social
Fundandby thebudget of theCapitalCity ofPrague
(project no. CZ.2.17/3.1.00/33309, “An innovative
management education technique for better prepara-

tionof technical collegegraduates entering the labour
market“).

References

[1] Šafránková, J.: Hodnoceńı a posuzováńı kvality
výuky z pohledu absolventů ČVUT a z hlediska
požadavků organizaćı. Praha : 2010.

[2] http://ekonom.ihned.cz/
c1-47081190-prilis-magistru-malo-bakalaru

[3] Hay Group: Průzkum absolventů technických
vysokých škol. studie proVUT Brno, HayGroup,
2006.

[4] Průzkum požadavků zaměstnavatelů na absol-
venty technických a př́ırodovědeckých obor. 2009.
http://ipn.msmt.cz/data/uploads/portal/
Pruzkum pozadavku zamestnavatelu.pdf

[5] Duchoň, B., Šafránková, J.: Management. Inte-
grace tvrdých a měkkých prvků ř́ızeńı. Praha :
C. H. Beck, 2008.

Ing. Václav Baroch
Phone: +420 224 359 168
E-mail: xbaroch@fd.cvut.cz
Department of Economics and Management
of Transport and Telecommunications
CTU FTS
Horská 3, 128 03 Praha 2

Prof. Ing. Bedřich Duchoň, CSc.
Phone: +420 224 359 155
E-mail: duchon@fd.cvut.cz
Department of Economics and Management
of Transport and Telecommunications
CTU FTS
Horská 3, 128 03 Praha 2

Ing. Veronika Faifrová, PhD.
Phone: +420 224 359 165
E-mail: faifrova@fd.cvut.cz
Department of Economics and Management
of Transport and Telecommunications
CTU FTS
Horská 3, 128 03 Praha 2

Ing. Zdeněk Řı́ha, PhD.
Phone: +420 224 359 156
E-mail: riha@fd.cvut.cz
Department of Economics and Management
of Transport and Telecommunications
CTU FTS
Horská 3, 128 03 Praha 2

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