Chris Gourdine joined Maryville’s John E. Simon School of Business last fall as assistant dean for business administration and assistant professor of business administration. After attending the Air Force Academy, Gourdine spent 21 years in the service, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. Now, he is using his graduate business degrees to help Maryville’s program adjust to the changing times that the pandemic requires. To Gourdine, learning the principles of management is like studying anthropology and medicine at the same time. You approach a company like you are entering a new culture, studying how the whole enterprise is organized, then you act like a diagnostician to determine how its specialized, individual culture gets things done — or doesn’t.
How would you describe putting the principles of management into practice?
It almost gives you x-ray vision. When you have a good grasp of management and things that work really well, you can pretty much spend time in any organization and within a few weeks get the lay of the land. A lot of it is just asking questions. People have a lot of knowledge in organizations, but it’s not always being accessed and used to its best advantage.
How has teaching business courses changed during COVID-19?
It’s had less effect on us than on some other courses, like biology or physics, where they have to have a specialized facility to come to, like a lab. We’ve designed classes to mitigate the risk to students, with social distancing, updated classroom technology, smaller classes and virtual classes. Our school is big on technology. Most of our faculty is pretty skilled, and our tech support staff is very responsive.
Is it better for students seeking an MBA to start right after they earn an undergraduate degree, or should they gain work experience first?
More seasoned adults make better graduate students. The ideal, maybe 60 percent of the time, is to go out and get some work experience in a certain field and get more maturity and perspective. Then maybe they can transfer to a different kind of business and see who they are and what they want to do. But for some students, it’s easier to maintain momentum. If you don’t mind school too much, it may be easier to continue going to school than getting a job and going to school at night.
How have your experiences in the military and as an African American man in the business world shaped your academic approach?
Having grown up in the ’70s and ’80s, I get into some amazing conversations about things I’ve had to live with. One of the insights I got early in my military career was about how race influences organizations and how people think. I saw the negative impact of this and I didn’t want it to be that way, so I strived to be more interpersonal with the people around me — whether with a girl from Louisiana or a guy from Mexico — so I could see their backgrounds and relate to them. I brought that to my second career in higher education. I have students from all different backgrounds. Human beings are very, very diverse. Being African American has made me sensitive to people with different backgrounds.