Teaching at university enables us to raise the awareness of future managers - who will shape tomorrow's world - to current and future challenges, taking into account not only economic but also social and environmental aspects.
C
écile Delcourt is Associate Professor of Marketing and Service Management at HEC Liège. She holds a commercial engineering degree (2003), an Agrégation à l'Enseignement Supérieur (2004), a CAPAES (2007) and a PhD in economics and management, co-tutored by Radboud University (Nijmegen, Netherlands) and the University of Liège (2011). " My doctoral thesis focused on the impact of contact workers' emotional skills in emotionally charged service encounters for customers (patient-medical staff encounters, for example) and how these skills are perceived by customers. "
The common thread running through his research? Improving the services given to customers, whether they are users of shared goods, patients, citizens, students, users, consumers or clients. " I'm currently working on various questions that all have this in common. How can we reinforce patient privacy in hospitals? How can organizations best deliver bad news to their customers? What are the barriers perceived by users of shared goods (bike-sharing, car-sharing) and how can organizations remove these barriers? "
Two major challenges
Cécile Delcourt teaches mainly at HEC Liège, but also gives lectures and supervises dissertations at other faculties (Communication, Law, Medicine). " The subjects I teach aim to teach students how to conduct rigorous market research, understand consumer decision-making processes, set up an organization with customer-oriented processes and strategy, and develop a strategy for a given organization. I like to apply these subjects to social and environmental issues. These are issues to which students are very receptive
In her view, university teachers face two major challenges. " The first is to arouse and maintain their own curiosity and that of their students. Curiosity is not a bad thing; it's the fire of learning. The second major challenge is to sharpen your critical mind and that of your students. In my classes, I invite students to criticize scientific articles (including my own, when they are relevant to the subject being discussed in class). I applaud the student who dares to speak up and who has a sharp and kind criticism. "
Sources of inspiration
" I read "Mal de terre" by Hubert Reeves when I graduated in 2003. That was 15 years ago. This inspiring book hasn't aged a day; on the contrary, it's never been more topical, given the climate challenges we face. Around the same time, I read "The Great Disillusionment" by Joseph Stiglitz (2002), winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics (2001), which is a fierce critic of the IMF and the World Bank. As a young manager, these two books reinforced for me the idea that this world needed committed men and women to be more sustainable. Echoing Nelson Mandela's quote ("Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world"), teaching at university helps to make future managers - who will shape tomorrow's world - aware of current and future issues, taking into account not only economic but also social and environmental aspects.
In a completely different register, I really enjoyed Thierry Michel and Pascal Colson's film "Enfants du hasard", which follows the daily life of an elementary school teacher, Madame Brigitte. The school is located near an old mining district and mainly takes in children from immigrant families. I admire these "Madame Brigitte", men and women behind the scenes, who are faced with major challenges, including giving children self-confidence and a taste for learning. "
