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By
Richard D. Hulme, Ph.D.,
John E. Karayan, J.D., Ph.D.,
and Rose Marie Martin, Ph.D.,
Department of Accounting,
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

As the world has become increasingly defined by information technology, global interactions, and rapidly changing environments, leading employers of accounting majors have been calling for differently abled graduates. They still say they want students deeply competent in technical accounting subjects along with having a firm working knowledge of general business practices. In addition, however, they want graduates skilled in research, critical thinking, teamwork, and communication. Traditional approaches to higher education, such as those that focus on solving well-structured problems, thus may no longer be optimal. Yet a further complication is encountered if one considers differences in students’ cognitive styles (i.e., information gathering and processing preferences).

It is generally agreed that cognitive styles result from the interaction of three basic factors. One way to visualize this is to think of an avocado. At the shallowest level—the peel of the avocado—are attitudes, such as management styles, thought by most theorists to be the most changeable of the factors. At the next level—the flesh of the avocado—are cultural values. Referred to by Hofstede as the “software of the mind,” these appear to be deeply influenced by early family interactions, and thus less easily changed. At the deepest level—the pit of the avocado—is the “hardware of the mind.” This consists of relatively fixed differences in brain functions (e.g., “left” vs. “right” brainedness) involved in information gathering and processing. Studies in this area include the one underlying recent accounts in the popular media of gender differences in listening, which was based on MRI analyses of blood flows in the brains of ten men and ten women while they were listening to a book on tape.

This “avocado approach” has been operationalized in a number of models, including a simplified version of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model, and the Herrmann Brain Dominance Model. Cognitive models generally group people’s information-gathering and processing styles into four basic patterns. Unfortunately, these models can be expensive to administer, and often require specialized training to interpret. A model that can provide an inexpensive and readily accessible basis for accounting education research, however, is the Raudsepp Problem Solving Styles Inventory. Raudsepp labels the four fundamental styles as: Analytical, Procedural, Interpersonal, and Conceptual. Analytics prefer logical, technical thinking, and Procedurals prefer focused, structured thinking. In contrast, Interpersonals prefer more collaborative, emotional approaches, and Conceptuals prefer holistic, synthesizing, imaginative thinking.

Students (and faculty) can self-assess their Raudsepp preferred styles via the authors’ web site http://www. csupomona.edu/~jekarayan/brain/brain. Having students do so can encourage them to gain insight into their own preferred information-gathering and processing patterns, which can help them to formulate successful learning strategies. Awareness of the model can also help students to become aware of and appreciate people with different preferences. Indeed, one of the easiest ways for students to use their style data is in forming groups for discussion, case studies, or presentations. This is because heterogeneous groups (comprised of students with different preferences) often are able to come up with insights that individuals (or homogeneous groups) miss.

Faculty awareness of students’ styles can prove very useful in course design. Among other reasons, recent empirical research suggests that accounting students can have diverse cognitive styles, particularly in a multicultural environment. If so, then it may be possible to enhance teaching effectiveness by broadening the type of assignments designed into a course in order to better match students’ various preferred learning styles. For example, collecting data, organizing information, scenario analyses, and writing critical reviews may be preferred by Analytics, whereas activities such as making lists, listening to detailed lectures, applying algorithms, and writing answers to structured problems may have greater appeal to students with Procedural preferences. On the other hand, sharing ideas, making classroom presentations, tutoring other students, and writing group case discussions may be preferred by Interpersonals, with “what-if” questions, the Socratic approach, and writing case studies where there is no “one best way” having greater appeal to students with preferences for the Conceptual cognitive style.

In addition to better matching all students’ preferred learning styles at least some of the time, adding a broader range of activities to more traditional lecture/discussion courses can have other benefits. For example, this more comprehensive approach can include collaborative learning activities that allow consideration of more complex unstructured problems, as well as development of a meaningful interpretation of accounting information for a non-accounting decision-making audience such as that found in introductory or M.B.A.-level accounting courses. Such a broadened group of activities may also lead to students trained to interpret and communicate the meaning of accounting information. Such students are likely to be better able to deal with unstructured problems, incomplete information, and an uncertain ill-defined business environment, which may more closely track the kinds of challenges that students will face during their career. In addition, providing a range of activities allows each student to feel comfortable with some of what is happening in the course. If one believes that the typical college student can focus on a task for only about 30 minutes before losing concentration, then by altering the class activities, an instructor is helping the students to maintain their interest. Finally, allowing instructors to experiment with teaching methods outside of their own comfort zone may make them more effective teachers.

More importantly, this varied approach to designing coursework may lead to graduates who have developed the enhanced abilities being demanded by employers. Students may develop greater skills in research, critical thinking, teamwork, and communication because they have practiced using these skills in the classroom. Similarly, this more comprehensive teaching approach may lead to graduates with greater working knowledge of general business practices because they need more of that knowledge to deal with less structured assignments.

Although employers may be getting more of what they say they want, accounting students may not prefer a less traditional classroom environment. For example, recent studies of required introductory accounting courses suggest that more accounting majors are Procedurals than are business majors in general. If this is the case, then accounting majors may prefer assignments in which they are to determine the “right” answer to a highly structured problem. Faculty who are broadening classroom activities should be aware of this, and may find it useful to articulate the changing roles of the accounting profession to help students recognize the value of less traditional approaches.

Students should be exposed to the idea that awareness of their own preferences, and that of others, can be very helpful throughout their careers in building teams, solving problems, and designing information systems. For example, when faced with a need to innovate, it is usually best to draw on a team with diverse cognitive styles. This is because people with different styles are more likely to investigate a wider range of approaches. Self-knowledge is also important when choosing a career, because some styles better match certain roles in organizations. Cognitive styles awareness can also help reduce conflict in a diverse environment, for it reinforces the idea that people can draw different conclusions because of the ways they like to approach fact finding and analysis, and not for “bad” reasons.

In sum, cognitive styles awareness can help faculty design course activities to reach students and goals that are different from those traditional to accounting. It also can help students in learning how to learn better, and do so throughout their lives. For more information, view the web-streamed video at one of the authors’ workshops located at http://www.csupomona.edu/~faculty_center/brown_bag/f99.html. The authors also can be reached at jekarayan@ csupomona.edu.

In sum, cognitive styles awareness may help faculty be able to more effectively teach students with different information-gathering and processing preferences if a more balanced group of activities is included in course design.