The University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management Uses Management Science to Create MBA Study Groups

Business schools look for ways to teach MBA graduates effective group work skills, generally through group-based assignments and projects. However, if not monitored carefully, group work can undermine the learning process; group composition is important. The Rotman School has developed a multiple-well-balanced-study-groups strategy to ensure that students are assigned to several balanced and nonoverlapping groups, which are used in different courses. We formulated the group-creation problem as a mathematical optimization model and implemented it in a user-friendly software package that Rotman MBA office administrators use to create student groups. Switching to computer-generated groups produced better balanced groups, saved much manual effort, and increased levels of satisfaction among students, faculty, and the MBA office personnel.