Classroom Group Activities for Intro to Business

An intro to business class is one of the first classes that students take covering business practices and basics. Students in this class are most likely college freshmen or sophomores, unfamiliar with the business world. There are several activities that teachers can use to get students thinking about how the business world works and whether they want to pursue a business career. These activities can also work in a high school setting.

Ethics is an important part of any business practice. Give the students a list of questionable ethics situations, such as the ethics involved in the hiring process, issues with time stealing, reporting accurately on business expenses and other frequent ethics issues. Have the students each write a short paragraph explaining whether the action is ethical and why or why not. Students should look at the legality of the actions, the implication for the company and the implication for the person performing the action. As a group, the students should vote on whether each action is ethical or not.

Taking time to visualize a future can be important in an introduction to business class. Have students think about where they want to be in 10 years. Ask specific questions, such as what they want to wear, eat or do throughout the day. After students write down their answers, have the students come up with yearly, monthly or even weekly goals that they can implement to achieve that dream. Thoughtful planning is an important task that every student should complete so that the students can accomplish their goals in business and life.

One project that works well in an intro to business class is starting a mock business. Divide the class into groups of four or five students. Each group must come up with a business plan for a made-up business. The students need a name, logo, budget, target market, business plan, start-up budget and other basic information that is necessary to start a new business. Each group will then have to present its business to the class. The class acts as a finance office and votes whether the business is worth financing or not.

Market research is the work that companies must complete before they can sell or market a product. The research tells the company who will buy the products and what consumers are looking for. Have each student conduct a market research survey of the classroom. Give each student fake information, such as income, age, gender, social status and interests. The students should investigate this information and come up with a product that the classroom would buy based on the information given.