Chapter 6: How Values Impact Educational Outcomes: Management Consulting Capstone at the US Air Force Academy

Within the context of the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), this chapter addresses the question: “How do values impact educational outcomes in higher education?” The Academy exists as a crucible, forging cadets into leaders of character motivated to lead as officers in a career of service to the United States of America. Cadets are educated, trained, and inspired for their future roles as they engage in military, academic, and physical training courses and extracurricular activities. Upon entering the Academy, cadets are presented with three core values they pledge to honor and uphold—Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence in All We Do. The following four years provide challenges and opportunities to learn and grow in congruence with these values, with the final semester creating a space for the integration of their training and education in alignment with the core values. For Management majors, the Non-profit Consulting capstone course provides students a semester-long experience where they serve as pro-bono consultants to a local non-profit organization, helping the organizational members achieve one or more desired goals while transferring their knowledge into the client system. Our unique model of service learning enables the application of cadets’ value-centered management education to real-world problems and opportunities experienced by non-profit organizations through action research, process consultation, individual and organizational thriving, and demonstrating-in-action the three core values. Through these modalities actionable knowledge is generated within the client system, supporting the achievement of desired end-states while further developing cadets’ confidence and competence as leaders.