Learning to Manage by Managing AI: A Reflective Framework for Management Education Through Artifact Creation

This paper presents a pedagogical framework for management education that repositions students from passive AI users to active AI managers through artifact creation. Drawing from experimental classroom practice, we identify nine critical dimensions of learning that emerge when management students transition from asking questions to directing AI systems in building tangible outputs. The framework reveals how managing AI systems develops core managerial competencies including iterative refinement, strategic communication, quality evaluation, and the discernment between delegation and direct control. We argue that artifact creation with AI serves as a microcosm of contemporary management practice, where success depends less on technical mastery than on the ability to define objectives, communicate requirements, evaluate outputs, and make judicious decisions about human versus machine contributions. This reflective aide-mémoire offers educators and students a structured approach to conscious learning from AI collaboration, transforming technical exercises into transferable management capabilities.