- Browse Repository
- Weatherhead School of Management
- Student Scholarship
- Knowledge management (x)
- Weatherhead School of Management (x)
- Weatherhead Doctor of Management Programs
Weatherhead Doctor of Management Programs
Show morePurpose: This paper aims to critically examine the relationship between Fun at Work, Manager Job Satisfaction, and Employee Job Satisfaction and their Independent variables Role Model, Selflessness, Personal Fulfillment and Joy of Training. Approach: This paper is based on quantitative research into Fun at Work. A total of 338 Managers and Employees of advertising, marketing and sales professionals in the Albany, NY/Capital Region Market was used in this sample. The study was separated into two parts: Managers and Employees, and examined the role of Mentoring, with particular attention to such factors as Selflessness, Manager as a Role Model, Fulfilling Work and the Joy of Training. Findings: The data revealed several interesting findings, especially with regards to training employees. It seems that the amount of Job Satisfaction a Manager has while training an Employee is directly affected by the amount of Fun they are having in the process. And, if a manager is not having Fun while training employees, his degree of Job Satisfaction is significantly diminished. We also discovered that the importance of being a Role Model was less significant for employees’ Job Satisfaction—both directly and indirectly—than previously believed. This study contributes to the Fun at Work literature by providing new data on the effect that Mentoring has on the Mentor—an area that is rarely studied, and has very little academic literature. Practical Implications: Fun at Work is not accomplished by throwing luncheons, picnics or parties. It is accomplished when organizations create a culture where Managers and Employees are engaged in Meaningful and Challenging Work, and where they can contribute, and feel Empowered to make decisions. This leads to increased Job Satisfaction which leads to higher Productivity. Keywords: fun; mentor; role model; selflessness; joy of training; personal fulfillment
Show less
Show moreThe most current U.S. census data reveals that there are approximately 1.9 million African-American businesses (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010) in the United States. Only 1% of these African-American businesses are considered high performing firms, defined by the United States Census Bureau as those that have annual receipts of over $1 million. These high performing firms are responsible for 61% of all jobs created by African-American firms (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). Current data also indicates that African-American owned business start-ups occur more frequently than any other group; however, they also tend to be the least successful of all minority groups. It is important to our communities, labor force and the economy that African-American owned businesses grow, scale and stay sustainable. This research project reveals the barriers that are faced by successful high performing African-American and women-owned businesses and how they overcome those barriers. Keywords: African American; high performing firms; minority business enterprise; diversity; minority entrepreneurship; women-owned business
Show less
Show moreDespite the enormous investment made annually in mergers and acquisitions the failure rate is at least 50%. Acquired executives responsible for leading the changes required for successful post merger integration leave their new firms in numbers far exceeding corporate norms. There is relatively little research that addresses the actual motivations that encourage acquired executives to stay and contribute to successful change, or leave prior to achieving the long-?term objectives. This qualitative study employs grounded theory methodology to explore the experience of acquired executives and what influences their decisions to stay or leave the new firm. We interviewed 32 key executives from multiple corporations in diverse sectors whose combined experiences included 76 separate acquisitions. What we discovered is that most executives will stay through the period of their formal contractual obligation despite making the decision to leave early in the transition process. This is important to both academicians and practitioners who seek to understand this phenomenon and improve the success rate of mergers and acquisitions. Key words: Post Merger Integration, Executive Turnover, Acquisition Management, Agency, Stewardship, and Psychological Contract
Show less
Show moreThis study investigated factors influencing community college student academic retention, specifically a student’s commitment to learn. Data was obtained from two local community colleges, and the study’s proposed model was evaluated using structural equation modelling. Student Identity Capital and Relational Climate functioned as mediating factors influencing academic retention as they relate to supportive faculty behaviors. Direct effects of supportive bonding faculty behaviors on academic retention were also considered. Results supported mediation from student identity capital to academic retention, and relational climate was found to be insignificant. Finally, supportive faculty behaviors proved to be a significant factor overall in the evaluation of the model’s relationships. Overall, the results suggest that supportive bonding faculty behaviors is a primary, significant factor when addressing a student’s academic commitment to learn. Suggestions for future research and recommendations for practice are provided. Key words: Bonding Faculty Behaviors, Empathy, Care, Humanness, Identity Capital, Academic Retention, Commitment to Learn, Relational Climate, Shared Vision, Compassion, Relational Energy, Community College
Show less
Show moreWomen occupy only 15.8 percent of the private and public positions occupied by Saudi nationals, according to statistics from the Central Department of Statistics and Information 2015. The Saudi government has highlighted the need to support women’s higher education and combat sociopolitical barriers to their employment. Despite facing substantial challenges to entering the labor market, females have made gains in Saudi society; these include higher literacy rates, greater employment, and moderate rates of entry into both positions of leadership and nontraditional careers. Qualitative research was based on semi-structured interviews with 30 women, 18 of whom had nontraditional careers and 12 of whom had left these for traditional careers. This research was motivated by the scarcity of literature about women’s employment in Saudi Arabia. Findings should be of interest to public policy makers, as I believe that public discourse that supports women’s economic participation and career development may influence patriarchal traditional attitudes towards women. Furthermore, I believe that stating the experiences of these women will provide inspirational role models for the next generation. Keywords: women, nontraditional careers, barriers, Saudi Arabia
Show less
Show moreMuch has been written on the topic of leadership development however little on the development of top executives, and virtually nothing on the most efficient ways of developing executives. With succession pipelines to executive jobs weak across S&P 500 firms, executive succession weakness poses a real financial, continuity and governance risk to systems globally. To address this phenomenological gap, the authors conducted a qualitative inquiry involving semi-structured interviews with managers in a single S&P 50 global firm that operates across three industries. By probing into the "lived worlds" of these executive successors and high performing non-successors, new insight has been gained into the organizational factors that accelerate and impede executive readiness. Key Words: executive development, succession management, corporate governance, business continuity, executive effectiveness, global leadership, leadership development
Show less
Show moreIn academic literature, brands have been categorized as either global or local, driven primarily by the distance their businesses reach beyond their national borders. This difference is evaporating with the advent of digital marketing and ecommerce. Academics clearly recognize this changing landscape and have researched the impacts to consumer perceptions and identities, but literature has provided less strategic direction for global and local brand leaders as they compete head-to-head in the fast-paced global marketplace. This qualitative study of fifty executives in the global/local sports product industry reveals distinctly different paths taken by global brands toward local authenticity and local brands to becoming globally accepted. This research offers a new framework called the Omni-Brand Orientation. This construct suggests ways to help guide global brands toward local authenticity by focusing on local insights, multi-cultural teams, learning organization, social networking and positive affect while showing local brands a path to gain global acceptance through design innovation, originality, brand power and performance. The Omni-Brand Orientation framework suggests a new construct for further academic research as well as guidance for both global and local brand leaders as they grow their businesses internationally. Keywords: Global Brand, Local Brand, Omni-Brand Orientation, local authenticity, global acceptance, multi-cultural teams, originality, learning organization, social networking, positive affect, design innovation ?
Show less
Show moreThis study examines how individual experiences influence career success. In contrast with previous researchers’ definitions of career success, this research is intended to focus on a broader range of subjective career success criteria by focusing on individual experiences and the fact that career success means whatever the individual under consideration defines it as. A rigorous qualitative study based on surveys and interviews with 38 individuals including underrepresented minorities was used to explore their definition of career success, their education, transition into the workforce, diversity, workforce experience, and what fostered or hindered their career success. The research revealed five characteristics common to career success: intrinsic satisfaction, the illusion of career success from reality, vocational experience, supportive guidance, and the presence of a personal champion. The research also suggest a need to educate individuals about the reality of the challenges of achieving successful careers and the need for improvement in the career counseling process. These characteristics and insights can be used to assist in creating new programs that align education with workforce management knowledge and skills to increase the number of diverse workers. This research can also aid efforts to increase a diverse workforce for businesses, where individuals can achieve career success and improve society, the economy, and the world. Identifying how individuals define their career success may enhance theory-building research designed to understand, predict, and facilitate the experience of individuals to achieve career success. Key words: career success; diversity; workforce; transition; underrepresented; minorities; experiences; intrinsic; satisfaction; vocational experience; supportive guidance; personal champion
Show less
Show moreThis study examines shared vision and compassion as mediating factors and their impact on the effect of cognitive cohesion, emotional cohesion, and flexibility on individual engagement. For over 50 years defense acquisitions have been studied with little improvement in how weapons systems are developed and delivered to the U.S. military. This study takes a novel perspective in analyzing army defense acquisitions teams taking cues from systems theory, emotional intelligence, and family systems. Our survey of 412 individuals in an Army Life Cycle Management Command revealed an interesting link between individual team member perceptions regarding team cohesion and flexibility and the individual’s level of engagement in a team environment. Both compassion and shared vision are significant mediators of these effects. Our results are in keeping with extant literature on family business systems which points to the importance of group cohesion and flexibility for sustainable positive performance. Army acquisition teams may benefit from applying techniques, or best practices, used by family business to balance team cohesion and flexibility for improved program performance.
Show less
Show moreEducation represents a critical component of development and poverty reduction for countries. In Egypt the low standard of education have resulted in several partners that collaborate with the government to support and reform education. Nonprofit organizations are among those partners who are working in collaboration with local associations at remote and rural areas to support education. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that affect collaboration among nonprofits in their contribution to education reform. Our findings may allow nonprofit organizations to discover their potentialities and find a system of collaboration that increase the impact of their contribution to reform education. Key words: nonprofit organizations; local associations; commitment; collaboration; networking; exchange benefits; exchange experiences; community development; education reform.
Show less
Show moreThe current study attempts to confirm and measure the impact of nonprofit commitment, nonprofit collaboration and community participation on community development and education reform. We found commitment represent the social values that urges nonprofits to be involved in community development and education reform to local communities. We also found collaboration is the skills that enables nonprofits to respond their engagement and address the needs of local communities. Both commitment and collaboration are based on the shared vision and public good engagement. The study found that 1) shared vision makes nonprofits aware of their duty to be committed to local communities; 2) public good engagement is a general behavior among nonprofits that emerges through nonprofit commitment to local communities; 3) commitment conveys values that urge nonprofits to be involved in local communities; 4) community participation assures the success of nonprofits in being involved with local communities. The study suggests that nonprofits, in working on getting people committed to improving their local communities, can multiply the impact of nonprofits’ contribution and sustainability of the community. Key words: shared vision, public good sustainability, nonprofit commitment, nonprofit collaboration, community participation, community development, and education reform.
Show less
Show moreUsing the real world laboratory of one leading private equity (PE) firm, this paper attempts to directly connect professional competencies to performance outcomes, and more specifically, to skewed performance distributions. Though no extant research appears to focus on the shape of PE return distributions, data presented in multiple studies indicates that returns are right skewed at the levels of funds and individual portfolio company investments. At both levels, a small percentage of actors drive an outsized portion of industry returns. This paper finds that within one leading PE firm, this right skew exists at both the levels of individual investments and investment professional portfolios. The paper then leverages methods from organizational behavior, finance, and statistics to identify the mixes of investment professional competencies that distinguish right-tail outperformance within the analyzed firm, and then attempts to link these items to investment outcomes. The paper finds that professionals who lead outperforming investments tend to excel in three different clusters of competencies and related style elements (identifiable behaviors that may be based upon groups of competencies), that they display more robust and varied toolkits within each cluster than do professionals who lead underperforming investments, and that these mixes contribute to investment outcomes in identifiable ways. Keywords: Competencies; competency clusters; power laws; private equity; private equity returns; skewed distributions; leadership styles
Show less
Show moreThe gap between electricity supply and demand, in Nigeria, is not decreasing. To gain more insight into the phenomenon, we sought to take a holistic approach at analysis and learn about the relationship between dimensions of investment, policy, entrepreneurial orientation innovation, and the electricity situation in Nigeria. In this qualitative study, we interviewed 30 individuals, who have experience in Nigeria. The interviewees also have sound perspectives on key stakeholders in the electricity ecosystem. Building on this foundation, we make the case that the dimension of national character, and its second order constructs has a relationship with the previous dimensions, in addition to implications on the electricity situation in Nigeria. While interest in the lack of infrastructural development has a long history in several research studies, little research has taken a holistic approach to analysis. Key words: colonialism, legacies and institutions, social capital; social network; complexity; culture; energy; development
Show less
Show moreDo leaders who define their business in terms of achieving a greater purpose as well as financial profit attain more favorable outcomes in terms of both profit and social or environmental outcomes? When those leaders approach their business with a sense of connectedness (or what we call a “consciousness of connectedness”), do they create an environment in their organizations with higher levels of shared vision, greater compassion and collaboration, and does this in turn lead to positive social and environmental outcomes as well as better economic outcomes? This exploratory research is aimed at investigating how a consciousness of connectedness within leaders, combined with a business intent that includes serving a greater purpose, impacts economic, social and environmental outcomes of business organizations. Based on a quantitative survey methodology with 322 respondents consisting of business owners, senior executives and middle managers from a cross section of industries, our findings suggest that greater purpose, and a leader’s consciousness of connectedness, may have a measurable impact on the relationships and climate within organizations and on perceived output in terms of economic prosperity and positive social and environmental outcomes. Keywords: Connectedness, consciousness, leadership, flourishing, mindfulness, spirituality, social and environmental impact
Show less
Show moreThe Internet has disrupted a company’s traditional control over the communication they use to create positive affect. The compilation of reviewer posts plays a leading role in constructing a company’s overall brand sentiment. What is less well understood is how companies can affect a positive post. The objective in this study was to develop a framework that demonstrates how customers and organizations interact online; as well as investigate the on-line interaction and the positive affect it generates. Using a structured equation model, we formulated hypothesis then tested that two distinct mechanisms work together to underpin the creation of a company’s online positive affect: online co-creation and cognitive play between companies and their potential customers. We confirmed that organizations that co-create with their customers and playful are being rewarded with positive affect. In fact, by adding cognitive play to their online interactions, organizations doubled the positive affect expressed by their customers. We discuss the important findings that emerge from this study and suggest directions for additional research. Key words: online post; cognitive play; online reviews; co-creation; positive affect.
Show less
Show moreThis research is focused on the teacher’s perspective of the dyadic relationship between teachers and othered students—students who are traditionally disregarded and/or are considered outside of the norm (Borrero et al., 2012). The study at hand is limited to this dyad, but is crucial for the understanding of what behaviors, social and emotional intelligence competencies, and practices make a teacher good at reaching othered students beyond the mere academics of doing school. The role of a teacher within the confines of schooling is changing because schools have become institutions involved in socialization, motivation, and adapting to change (i.e., preparing students for societal reform) rather than outlets for the exchange of information. On the basis of this relationship, both participants may effectively give and receive care, compassion, and psychological safety, or not. Our findings included teachers 1) learning about a student’s negative life event(s), 2) experiencing career satisfaction, 3) feeling and displaying empathy, 4) varying pedagogy, 5) taking initiative in helping, 6) caring, and 7) providing students with comfort. Implications for teacher training, continuing development, and a developmental scale are explored.
Show less
Show moreSmall to medium sized firms are an important yet understudied context of business in the US. Most research on smaller firms centers on the entrepreneurial aspects of such firms and ignore other possible explanation for small firm success. Organizational culture has been shown in separate studies to positively impact firm outcomes but the combination of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and firm culture has rarely been tested. We conducted an inquiry into the effects of both EO and cultural attributes of small firms by surveying 220 individuals working in small firms in a variety of capacities. What we found was that while EO does play a role, organizational learning has significant explanatory power as to why firms innovate even when EO is absent and combined with play and empowerment increase the predictive power of small firm innovation when EO is present. This contributes to the literature in extending small firm inquiry beyond EO and linking it with culture and conveys the message for practitioners that small firms need not be entrepreneurial in order to innovate provided they inspire culture building such as playfulness, empowerment, and learning. Keywords: Small to medium-sized enterprises; SME; entrepreneurial orientation; empowerment; playfulness; learning; culture
Show less
Show morePrevious research and literature highlight the factors that influence the success and failure of delivering new product development (NPD) to achieve back-end innovation. In particular, previous research identifies the key importance of executive sponsorship/championship on the success of back-end innovation by delivering NPD. Despite this key finding, NPD delivery continues to fail even with executive sponsorship/championship engagement. Stewardship is a construct that executive sponsors/champions use to ensure that the NPD delivery is aligned with the best interests of the organization and its stakeholders. The aim of this study is to provide an understanding of how stewardship affects the sponsorship/championship role and affects the delivery of NPD to achieve back-end innovation. To address this phenomenological gap in the innovation, product management, and stewardship literature, a qualitative inquiry was conducted to explain stewardship from the perspective of senior management roles in new product development projects and how it contributes to its successful delivery of innovation. Semi-structured interviews with individuals who have worked with or have served as executive sponsors/champions in small, medium, and large U.S. organizations in the service-based industry were conducted to understand their “lived” experiences in delivering new products. Their responses reveal that successful delivery of NPD is influenced by a stewardship capability expressed as acting with transparency, cultivating high performing team, building strong relationships/networks, and through a unique combination of perspectives forming a new phenomenon named “Panterprise Perspective” that are employed by both the sponsors/champions and the teams. Keywords: Stewardship; new product development; sponsor; champion; back-end innovation; panterprise; collectivism; transparency; trust; strong networks; relationship; social capital; psychological safety; shared objectives; high-performing teams; communication.
Show less
Show moreNext-generation family business leaders face a set of challenges unique to family-owned enterprises. Not only must they meet the demands of sustaining a successful business, but they must also negotiate the complexities of the family and ownership systems that are integral components of family enterprises. And they must do this with the knowledge that weak next-generation leadership is often cited as a leading cause of the low survival rate of family firms. Very little research has been done on how next-generation family members develop leadership talent, often while living in the shadow of a successful entrepreneur who also happens to be a father, mother, or other close relative. To address this gap, we conducted a quantitative study of 100 next-generation family firm leaders and 350 family and non-family leaders and employees with whom they work. Two major stories emerged from the findings of our study. First, our research demonstrates the importance of family climate to the development of effective next-generation family business leaders. Second, the study reveals the impact of next-generation family business leaders accepting responsibility for their own actions and decisions and being held accountable by others. The implication of our findings for family business owners is that they should devote as much time and effort to developing a positive family climate as they do to creating a successful business. In addition, next-generation family leaders should seek out, and the senior generation should encourage, age and experience appropriate job assignments with real responsibility and accountability. Key words: accountability, emotional and social intelligence, family business, family climate, leadership, leadership effectiveness, motivation, next-generation leader, responsibility, work engagement
Show less
Show moreThis research investigates developmental experiences of executive leaders that result in effective capabilities over time. We conduct a qualitative study by interviewing 31 C-Suite and Director/V.P.-level executives within four organizations in three distinct industries (Healthcare, Manufacturing, Professional Services). We compare outstanding and average leaders to compare and contrast developmental experiences to better understand the demonstrated competencies which enable and differentiate outstanding leaders. We use an emotional and social competency index (ESCI-U) to code for existing competencies as well as thematic analysis to discover new themes. Eight of the competencies from the ESCI-U and three new themes, Lifelong Learning, Environmental Aesthetic, and Duality of Awareness are identified as key differentiators of effective executive leaders. Our analysis suggests that this unique blend of competencies, themes, and behaviors enable leadership effectiveness within the healthcare, manufacturing and professional services industries. Key words: Competencies; Senior Leadership; Healthcare Leaders; Manufacturing Leaders; Professional Services Leaders; Executive Leaders; Effectiveness; ESCI; Leadership Development; Leadership Assessment, Succession Management, Executive Leadership Development
Show less