GRADUATE EDUCATION IN QUANTITATIVE METHODS IN THE AACSB SCHOOLS

The status of Quantitative Methods in business education is perhaps less “standard” and less understood than any other field. This is probably even more true at the graduate than at the undergraduate level. Courses which are normally considered to be Quantitative Methods courses are often housed in a wide range of departments. Some courses which would normally be classified as Quantitative Methods courses are also housed in colleges other than Business Administration. In order to determine the current status of graduate quantitative methods curricula in schools of business, a survey was made of the member institutions of the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business. This paper presents the survey findings.     

Chinese and Americans Agree on What Is Fair,but Disagree on What Is Best in Societal Decisions Affecting Health and Safety Risks

Through surveys of students and junior professionals and interviews with business and government executives, we studied Chinese choices and fairness perceptions in risky health and safety decisions. The survey responses were compared with American responses from an earlier study by Keller and Sarin.The survey results show that the American and Chinese respondents had similar fairness perceptions, but the Chinese did not make decisions that were consistent with their fairness perceptions, whereas the Americans did. We found that the middle-age Chinese professionals tended to make choices that were more different from the Americans than were the choices of the young Chinese management students. It is likely that these discrepancies were caused by cultural differences, with the younger Chinese tending to face a stronger Western influence.The insights from the survey results were enriched by interviews that revealed fairness perceptions of Chinese business and government executives. A framework to interpret cultural influences on decision making was also proposed.     

Demonstrating the Need for Effective Business Ethics: An Alternative Approach

Since the financial crisis, the malfeasance of business leaders has been a recurring theme in the news, along with calls for increased regulation and oversight. This focus on the ethics of the business community raises a concern about the ethics of those in business or going into business. The ethics of business people and business students has been explored by a number of researchers using survey techniques. We propose and report the results of an alternative method for investigating unethical behavior by students. In a motivated economic experiment with introductory level students, we find that business students were almost twice as likely to lie for a monetary reward as students in other disciplines, demonstrating the need for effective business ethics.     

Notes and Communications A NON-DUAL APPROACH TO SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS—THE RIGHT-HAND-SIDE CASE

Linear programming and sensitivity analysis in linear programming have long been integral parts of business school curricula, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Most business school students are required to take an introductory course in management science emphasizing linear programming and sensitivity analysis. This note is educational and presents a non-dual approach to restoring the optimal solution to a linear program when changes in the right-hand-side vector render the current solution infeasible and thus nonoptimal.     

Curricula and State of the Profession

Most of us have encountered problems in developing an effective quantitative analysis program for our business schools in the United States. We have often found managers very reluctant to adopt QA techniques; on the other hand, students, although not reluctant, lacked the necessary mathematical background. During the academic year 1970–71, the authors assisted in the development of a QA department in the business school of a developing nation which offers both resident coursework for graduate students and executives seminars for businessmen. Both the students and the executives had the necessary mathematical background for rapid understanding of QA techniques. The executives appeared eager to use QA in their business operations and the students were highly motivated toward the application of QA to business problems. Our purpose in this article is not to convince all the QA professors to teach in underdeveloped nations, but to furnish information which is likely to be useful to those who attempt to establish similar QA programs in other developing countries.     

Crossing international cultural boundaries in business using common contingency frameworks

This paper discusses situation-specific contingency processes used by managers and business educators in handling such (1) common cross-boundary links or frameworks and (2) significant cross-boundary differences — two seemingly divergent aspects of cross-cultural management situations. This paper is based on the authors' conducting business training programs (focusing mainly on free market planning and management and on advanced computer technologies) for Asian and Russian/Central European business managers and graduate business students. It is also based on their research work done while investigating investment opportunities and in consulting in these countries over the past seven years.     

Does Ethnic Diversity Mean Cultural Diversity?

This paper examines the degree of cultural diversity between two ethnic groups in South Florida. The cultural attitudes and causal attributions for unethical work behavior of 269 Anglo and Hispanic business graduate students and of 255 Anglo and Hispanic business executives were investigated. Findings from t-test comparisons for both of these samples suggest a strong agreement between Hispanics and Anglos in their individualism and collectivism orientation, as well as in their process of justifying potentially unethical decisions. Implications for theory, research and practices will be discussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

QUANTITATIVE METHODS IN THE UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULA OF AACSB MEMBER INSTITUTIONS

Since the discipline of quantitative methods varies more widely from institution to institution than any other discipline, a survey was conducted to establish a profile of the undergraduate quantitative methods curricula. The survey was made among member institutions of the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business in order to determine the current status of the structure and orientation of undergraduate programs in quantitative methods, faculty background and requirements, undergraduate course requirements for each of the major areas in business, and directions of future changes. This paper presents the survey results.     

INDUSTRY STUDIES AND AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL PERFORMANCE

A nationwide research program on the performance of American industry, sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, now involves scores of faculty researchers and more than 100 graduate students at several American universities. Ten research centers have been established, and each one is dedicated to the study of a particular industry. An eleventh center is carrying out research on problems that cut across these industries. It is expected that the Sloan Industry Studies program will make useful contributions to the performance of the industries themselves, to policymaking at all levels of government, and to the development of interdisciplinary research communities within the universities.     

A comparative study of U.S. and Iraqi students

This study uses a sample comprised of U.S. students and Iraqi students to determine if differences occur over ethical perceptions based on cultural/demographic issues. Irrespective of demographics, the results of this study indicate significant cultural differences between Iraqi students and American students with regard to selected ethical issues concerning graduate education. Specifically the differences occurred in the students' perceptions of winning is everything, selling one's soul, logic before emotion, and pander to professors. Iraqi students consistently viewed these beliefs as more necessary for success in their graduate education than did their American counterparts.     

A business version of the prisoner’s dilemma: A teaching technique

The “prisoner’s dilemma” is an archetypal choice dilemma widely used for teaching and research in the social sciences. A version of the prisoner’s dilemma which set the problem in an ordinary business context was used as a pedagogic instrument with graduate business students, fully employed and aspiring to upward mobility, and nurses—both male and female—employed at various supervisory levels. The site was a college in metropolitan Detroit. The method engages students in verbal expression, explanation, and justification of their choices and thus departs from mainstream research which treats the prisoner’s dilemma mainly in mathematical terms, usually based upon experiments requiring many iterative choices. Also, whereas the prisoner’s dilemma places the subjects in the frame of mind of being prisoners, this version is of choice-making by free people, with the additional unspecified choice available of not to play the game. Replication outcomes were similar enough to support tentative generalization, although statistical analysis was not significant because of the small number of cases. Results suggest that the method may be useful to managers in their analysis of ethical choice situations and development of alternate scenarios. Vivid lessons regarding the ethical dimensions of business behavior can be learned from the use of the prisoner’s dilemma.     

Ayudarum: an Austrian crowdsourcing company in the Startup Chile accelerator program

The founders of Ayudarum, an Austrian crowdsourcing company that is focused on connecting students with potential employers, joined the Chilean Startup accelerator ‘Startup Chile’ to help their young company expand outside its European roots. Startup Chile had provided Ayudarum with a mentor to help them understand how to grow Ayudarum’s number of users. Ayudarum’s initial business model, which had functioned well in Europe, involved partnering with universities. Universities made the Ayudarum site available to students who, in turn, logged in with their student email account. Once there was a large base of students onboard, firms were contacted to advertise jobs on the site. Now that the founders were trying to tap into the South American market, they discovered that students did not use their university email addresses and that there were distinct cultural differences in the way students worked, found jobs, and were paid. This difference may mean that Ayudarum would need to rethink the way its business model, how different markets should be targeted, and how the most value could be derived from its membership at Startup Chile.     

The same but different: HRD master’s programmes in the United States

In this study, we examined the curricular and institutional characteristics of HRD master’s programmes in the United States. Our sample included 108 programmes in 100 institutions that were self-identified as HRD programmes. Among our findings: (1) fewer programmes were located in schools of education (44%) and more were located in schools of business (28%) than indicated by previous research; (2) there was greater homogeneity in curriculum among programmes in the same institutional locations (e.g. schools of education or schools of business) and greater variation among programmes in different institutional locations; (3) the curriculum of programmes located in schools of education tended to focus on traditional educational topics such as adult learning and instructional design, while the curriculum of programmes located in school of business tended to focus on management topics such as organization development, staffing and employment law. Our findings suggest that the nature of HRD as an academic subject varies with institutional location, as do the skill sets of students who graduate from HRD programmes. Future research should take these differences into account.     

The influence of cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence on conflict occurrence and performance in global virtual teams

The role of different types of intelligence in the occurrence of conflict in global virtual teams (GVTs) has largely been overlooked in the literature. As suggested by the theory of multiple intelligences, this study explores how cultural intelligence (CQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ) influence the occurrence of interpersonal, task and process conflicts in GVTs. Furthermore, by drawing on the contingency theory of task conflict and performance in groups and organisational teams, we examine the impact of these different types of conflict on the performance of GVTs. Utilising multilevel analysis, we tested the research model using a sample of 810 graduate and undergraduate business students from 38 different countries who worked in 232 GVTs. The results show that the CQ and EQ of the team members reduce the occurrence of the three different intragroup conflicts in GVTs. We also demonstrate that process conflict negatively affects GVT performance. We discuss the implications for research and practice.     

Developing a Public Interest School of Management

This 'think piece' paper contributes to the recent 'business school business' debate by examining whether an alternative form of the business school – specifically, the public interest model – can be created. Current criticisms of conventional business schools are reviewed and alternative models explored. We take some examples from our own field of health management research. We define the public interest school model in more detail than in previous accounts and compare and contrast it with other models of the reformed business school. We identify certain conditions in which this form is more likely to succeed and suggest a future empirical research agenda.     

Using mental maps to highlight cultural differences: visual portraits of American and Japanese patterns of thinking

This research offers new pedagogical tools derived from linguistic analysis that provide intriguing visual portraits communicating cultural differences. Using associative group analysis to systematically examine free associations to key management terms, this research produces charts that reveal how business students from different national groups hold different understandings of key management terms, reflecting their differing views of workplace participation derived from education and experience. Applying this method to American and Japanese workforce entrants, the resulting charts convey in visually appealing ways key cultural differences between the groups. It further yields mental maps that portray the dominant mindset of people from these two countries. The charts offer important new pedagogical tools for teaching international business and the promise of deeper understanding of cultural difference and cultural change.     

Social responsibility goal perception

The intent of this study is to distinguish areas of difference in the perception of organizational goals among managers, hourly workers, and graduate business students. The managers were chosen to represent the present point of view of management, while the hourly workers were selected to be indicative of labor's viewpoint toward the goal selection of organizations. Students were chosen because they represent the potential transfusion into management. The tool used to solicit these responses was a questionnaire composed of twenty questions, with each question divided into two parts. The first part examined the way the individual perceived the achievement level of the organization (‘is’), and the other half represented the level that the individual aspired for the organization to achieve in the future (‘should be’). These two parts were quantified using a Likert scale ranging from 1 (of no importance) to 5 (of extremely high importance). The results indicate the similarities and differences between each of these three groups in terms of present perceptions and future expectations of these goals.     

Japanese business strategy in China

How does the Japanese approach to doing business in China differ from that of their European and American competitors? A survey of 115 foreign companies in Beijing offers some assistance in identifying the main differences. They fall into five broad categories—approaches to strategy, investment, technology transfer, trading and building local relationships. It seems that the Japanese regard China as a long-term investment and are prepared to accept low initial profits. They prefer trading rather than investing in equity joint ventures and are more adept at using Chinese cultural practices to their benefit.     

Malaise in business management

For the first time since the Great Depression in the 1930's, American business seems uncertain of its future. The Japanese challenge has shattered the dream of a millenium of global American business leadership after only four short decades (Moritani [1], Morikawa [2]), and the resulting soul-searching is creating a re-thinking of management imperatives. Some issues are addressed in an attempt to identify hidden weaknesses in the modus operandi of American business.     

Gender differences in entrepreneurial intentions: A TPB multi-group analysis at factor and indicator level

Previous research suggests that diverse factors predict gender differences in entrepreneurial intent. Our paper integrates and expands on previous findings using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), including the deeper-level measurement model, allowing for a better understanding of the origin of differences. The results of a survey with business students indicate that the effect of gender on entrepreneurial intentions is mediated via personal attitudes and perceived behavioral control but not social norms. More precisely, vis-à-vis their male counterparts, women are more driven toward entrepreneurship by motives to ‘get organized’ (balance) that are less dominant in predicting personal attitude. Moreover, female students are somewhat less driven toward entrepreneurship by beliefs of internal control that are more dominant in predicting perceived control. Finally, while female students are also more motivated to comply with normative role models, this did not influence their entrepreneurial intentions over and above perceived behavioral control and personal attitude. We discuss both practical and theoretical implications of our findings.