Business School Environment Research Articles

The business school in transition

PurposeThis paper aims to consider the extent to which business school transition has created new opportunities in management development, knowledge transfer and knowledge creation.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is a critical review of knowledge exchange in a business school context with a particular focus on the “translation or management practice gap”.FindingsChange in the nature of research undertaken in business schools opens up new opportunities for collaboration between academia and practice. The paper points to the need for more innovative forms of research engagement encouraging academic‐practitioner collaboration and practice‐based management development initiatives.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper contributes to the debate on innovative forms of knowledge exchange and transfer and helps stimulate further studies examining potential approaches to fostering co‐learning and discovery and participatory forms of knowledge production.Practical implicationsChanges in business school environment and context offer opportunities for new modes of knowledge exchange both in management development and research. Practice based theory offers a new paradigm of management development.Originality/valueRecent commentators refer to notions of academia and practice as “closed systems and self referential” and point to the requirement for greater attention on knowledge transfer, and to learn from knowledge transfer studies concerning practitioner/research communities of practice, networks and collaborations. The paper addresses this deficiency in the literature and points to key areas warranting further research.

Accreditation and the Globalization of Business

Julian and Ofori-Dankwa (2006) argue that on-line education and corporate universities are potentially disruptive threats to traditional U.S. business schools and suggest that accreditation processes may hinder their ability to adapt to these threats. I challenge those arguments by showing that it is unlikely that on-line education and corporate universities will disrupt the environment of traditional business schools. I also show that two longer term trends--the growth of for-profit universities and the globalization of business education coupled with the diffusion of accreditation--are likely to have an impact on business school enrollment markets both within and outside the United States. My conclusion is that accreditation can be beneficial to many business schools for two reasons. One reason is that accreditation processes require that business schools gain clarity about the markets they serve and the services they offer, which is increasingly important as enrollment markets grow more competitive. The other reason is that the value of accreditation as a quality differentiator appears to be rising in the markets for part-time working students and international students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proactive encouragement of interdisciplinary research teams in a business school environment: strategy and results

This case study describes efforts to promote collaborative research across traditional boundaries in a business‐oriented university as part of an institutional transformation. We model this activity within the framework of social network analysis and use quantitative tools from that field to characterize resulting impacts.

Mecca or Mirage? The Determinants and Outcomes of Entrepreneurship of Recent Harvard Business School Graduates

A core question in the analysis of entrepreneurship is which determinants induce people to become entrepreneurs and which determinants predict entrepreneurial success. We use a unique data set on Harvard Business School graduates from 1997 to 2004, who participated in a business plan contest, to analyze this question. We find that family status, risk aversion, and academic achievement are orthogonal to the decision to become entrepreneur but have strong predictive power for entrepreneurial success. Moreover, while the business school environment and, in particular, business school peers appear to induce more entrepreneurship, they are also associated with entrepreneurial failure. Our findings suggest that business school graduates may not sufficiently adjust to the importance of individual predictors of entrepreneurial success.

Thoughts on Ethics Education in the Business School Environment: An Interview with Dr. Jerry Trapnell, AACSB

Thoughts on Ethics Education in the Business School Environment: An Interview with Dr. Jerry Trapnell, AACSB

Academic Integrity in the Business School Environment: I’ll Get by with a Little Help from My Friends

The incidence of academic dishonesty has been increasing throughout the past few decades. Past research has indicated that business students cheat more than their peers in other disciplines across the university. And, of particular concern to marketing educators, the current research finds that marketing majors cheat significantly more than their peers in other business disciplines. The research results also indicate that students are much more likely to cheat in situations in which friends (versus mere acquaintances) are involved. The study identifies a robust false consensus effect in which the respondents significantly overestimate the degree to which others cheat. Finally, the research investigates behaviors, beliefs, and propensities related to cheating on electronic exams. The article suggests tactical and strategic measures that business schools and their faculty can use to reduce the incidence of academic dishonesty.

THE EFFECT OF ACCREDITATION ON BUSINESS SCHOOLS: A CONTINGENCY MODEL.

Increasing turbulence in the environment of business schools may require a profound rethinking of assumptions and presumptions underlying the accreditation process. We posit that in the continuous environment, the accreditation process leads to timely and environmentally congruent decision making, but reduces the likelihood of such decision making in discontinuous environments.

Computer support for formative assessment

This paper describes research investigating assessment and examination of Business students. The overall goal of the research is the design of computer applications supporting collaborative learning and formative assessment. The question guiding the research presented in this paper was: How can computers support examination of business studentsq To approach this question, the research was conducted in three phases. The first phase investigated business students’ perception of examination. The methodology applied was data collection through a survey. Statistical analysis and interpretative content analysis were performed. The second phase, informed by the first phase, was the design and implementation of two types of computer based tools for examination. The first type is based on the notion of mandatory participation, and the second is based on the concept of peer review. In the third phase, the two designs were evaluated in a course with eighty five business students. The main findings are the following: The first phase showed a diverse perception of examination among the students. Mandatory active participation in computer-based discussions combined with peer review of reports is claimed to be a viable approach for examination in a Business School environment.

Behavioral Science in the Business School Curriculum: Teaching in a Changing Institutional Environment

In this article we use the concept of the organizational field to examine how recent developments In the institutional environment of business schools may be affecting student attitudes toward the behavioral sciences in business schools. Based on this analysis, we propose a number of ways in which recognition of changing logics in the organizational field, combined with a model of teaching as bricolage, might be used to enhance the effectiveness of behavioral science instruction in business schools

The knowledge management process in a business school environment

Reports results of the ELSINOR project, undertaken at the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Norway, to bring order to the chaos in the information management functions of the School. The project group was drawn from four administrative departments, chosen for their daytoday contact with information processing. The aim of the project was to plan a complete, integrated, electronic information system with electronic mail. The problem of reporting research activities and publications was referred to a separate project and it was recommended that the FORSKDOK module, of the BIBSYS system, be used as the vehicle for registering them. Reports the strategies used in the setting of system parameters, the choice of technical solutions, the recommendations of the study and the plan for their implementation. Concludes with notes on the work done by ELSINOR to extend the School’s activities on the Web via its already established Web site.

Strategic Change among U.S. Business Schools: A Strategic Group Analysis

This study cluster analyzed U.S. business schools along strategic dimensions related to program offerings, student body diversity, and administrative approach. The resultant strategic groups and significant movements among them between 1988 and 1993 were evaluated in light of the critical transitions that have taken place in the business school environment.

Organizations and Social Systems: Organization Theory's Neglected Mandate

This essay has benefited from careful reading and comments by several of our colleagues. We want to express our appreciation to Dan Brass, Mark Mizruchi, Keith Murnighan, Christine Oliver, Linda Pike, Bob Sutton, and Pamela Tolbert. We argue that the initial three-part mandate for organization theory contained study of (1) internal organization structure and process; (2) relations between organizations and environmental actors; and (3) the impact of organizations on the broad social systems in which they were embedded. Though the influence of organizations in society has increased over time, the social system component of the field's mandate has faded from the research agenda. This paper proposes that the diminution of this social systems perspective occurred because the increasing complexity of social relations made determination of an appropriate unit of analysis more difficult. In addition, the business school environment in which organization research was accomplished discouraged examination of broad social questions, promoted a particular approach to science, and created specific career incentives. Recapturing a research interest in organizations' effects on society requires recognizing organizational impacts on social issues and accepting a broader range of methodologies. Ideas require greater opportunity for development, and quantity of publications deserves less emphasis. Journals that risk publishing the unconventional paper and providing incentives for tackling larger questions might reestablish the breadth of focus with which organizational theory was initially concerned.*

Applying Quality Principles in Business Schools: Potential and Limitations

AbstractBusiness schools are increasingly willing to teach total quality management concepts, but the controversy regarding the applicability of these concepts to business education systems appears to be heating up. The questions addressed in this paper are the following: Why should business schools change their ways? What would be involved in applying TQM in a business school environment? Is it feasible? Is it desirable?RésuméLa qualité totale s'enseigne de plus en plus dans les écoles de gestion. La question de l'applicabilité des concepts qu'elle sous‐tend dans les écoles de gestion elle‐même soulève cependant la controverse. Cet article se penche sur les questions suivantes: Pourquoi les écoles de gestion devraient‐elles revoir leur approche? La qualité totale dans une école de gestion, ça pourrait ressembler à quoi? Est‐ce possible? Est‐ce désirable?

Interactive linear programming as a learning tool in a graduate business school environment

In introductory Operations Research courses that one encounters in interdisciplinary programs, or in the quantitative techniques courses in Business Schools, a significant amount of time is devoted to the development as well as the computational mechanics of Linear Programming. The average student whose undergraduate background is non-quantitative usually gets lost in the arithmetic operations of pivoting. As a result, the essentials of the simplex method are obscured. An alternative is to use "canned" linear programming codes or routines. This is quite unsatisfactory since all that the student does is punch or type the data in and the results are spewed out. There is no feel for what and how one proceeds to a solution, if a solution should exist.