Graduate Management Students Research Articles

Research on the reform of curriculum system of health service management

Objective To understand the needs to reform curriculum for the graduate students in health management, and to provide evidence for the reform of the curriculum system. Methods From Jan-uary 2015 to May from China's colleges and universities carrying out health management professional post-graduate education, graduate students and supervisors from 3 universities were selected, and self-designed questionnaires were used to investigate their views on training objectives, abilities and curriculum settings, as well as the needs and suggestions for curriculum reform. The questionnaire survey data were collected and analyzed by SPSS 17.0. Results 120 questionnaires were issued and 100 were recovered in the study, with a recovery rate of 83.3%. 84.0% of the graduate students did not manage relevant work experience before entering the school. The graduate students thought that we should focus on the research and teaching ability training related to the management of health services, and then the cultivation of management ability. There were 60 questionnaires for instructors, and 51 were recovered, with a recovery rate of 85.0%. With regard to the demand for ability training, teachers and graduate students tended to agree on the goal and focus of the training. 100.0% instructors believed that learning was an important course, only 11.2% of the students thought that the course of study was not important, but to the current status of health manage-ment professional postgraduate courses, 79.3% instructors believed that the current curriculum was reason-able, and only 53.5% of the students thought it reasonable. Conclusion The emphasis should be given to optimizing the course setting, adding practical and innovative courses, and strengthening the training of scientific research, etc., which is the only way to improve the quality of health management postgraduate education and meet the needs of health development. Key words: Health service management; Graduate student; Curriculum; Questionnaire survey

How can mindfulness enhance moral reasoning? An examination using business school students

Given the comprehensive influence of mindfulness on human thought and behavior, and the importance of moral reasoning in business decisions, we examine the role of mindfulness as an antecedent to moral reasoning through two studies. In Study 1, we propose and test a theoretically derived model that links mindfulness and moral reasoning, mediated by compassion and egocentric bias using a survey design. In Study 2, we examine whether mindfulness training enhances moral reasoning using an experimental design with graduate students of business management. The findings of Study 1 substantiate the positive association of mindfulness with moral reasoning. We found that this relationship is fully mediated by compassion and egocentric bias. The results of Study 2 suggest that mindfulness meditation training has a positive impact on individuals' states of mindfulness, compassion, and moral reasoning, and decreases egocentric bias. We relate the findings of the study with contemporary neurological research and discuss the theoretical, pedagogical, and managerial implications.

What Yoga got to do with Positive Psychology: A Study of the Connections and Associated Mechanism

We propose and examine the impact of Yoga Based Practices (YBP) on subjective vitality and self-transcendence and their impact on positive psychological outcome; i.e. psychological capital and altruism. This research was carried out through a longitudinal empirical field experiment. In it, 101 graduate students in management were randomly assigned into a Yoga group or active control group. We tested the proposed relationship in two groups- the experimental group which was subjected to Yoga Based Practices (YBP) and an active control group. Findings of experiment suggest that Yoga practices enhanced both self-transcendence and subjective vitality of the participants. The result from structure equation modelling suggest that self-transcendence leads to psychological capital more strongly in comparison to subjective vitality and association of self-transcendence and altruism is fully mediated by Psychological capital. The research contributes to the literature by explicating the impact of Yoga on positive psychology and illuminates the intersection between literatures on YBP and positive psychology. The study has implications for practice as it highlights how the positive psychological competencies and traits can be enhanced through YBP.

Usefulness Model for The Redesign of Graduate's Student Management Information System

Postgraduate Student Management Information System (PSMI) is developed for managing the academic matters of postgraduate students, such as registration, appointment of supervisor, proposal defence, appointment of examiners and managing oral defence examination. The system which is known as SMASH was developed in the Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia to facilitate the task of the Graduate Management Unit. However, SMASH is rarely used due to usability problems. Among the problems are, the administrative staffs are not aware of the graduate programs applications which are made through SMASH. There is a lack of functionality especially on the menu and the design of the interface. SMASH provides functionality that is limited to only download the application form. This paper discusses the usefulness model development that can be used as a guideline to improve the system. The usefulness model is developed by adapting IS0 9241 and ISO 9126 usability standards. This study employs User-Centered Design method which involves students and faculty administrative staffs. This study starts by identifying the usability problems through Heuristic Evaluation and analysing the user requirements through the system analysis and interview. The preliminary study discovers that there is a need for improvement in the interface design and the functionality of the system to meet user requirements. The user requirement analysis and the proposed improvement serves as the basis in redesigning the system prototype. The usefulness model is then verified by 30 respondents through survey.

Leadership Style and Student Satisfaction:Mediation of Teacher Effectiveness

Teacher leadership style, his/her teaching effectiveness, and student satisfaction are considered to be the key to enhancing effective teaching-learning experiences in educational setting. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teacher leadership styles and student satisfaction, and investigate if teacher effectiveness mediated the relationship. One hundred thirteen graduate management students and 11 management teachers participated in the survey conducted in a business school in Kathmandu, Nepal. Results suggest that teacher’s effectiveness is significantly predicted by teacher’s transformational leadership style and is also a significant predictor of student satisfaction. Also, teacher effectiveness was found to partially mediate the relationship between teacher’s transformational leadership and student satisfaction, with teacher’s transformational style predicting student satisfaction. Limitations of the study are identified, important implications and future research issues are discussed.

Awareness and Competency Assessment of Dental Post Graduates in Managing Medical Emergencies

Medical emergencies are common during dental care and its management is crucial and can be life-saving. It is essential to train the students effectively in managing any kind of medical emergencies and the training to be considered an essential component of dental student curriculum. There is paucity of studies related to assessment of medical emergencies knowledge and competence levels among dental postgraduates in our environment. Thus, the present study was planned to assess the level of knowledge and competency of dental post graduate students in management of medical emergencies. Thirty four dental post graduate students participated in the study and were requested to complete a questionnaire. The questionnaire assessed the knowledge of frequency and type of medical emergencies encountered, type of training for medical emergencies, knowledge of essential emergency drugs and confidence in performing emergency management procedures. The data was collected and tabulated. The scoring was analysed using SPSS 16.0 software. Results showed that syncope was the most common encountered emergency. Knowledge about emergency drugs was inadequate and confidence in performing life-saving procedures was very low. Only 50% participants have received training but most of them (97.1%) still feel that they are inefficient in managing a medical emergency and feel the need for undergoing further emergency management training. Overall findings suggest that knowledge and competence in medical emergency management among dental postgraduates was insufficient and its proper practical training should be an essential part of dental curriculum. This will help the students cope with the unforeseen incidents which can arise in a dental setup and can save life of patients in case of serious situations.

Attitudes toward attending the 2016 Olympic Games and visiting Brazil after the games

Drawing on signaling theory and branding framework, the aim of this research was to describe the impacts of the interaction between, on the one hand, the brand images of the Olympic Games and Brazil (as a tourism destination), and on the other, attitudes toward attending the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and visiting the country after the event. A sample of American adults (n=722), most (82.2%) with at least one international travel experience, was analyzed. Results showed that the interaction between the hospitality associated with the Olympic Games hospitality and that of Brazil positively affected attitudes toward visiting the country after the Games. None of the tested interactions affected attitudes toward attending the 2016 Olympic Games. In the second part of the study, five focus groups with sport management graduate students (n=23) indicated that the association with the Olympic brand might bring fewer gains to Brazilian tourism than the expected.

Strategies for growth of a family business operating in the Macedonian wine industry

Subject area Entrepreneurial management. Study level/applicability The case is intended to be used by graduate students of Management and Entrepreneurship in the courses of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurial Management. Case overview One of the first private wineries in Republic of Macedonia, a developing country which entered market economy in the end of 1990s, has successfully been using the advantages of good soil and weather conditions to provide opportunity for excellent wine making. After almost 20 years of blazing a successful entrepreneurial trail built on innovation, strict quality control, brand building and close family hands-on management, the market soon became too small; thus, internationalization was the next logical step. This case provides local and global data on the wine industry, the Mac Wine facts and figures and financial data to help answer the questions about its future management and marketing strategies and the ownership transition. Expected learning outcomes This case has been documented to help students to understand the concept and applicability of the growth strategy of a new venture in the developing country. The students will understand how this growth was realized by answering the following questions: What are the factors that contributed to the growth of this venture? Evaluate the Mac Wine decision to build a brand based on production of high-quality wines. Is Mac Wine’s marketing strategy adequate? Is the family-owned business more of a strength or a weakness at the time being? And in the future? Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

“This class has opened up my eyes”: Assessing outcomes of a sport-for-development curriculum on sport management graduate students

As the field of sport management has grown, so has a plethora of teaching efforts and classroom methodologies. One such effort has entailed introducing the topic of sport-for-development, the utilization of sport to yield positive outcomes in society, to students. While academics within the field of sport-for-development have made great strides in recent years attempting to determine the impact of practitioners utilizing sport for social change, the majority of these efforts have targeted key stakeholders such as participants, staff, volunteers, leadership members and donors. Considering the paucity of literature on the influence of sport-for-development education on sport management students, the purpose of this research was to examine the impact of a sport-for-development class with a student population that had never taken a course of that nature. The authors utilized reflective journaling to fully delve into the thoughts of the 19 study participants in an effort to investigate the perception of the class and the lessons taught. The findings revealed that a sport-for-development classroom setting enhanced knowledge of the field and increased desire to become involved in some capacity. In addition, there was a noticeable gain in awareness of marginalized populations and out-groups through the lens of sport.

An analysis of financial inclusion initiatives at Odisha Gramya Bank

Subject area Financial Services Marketing, Financial Inclusion, Emerging Market Studies. Study level/applicability The case is suitable for graduate management students in courses such as general management and marketing courses. It is also suitable for a specialised rural marketing course and marketing of financial services. In business schools outside India, the case can be used in a course on marketing strategies for emerging economies. The case is suitable for executive development programmes for the areas pertaining to rural banking, marketing of banking services and financial inclusion programmes. Case overview The case analyses the financial inclusion initiative by Odisha Gramya Bank, a regional rural bank set up after amalgamation of three banks in the state of Orissa, India. The topic of financial inclusion has been the attraction from bankers, policymakers and academia in light of linkage between formal financial system and inclusive growth. To harness the fortunes at the bottom of pyramid, the case looks into the development of financial inclusion, business strategies and strategies for various customer segments. Expected learning outcomes To introduce students to analyse and compare various financial inclusion options. The case is useful to comprehend the various methods of financial inclusion. To analyse the evolution of regional rural banks and Odisha Gramya Bank after its amalgamation. To appreciate the issues faced by Odisha Gramya Bank. To understand various market segment and to evaluate its potential. To suggest appropriate strategies for each market segment. To appreciate how technology can be harnessed for business correspondents. To recommend the roadmap for financial inclusion to Mr Sidharthan, Chairman, Odisha Gramya Bank. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 8: Marketing.

Public vs private sector employment

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that may be related to a career choice in the public vs the private sector in a developing African country. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of graduate management students, the authors tested reward preferences and altruism, elements of public service motivation, on their generalizability to a developing country in Africa. The authors also examine the role of career attitudes, individual personality factors, and cultural values on a career choice in public service. Findings The authors find that not all the factors associated with the choice of sector (public or private) found in previous studies apply in the Botswana context. Research limitations/implications Perry and Wise (1990) developed the concept of public service motivation to explain why individuals may be motivated to serve the public. However, two of the factors associated with public service, intrinsic motivation, and altruism, were not predictive of a career choice in the public sector in Botswana, and thus may limit its generalizability outside of western developed countries. Practical implications In Botswana and other developing economies, government jobs are considered to provide lucrative and stable employment, and attract educated citizens regardless of motivations. However, as the private-for-profit sector is emerging, these countries could soon be facing serious competition for top university students, and will need to develop a strategy for attracting the best talents to choose employment in the public sector over career options in the private sector. Originality/value The present study seeks to further the understanding on how individuals make a career choice between public vs private sector management in a developing country.

The role of tolerance of ambiguity on ethical decision-making students

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the role of affect and tolerance of ambiguity on ethical decision-making of management and accounting students. Design/methodology/approach Weisbrod’s (2009) questionnaire on ethical decision-making in individual and organizational situations, McDonald’s (1970)16-factor questionnaire on tolerance of ambiguity and Watson et al.’s (1988) Positive and Negative Affect Schedule were used to study the students’ views toward research hypotheses. The population used in this study includes graduate and PhD students of accounting and management during the academic year 2014-2015. The number of samples is 398 and sample members selected using simple random sampling method. Hypotheses test using structural equation modeling in the AMOS software version 18. Findings Results of hypotheses shows that individual characteristics of positive and negative affect and tolerance of ambiguity have no effect on accounting students’ ethical decision-making, but there is a significant positive relationship between management students’ negative affect and ethical decision-making, and a significant negative relationship between management students’ increased level of tolerance of ambiguity and ethical decision-making. The findings also show that affect (positive and negative) and tolerance of ambiguity have no interactive effect on accounting students’ ethical decision-making, whereas among students of management, there is a significant relationship between interactive effect of negative affect and tolerance of ambiguity on ethical decision-making. The results show that there is a significant difference between students of management and accounting based on negative effects and tolerance of ambiguity on ethical decision-making. Originality/value The current paper is almost the first paper which was conducted in developing countries.

Measuring overconfidence in inventory management decisions

Overconfidence has emerged as a significant explanation of behaviour in diverse managerial settings. In this paper, we explore the relevance of overconfidence for supply chain management by running a series of human experiments within the framework of the classic Beer Game. Unlike previous experimental studies, participants were knowledgeable about supply chain management, either being graduate students in Operations Management or purchasing professionals. Results of the study support the view that overconfidence may lead supply chain professionals to be less careful in the management of inventories and thus incur more costs. A first implication for organizations is that purchasing professionals should be trained to discount their expectations of success by removing this optimistic bias. A second is the importance of providing managers and employees with benchmarks that allow them to assess correctly their performance in relative terms. The study also underlines the effect of environmental uncertainty as an important contextual factor influencing overconfident behaviour.

Naparima Company Limited: beyond the financing crunch

Synopsis Naparima Company Limited (NCL) was an importer and wholesaler of grocery and household products in Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. Following increasing competition and the adoption of more lavish lifestyles by its owners, the company had fallen on hard times. Its banker, First Republic Bank, had called its outstanding loans of $1.412 million and given the company 90 days to repay all sums outstanding. Also, several major creditors had threatened legal action to recover amounts payable. This had forced NCL to explore alternative financing arrangements and to devise strategies that would improve its financial situation. Research methodology The authors used both field interviews and secondary data when preparing this case. One of the authors was a consultant to the company as it worked to develop a restructuring plan. The primary data gleaned from that process, which included interviews with all three leaders of NCL and a review of the company's financial statements, was supplemented by the collection of secondary data about the industry and its competitors from interviews with the executive director of industry association, and information about the national economic environment from newspaper articles and library resources. Relevant courses and levels This case is suitable for senior-level undergraduate students in a capstone business course, and graduate students in small business management and family business management courses.

A Study on Learning Styles, Gender and Academic Performance of Post Graduate Management Students in India

The management courses in higher education has experienced a rapid increase in the number of female students in the past decade. A number of factors were found attributing to the cause including some major social and educational factors. These factors are well studied by the scholars in the past. However, there is still considerable gap in the literature pertaining to the relationship between learning styles and gender differences in the context of management education. This paper focuses on management education using Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) and explores the effects of learning styles and gender on the performance scores of undergraduate students in three successive academic years. Results of the study indicate that the distribution of learning style type preference of the chosen sample of students was more concentrated towards assimilating and converging styles. Further results also indicate non-significant difference of learning style and gender in all groups. The performance scores of males were found higher in Finance and Marketing disciplines, whereas scores of females were higher in Human Resource and International Business disciplines irrespective of non consistency in all the groups. The study concludes that instructors should use a learning strategy matching with the style of each learner in different majors of management opted by the students.

Using AHP BOCR analysis for experiential business education and prioritisation of international opportunities

This article reports the use of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to teach BOCR, an important managerial skill, to graduate management students, using the principles of experiential learning and working on the prioritisation of actual university international cooperation projects in a liberal arts university. The University-Uganda initiatives propose overseas cooperation between the university, Bright Kids Uganda, and project to end human trafficking Uganda. Three graduate teams utilised the AHP methodology to evaluate and prioritise each of the proposed initiatives from the three different perspectives of the schools of nursing, education, and psychology. The purpose of this article is two-fold: first, to report on this educational experience, and suggest best practices and lessons learned and second, to report on the BOCR results which will undoubtedly be useful for any higher-education institution considering overseas cooperation initiatives.

Using Spreadsheet Modeling to Teach Exchange Curves (Optimal Policy Curves) in Inventory Management

ABSTRACTInventory management is widely researched and the topic is taught in business programs across the spectrum of operations and supply chain management. However, the concepts are notoriously difficult for students to practice once they finish school and become managers responsible for inventory control. This article explains the structure and details of an inventory management class module designed to bridge the gap between learning inventory management theory and applying the learning to practice. Through an active learning exercise, groups of logistics management graduate students in two sections of an introductory inventory management class (in‐residence and online) are taught the exchange curve concept, introduced to its use in practice, and given a tool for implementing this learning in a variety of practical scenarios. The exercise is valuable as it is well suited for students with a limited math background because it allows the exchange curve concept to be taught and demonstrated without presenting complicated mathematics. A three‐tiered assessment of the exercise reveals its effectiveness in meeting the goals of providing an engaging and interesting use of learning time and giving the students an in‐depth practical understanding of the exchange curve concept. The exercise is designed to be equally useful for application in an undergraduate class.

Reviving the brassware industry in Moradabad, India

Subject area This paper aims to understand the subject of entrepreneurship and project management through techno-economic intervention. Study level/applicability Postgraduate students of management and graduate students of engineering and management. Case overview Multiple challenges existed at the ground level in the Moradabad Brass Cluster in terms of gaps in technology, skill, infrastructure and market that all needed to be improved upon. Expected learning outcomes The objectives and learning outcomes were proposed to understand the cluster economic crisis, entrepreneurship, project management, technical improvements and better understanding of certain theories. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Helping Taiwanese Graduate Students Help Themselves: Applying Corpora to Industrial Management English as a Foreign Language Academic Reading and Writing

Lack of knowledge in the conventional use of vocabulary and multiword patterns in one's respective field of expertise causes Taiwanese students to produce academic writing that is markedly “non-nativelike.” This is because Taiwanese students are first and foremost second language readers and often have difficulty “picking up on” the regularly encountered language patterns found in scholarly texts. As one step in determining a solution to this problem, this article reports on a pilot implementation encouraging graduate Taiwanese students for whom English is a foreign language to use self-editing techniques in their own field-specific academic writing by use of a corpus tool. Classroom interviews, draft comparisons, and individual stimulated recall interviews showed a difference in acceptance and success after using the corpus tool (StringNet Navigator) as an aid to self-editing academic English writing. The corpus tool's functions, results of its use by industrial management graduate students for self-editing academic writing, and pedagogical implications are described.

ESTUDO COMPARATIVO DO VIÉS DO STATUS QUO E PERFIL DE RISCO EM TOMADAS DE DECISÕES POR ESTUDANTES DE CURSOS DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO

RESUMONo contexto da gestão financeira de uma organização, existem padrões comportamentais que podem enviesar o processo de tomada de decisões, fazendo que o gestor financeiro não consiga atingir seu objetivo de maximização de valor em atividades ligadas às decisões financeiras, principalmente àquelas relacionadas a investimentos. Um desses vieses é denominado de status quo. De acordo com Samuelson e Zeckhauser (1988), esse viés indica que os indivíduos tendem a manter o estado atual de seu portfólio e têm dificuldades em mudar de posição patrimonial. Esta pesquisa procura verificar se existe relação entre o viés do status quo, o perfil de risco e a habilidade quantitativa, em estudantes de pós-graduação em Economia, Contabilidade e Gestão. Para essa finalidade, realizou-se uma pesquisa com 330 estudantes de pós-graduação da Universidade do Porto (Portugal) e da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (Brasil). Para o cálculo e apresentação dos indicadores que apontam para a presença do status quo, a metodologia utilizada foi baseada em Samuelson e Zeckhauser (1988). Além disso, realizaram-se análises de regressão para buscar uma relação entre o perfil de risco dos participantes e o status quo, incluindo variáveis de controle. Os resultados mostraram que os respondentes propensos ao risco parecem não ter sido afetados pelo viés do status quo em suas decisões, diferentemente dos demais. Quanto aos participantes que estudaram finanças comportamentais previamente nos cursos de licenciatura e/ou graduação (uma proxy para o conhecimento prévio do viés estudado), verificou-se, em média, um aumento de respostas nas opções alternativas ao status quo. No entanto, a presença do viés ainda foi predominante no total de respostas obtidas. Isso mostra que os respondentes que haviam estudado finanças comportamentais optaram mais por opções alternativas do que os outros, porém, mesmo esses indivíduos apresentaram o viés do status quo. Dessa forma, enfatiza-se a importância de compreender a influência de vieses comportamentais nas tomadas de decisões, pois eles podem comprometer decisões importantes dentro de uma organização.