Business School Management Research Articles

An exploration into the opportunities and constraints for career progression into leadership roles for School Business Managers in the state sector in England

Drawing on data from 116 survey responses by School Business Managers, and 7 semi-structured interviews with education professionals carried out between October 2017 and February 2018, this article reports on findings from a research project focussing on the opportunities and constraints for career progression into leadership roles for School Business Managers (SBMs) in the state sector in England. The article considers the differing roles and responsibilities of SBMs, how leadership is perceived in schools, the visibility of the SBM role, career aspirations of the SBMs who were surveyed, and the perceived constraints to progression to leadership roles. Analysis of the data was carried out using an inductive research approach using mixed methods. Snowballing was used to obtain a meaningful sample size for survey responses. Interviewees were chosen on the basis of judgement sampling. The sampling design for the survey and the interviews was one of non-probability. Findings suggest that leadership roles for SBMs do exist but that there are considerable constraints to these being achieved, not least the lack of appetite amongst SBMs to do so.

STUDENTS PERCEPTION OF PARENTAL SUPPORT ON STUDENTS ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT IN THE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN CAPE COAST METROPOLIS OF GHANA

Students perception of parental support or involvement on students achievements motivation seems to be a critical issue. The study examined the support parents give to their children and the relationship between those supports and students achievement motivation in Business Management in Senior High Schools in Cape Coast Metropolis. This study adopted descriptive research design and used a sample of 200 Senior High School Business Management students.The data collected to answer research question 1 and 2 were done using means and standard deviation. Results indicated that parents supported and involved themselves in their wards education. Again, findings revealed that students associated strong relation between parental support and students achievement motivation in Business Management. The study recommends that as parents are already supporting and involving themselves in their childrens education, it dawns on them to also provide guidance and counselling for their wards. Also, parents should be encouraged to maintain and if possible, increase the level of support they are already providing. The study further concludes that parents should provide all forms of supports to their wards including financial and emotional support of which they are all equally important.

Positioning school business practitioners in the English school system

This article explores the increasing professionalisation of school business practitioners in the state school system in England. Often referred to a ‘school business managers’ or ‘school business leaders’, this cohort of the school workforce have been increasingly tasked with leading crucial site-based management functions in schools, such as finance and budgeting, human resources and school operations. As this area of practitioner activity has grown over the last two decades, ‘school business leadership’ has increasingly been positioned by education policy makers and professional bodies as a distinct field of practice within the school system. However, despite increasing recognition of the value of school business leadership within the school system, there is evidence of continued tensions around the inclusion of such practitioners in matters of leadership. Further, there is a paucity of scholarly research exploring school business activity and the increasing professionalisation of its practitioners. Therefore, this article serves to contribute to this gap by exploring the evolution of school business practitioners and their positioning within the wider field of education in England. It argues for further research in England and for knowledge exchange with other education contexts to share insight and explore future potential.

Protean Career Orientation and Perceived Employability: The Mediating Role of Career Self-Management

The study examines the relationship between protean career orientation and perceived employability along with the engagement in proactive career behavior. The main objective of this paper is to understand how protean career orientation would form perceptions of student's employability with career self-management as a mediator. Data was collected with the help of a questionnaire from 182 business school students at Panjab University, Chandigarh. The result of correlation analysis indicates that a positive relationship exists between protean career orientation and perceived employability. PROCESS macro given by Hayes has been used to test the mediation. Analysis by bootstrapping method reveals that career self-management fully mediates the relationship between the two variables. Theoretically, this study extends the presence of protean career orientation beyond the work domain into the student life. It also adds on to the cross-cultural research by examining protean career orientation that is a US rooted concept in the Indian scenario. The practical implication of this study is that it improves perception of students towards their employability by indulging in career self-management initiatives. Further, business school management should aim at interventions to increase the self-directed and values-driven nature of students to make them more proactive with regards to their career management.

Classroom Learning and the Perception of Social Responsibility Amongst Graduate Students of Management Accounting

This study analyzes how learning about social responsibility (SR) can modify the perceptions of university students about the importance of responsible behavior on the part of companies. To this end, a questionnaire was designed and administered to Management Accounting students before (n = 128) and after (n = 71) receiving two training activities on SR. The descriptive results obtained testify to the importance of SR in the views of the sampled students, both before and after receiving the specific learning in SR. In this latter moment, students demonstrated a vision highly committed to the need for SR to be part of the economic agenda. The results also show that there was a significant change in the perception of SR and its implications in terms of benefits and costs before and after receiving the training. All of this suggests that SR training has partially modified students’ perceptions of SR. This paper provides important insights that could be leveraged by university and business school managers for the purpose of designing or modifying curricula related to SR. At the same time, it evaluates the potential of SR learning as a tool for modifying attitudes.

A View From The Top: Deans on Australian Business Schools

Australian business schools are often viewed by senior university managers as 'cash cows' because of their revenue‐raising capacity. However, a competing view has emerged that challenges their status as 'cash cows' and contends, instead, that business schools should focus on maximising 'public value' as a means to enhance their legitimacy. Using the analytic framework of 'public value,' a broad cross section of Australian business schools deans was interviewed. These interviews afforded a greater understanding of how the tensions inherent in these competing narratives are reconciled, and how they impact on the day‐to‐day management of business schools in Australia.

Research finds absence of systematic approach to talent management in Egyptian public business schools

Purpose The goal was to find what talent management procedures were used in the sector in Egypt Design/methodology/approach The authors wanted to speak to teaching assistants and assistant lecturers for their analysis. Their interviewees were from public business schools at three universities in Upper Egypt, which covers about 25% of the country’s total land. There were 245 respondents. Findings The authors concluded that there were “no responsible approaches to managing talent”. Instead, they observed “disorganized and irresponsible” procedures for staffing, motivating, managing and retaining staff. Originality/value Despite the concept’s growing importance, there have been few studies of the topic in an academic context. In particular, there is a dearth of research in both African and Middle Eastern settings. In Egypt, talent management is especially important because the sector was rated among the worst 10 in the world by the World Economic Forum in 2017.

Designing and implementing high-performance work systems: Insights from consulting practice for academic researchers

The central subject of the strategic HRM field is the relationship between HRM practices and firm performance and the focal construct is the high-performance work system (HPWS). The first two of the authors began their careers in the early 1970s as professors in a business school management department but decided in the late 1980s to leave academe and devote full time to their organizational design consulting practice. For over three decades they led large-scale HPWS design and implementation projects for several dozen companies in not only manufacturing plants but also banks, airlines, hospitals, and corporate headquarters. With the help of the third author, a comparison is made of the HPWS as discussed and conceptualized in the academic literature and the HPWS designed and implemented in practice. The academic version has little resemblance to the real-world version, pointing to a quite large research-practice gap that appears to widen over time. The remainder of the paper describes in more detail the socio-technical design principles used to construct an HPWS, the major challenges and pitfalls in successful implementation and sustainability, and a short case study of an actual HPWS project. If academics want to do useful, relevant research on HPWS, they need to engage with the real thing in the field.

Determinants of Competitiveness of Business Schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Faculty’s Perspective

Purpose- The present study was an attempt to enhance the understanding on the competitiveness of business schools (Bschools) and identify the most influential determinants that affect competitiveness of Bschools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from faculty’s perspective.
 Methodology- The current study followed the quantitative approach. The sample size was 261 determined by formula of Yamane (1967) and respondents were selected using stratified probability sampling technique. Data was collected through questionnaire using 5-point Likert scale. Principal Component Analysis was applied to assess unifactoriality of the constructs. Hypothesis of study assuming relationship between independent and dependent variables were tested using SEM.
 Findings- Findings of the study suggests that Teaching staff, Employment prospects, Gender diversity, Leadership and management significantly and positively affect the Competitiveness of Bschools (P< 0.05). On other hand, Industry and Internationalization aspects were found to have significant negative effect on competitiveness of Bschools (P<0.05).
 Originality/Value- The present study can help the management of business schools to focus on the areas that can increase the competitiveness of business school to meet the challenges of globalization. Moreover, competitiveness was measured using satisfaction and reputation and the empirical testing of effect of determinants on competitiveness of business schools are the theoretical contributions of the study.

PERCEPTUAL GAP AMONG CORPORATE WORLD, ACADEMICS AND STUDENTS: PERSONAL QUALITIES AND EMPLOYABILITY COMPETENCIES OF STUDENTS

Personal qualities and employability competencies influence how an individual interacts with others. Employers value employability skills because they are linked to how employees get along with co-workers and customers, job performance, and career success of the employee. Hence personal qualities and employability competencies are considered as one of the essential components for an individual’s career development. This study aims to understand the perceptual gap among the corporate world, business school academics and business school students. This study is quantitative in nature and primary data was collected through survey method. The primary data was collected from 377 Master of Business Administration (MBA) students, 276 Business School faculties and 98 managers representing 100 different companies in Bangalore, India. Three different questionnaires were prepared for three groups. All three sets of respondents were asked to rate their perception towards the requirement of personal qualities and skill/competencies required at the workplace in an entrylevel job. The study highlights that there is a significant difference in the perception of students, business school faculty and managers towards listed personal qualities and competencies. These perceptual differences result in different types of costs to the company in terms of time, money and energy. The results will help the business schools to develop an innovative business curriculum that can fill the current industry needs.

PERCEPTUAL GAP AMONG CORPORATE WORLD, ACADEMICS AND STUDENTS: PERSONAL QUALITIES AND EMPLOYABILITY COMPETENCIES OF STUDENTS

Personal qualities and employability competencies influence how an individual interacts with others. Employers value employability skills because they are linked to how employees get along with co-workers and customers, job performance, and career success of the employee. Hence personal qualities and employability competencies are considered as one of the essential components for an individual’s career development. This study aims to understand the perceptual gap among the corporate world, business school academics and business school students. This study is quantitative in nature and primary data was collected through survey method. The primary data was collected from 377 Master of Business Administration (MBA) students, 276 Business School faculties and 98 managers representing 100 different companies in Bangalore, India. Three different questionnaires were prepared for three groups. All three sets of respondents were asked to rate their perception towards the requirement of personal qualities and skill/competencies required at the workplace in an entrylevel job. The study highlights that there is a significant difference in the perception of students, business school faculty and managers towards listed personal qualities and competencies. These perceptual differences result in different types of costs to the company in terms of time, money and energy. The results will help the business schools to develop an innovative business curriculum that can fill the current industry needs.

ANALISIS KESESUAIAN RPP DENGAN PELAKSANAAN PEMBELAJARAN AKUNTANSI DASAR YANG MENGGUNAKAN KURIKULUM 2013 DI SMKN MANAJEMEN BISNIS KOTA PADANG

This study aims to describe the suitability of the RPP with the Learning Implementation Process, the suitability of the RPP made by teachers with the 2013 Curriculum, and the obstacles faced by teachers in implementing the RPP. Data collection using, documentation, observation, interviews and then data were analyzed using qualitative descriptive methods. Based on the results of the analysis it is known that the percentage of completeness of the RPP components of Vocational High School Business Management in Padang with the Curriculum Component of the 2013 RPP is 97.01%, the percentage of the suitability of the RPP with the implementation of learning is 27.7%, 27.8%, 30.4%,36 , 2% and 41.7%. this means that the teacher is not competent in carrying out the lesson plans when implementing learning in the classroom. The obstacles faced by teachers are lack of time, IT like Infocus is also inadequate in schools and lack of source books.Keywords: learning implementation plan, learning implementation process, curriculum 2013

Modeling the critical barriers to implementation of AACSB accreditation in business schools

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify and model the key barriers to the issue of adoption and implementation of AACSB accreditation standards in business schools. Business school management can focus on removing the key barriers and implement accreditation standards and practices to improve the quality of programs offered by them.Design/methodology/approachThe present study adopts the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approach to develop a hierarchical-based model of the key barriers to implementation of Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation standards. It also depicts the mutual relationships among the key barriers.FindingsThe paper has identified the key barriers and presented an integrated model using ISM. Business schools need to pay maximum attention to diagnose and overcome these hindrances for effective implementation of AACSB accreditation standards.Research limitations/implicationsThe model is based on the experts’ opinions, which may be biased, influencing the final output of the structural model. The developed model is to help the business school management in understanding the significance of the barriers, to prioritize or eliminate the same for the implementation of accreditation standards.Originality/valueThe depiction of barriers in the form of an ISM-based model is a new effort in the area of business school accreditation. The results will be useful to understand the barriers and overcome these for successful implementation of AACSB accreditation standards in business schools.

Global competition and diffusion of the \u201cA\u201d list

Focusing on the global diffusion of the “A” list consisting of predominantly U.S.-based journals, we argue that such diffusion represents an important form of professionalization in the management of business schools. The diffusion can also be viewed as an intellectual movement in the age of global competition characterized by a flat world. How can we explain the recent diffusion of the “A” list? More important, how does such diffusion impact the future of business and management scholarship? Addressing these important but underexplored questions, we identify the multilevel factors that explain the diffusion, and predict its likely trajectory and its impact on future scholarship.

INTERNATIONAL ACCREDITATIONS AS A TOOL TO DEVELOP FACULTY ENGAGEMENT

In the current educational landscape, international accreditations are becoming an increasingly important tool of external evaluation of quality. Academia has ambivalent views on the role of international accreditations and points out the perils of bureaucratization and substitution of quality of outcomes with the quality of reporting. However, preparation for international accreditations stimulates self-reflection of faculty members with respect to their activities, definition development areas and problem-solving. The article discusses the potential of international accreditations in terms of engagement management in business schools and universities. The authors consider faculty engagement as a major development concept reflected in the missions of modern universities and requirements of international accreditations. The article presents comparative analysis of standards, criteria and processes of international accreditations in business education: AACSB, ЕFMD и AMBA and makes a linkage to international accreditations and the development of faculty engagement. The case of HSE St Petersburg School of Economics and Management is provided as an example of managing faculty engagement in the context of international accreditations.

University as a workplace: searching for meaningful work

ABSTRACTWork in academia is changing, and research suggests that not all the changes are desirable. Higher education is developing in a direction heavily criticized, especially in relation to the concepts of neoliberal and academic capitalism. In this article, we explore meaningful work in a university context. Our focus lies on individual lecturers’ positive opportunities to make work meaningful and the university a better place to work for both students and faculty. We examine meaningful work as a relational phenomenon: how meaningfulness is constructed through features such as dialogue, expertise, interaction and sharing of ideas. Our empirical findings are based on analysis of qualitative and quantitative data collected in a business school management course deliberately developed to promote cooperation, interaction and shared learning as central tenets of meaningful work. Both faculty members’ and students’ perspectives on meaningful work are discussed.

Factors to Measure the Performance of Private Business Schools in South Africa

This article identifies the latent variables embedded within the model to measure the performance of private business schools. In the quantitative research design, 247 questionnaires, using a five-point Likert scale, were analysed after completion by private business school supervisors and managers. The data has high reliability with a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.974 and excellent sample adequacy with a KMO value of 0.926. The analysis identified ten latent variables (or factors), identified using exploratory factor analysis explaining a cumulative variance of 70.56%. These are Regulatory compliance, Strategic communication, Educational technology stack, Strategic finance, Organisational development, Customer orientation, Sales, Pricing, Socio-political influence and Market focus. The study also succeeded to simplify measuring performance by eliminating 26 questions with low factor loadings (<0.40) or those that are cross-loading highly onto more than one factor from the questionnaire while retaining a satisfactory level of reliability. The results are valuable to private business school managers and to the employees wanting to measure and improve the business performance of a private business school. Researchers and academia could also benefit from the contribution of the study to either build on business performance of private business schools or, alternatively, in adopting the methodology employed in this study for another application setting.

Factors to Measure the Performance of Private Business Schools in South Africa

This article identifies the latent variables embedded within the model to measure the performance of private business schools. In the quantitative research design, 247 questionnaires, using a five-point Likert scale, were analysed after completion by private business school supervisors and managers. The data has high reliability with a Cronbach alpha coefficient of 0.974 and excellent sample adequacy with a KMO value of 0.926. The analysis identified ten latent variables (or factors), identified using exploratory factor analysis explaining a cumulative variance of 70.56%. These are Regulatory compliance, Strategic communication, Educational technology stack, Strategic finance, Organisational development, Customer orientation, Sales, Pricing, Socio-political influence and Market focus. The study also succeeded to simplify measuring performance by eliminating 26 questions with low factor loadings (<0.40) or those that are cross-loading highly onto more than one factor from the questionnaire while retaining a satisfactory level of reliability. The results are valuable to private business school managers and to the employees wanting to measure and improve the business performance of a private business school. Researchers and academia could also benefit from the contribution of the study to either build on business performance of private business schools or, alternatively, in adopting the methodology employed in this study for another application setting.

A curriculum model for IT infrastructure management in undergraduate business schools

As information technology infrastructure becomes strategic to organizations, the author examines business-school programs that educate future infrastructure analysts. Information systems (IS) 2010 and information technology (IT) 2008 curriculum models are used to survey courses required by telecommunications and IT infrastructure programs in business schools. Of 525 Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business–accredited schools, 259 have IS/IT programs and 18 have telecommunications and infrastructure-related programs. IT Infrastructure, Networking-Advanced, and IT Security are the top three infrastructure-related courses. Programs also require courses including IS Project Management; Social and Professional Issues; and IS Strategy, Management and Acquisition. Data collected are used to develop a new curriculum model of IT infrastructure management program that can be offered by business schools.

School business managers in England: negotiating identity

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of group identity formation amongst school business managers in the English school system.Design/methodology/approachData were generated via a research project that employed semi-structured interviews with school business managers as a means of exploring their experiences as a relatively nascent group, carving out their own territory within a school system traditionally led and managed by trained educationalists.FindingsThe findings provide insight into the enabling and inhibiting factors encountered by school business managers in establishing and negotiating a distinguishable group identity within the wider school workforce including their variable career trajectories and motives, the suitability of their qualifications and the diverse composition of their roles.Originality/valueThe paper throws light on the identity formation of a cohort of the school workforce in England who are not directly involved in educational leadership or classroom practice but nevertheless play a crucial role in the ecosystem of the school. While the research reported is situated within England, the issues raised can be applied to education systems in other contexts given the universal importance of financial and organizational management in schools.