<p> To investigate if, and how, curriculum developers are incorporating opportunities to develop global competence into business curricula, the Exploratory Design: Taxonomy Development Model (Qualitative Emphasized) was conducted on top-rated MBA programs. This three-phase mixed methods approach revealed 11 global competencies (or taxonomies) and 84 components (or sub-categories) in the qualitative study that were further explored in the quantitative study. Fifteen representatives of top-rated MBA programs completed the survey questionnaire. Data analyses revealed several significant associations between integrated global competencies and program rankings. Best practices implemented in the top-rated MBA programs for each of the 11 global competencies are discussed. Deans, program directors, faculty, curriculum developers, business graduates, international employers, and leaders in education are among those who could benefit from the results of this study.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: . Adviser: Stanley Ikenberry. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 197-205) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

<p> Based on the community of practice theory by Lave and Wenger this quantitative non-experimental study investigated the relationship between economic trust and sense of community of members who participate in virtual communities of practice to help them find answers to work related issues. The Classroom Community Scale and the Economic Trust Scale was the survey instrument utilized in this study. The participants in the study numbered 108 with their ages ranging from 18 to 65. Participants were working adults who currently used virtual community of practices for work related issues. The data collected in the study were analyzed using Pearson correlation and descriptive statistics. The results of the study found a significant correlation between economic trust and sense of community. The study also analyzed the two sub-constructs of sense of community, which are learning and connectedness to determine if a correlation existed with economic trust. The findings showed that learning was not significantly impacted by trust but connectedness was. </p>

<p>U.S. companies continue to grow and expand overseas. They also outsource business processes. There were approximately 350,000 call center employees in India in 2009 (Lundby, Parthasarthy, &amp; Kowske, 2009) and another 350,000 in the Philippines by 2010 (Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation, 2010). The success of employees who are not U.S. citizens, yet work for American companies, has become critical. These individuals are, many times, hired by and work for organizations located in the U.S. yet are native to, stationed in, and supervise operations in countries around the world. The leadership and cross-cultural acumen of individuals in these positions can be critical to their success or failure as employees of American organizations as well as to their ability to successfully lead members within their own organizations to achieve successful results. </p><p> This research project was conducted by a third party to preclude any bias as the researcher is also the owner of the organization under study. The research examined leadership behaviors as well as cross-cultural sensitivities of individuals in these positions in order to ascertain whether there were differences between these self-reported attributes and the results generated by particular organizational units. Qualitatively, the researcher interviewed senior executives at a number of firms (not associated with his own organization) with respect to leadership and cross-cultural sensitivities of mid-level managers to ascertain if, from the perspective of these senior executives, common threads could be identified that would lead to a greater understanding of the issues of leadership and cross-cultural sensitivities in these mid-level positions as well as efforts that could impact organizational results. </p><p> The resulting data indicated that there was not a significant statistical relationship between any of the leadership acumens or cultural identifiers and managerial performance. In the qualitative data, senior leaders overwhelmingly indicated that Focused Drive, Trusted Influence, and Conceptual Thinking were defining leadership behaviors between higher and lower performers. </p>

<p> This qualitative, phenomenological study provides a detailed look at corporate social responsibility (CSR) among selected U.S. Fortune 500 global corporations that show evidence of advanced stages of CSR development, herein referred to as <i>it</i>CSR. While CSR broadly conveys business' role in society, <i>it</i>CSR is a construct meant to indicate business' ideal contribution in society that epitomizes meaningful triple bottom line (TBL) impact. Using the Global Leadership Network Framework of business strategy, leadership, operational excellence, and engaged learning, this research explored what motivates executives to develop <i>it</i>CSR and the success strategies for instituting <i>it</i>CSR practices at America's largest publicly-traded multinational corporations (MNCs). The findings are particularly relevant in comparing the values, practices, initiatives, and drivers of <i> it</i>CSR development among the leading American global companies. Consequently, this study identified 10 U.S. Fortune 500 global corporations that met the <i> it</i>CSR criteria for this study from an analysis that included (a) cross-referencing five indices/lists that measure various parameters of the <i> it</i>CSR criteria, and (b) evaluating total trailing financial returns for 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year periods compared to the S&amp;P 500 Index results. Overarching themes from the study include: a) a strong presence of core ideologies has been in place from the origin of each company and represent the essence of the corporate character, and thus its soul; b) the core ideologies are centered on improving life and communities and are grounded in circular wisdom, eudaemonics, and virtuousness, all tied to ethical governance and a moral consciousness; c) there is purposeful connectivity cultivated by leadership for all levels of employees to engage in a shared responsibility; d) executive efficacy in <i>it</i>CSR efforts and undertaking cannot be underscored enough, even though leadership may manifest in different ways; e) it is necessary to embrace and promote <i>it</i>CSR development as a continuous, never-ending, imperfect journey; f) it is necessary to activate all aspects of the business' operations, and at the same time, recognize that the process is more of an art than a science; g) including the customer on the <i> it</i>CSR journey is predicated on authenticity, vulnerability, and risk-taking; h) developing multi-stakeholder partnerships is proactive, strategic, selective, action-oriented, focused on collaborative learning, and absolutely designed for meaningful and sustainable triple bottom line impact; and i) <i> it</i>CSR development operates from a platform of innovation.</p>

<p> The exploratory qualitative research study explored management education business school offerings in comparison to employer expectations. Through the lens of alumni and human-resources personnel participants, the research examined the skills deemed as transferrable to the workplace and competencies that undergraduate-management education alumni lack upon entry into the workplace. This research study used interviewing as the data-collection method to explore the experiences of undergraduate business-school alumni from two universities, which from here on out will be referred to as University A and University B, as well as human-resources personnel from the states where these universities are located. Existing literature relating to the effectiveness of management education programs did not fully address the problem at the undergraduate level. The findings of this study reaffirmed the need for employers, business school administrators, and faculty to increase collaborative efforts to ensure that undergraduate business-school program competencies are aligned with employer expectations.</p>

During the last 20 years, a large body of research has accumulated demonstrating the positive impact of charismatic leadership on organizational effectiveness. However, with a couple of exceptions, (e.g., Barling, Weber, & Kelloway, 1996; Dvir, Eden, Avolio & Shamir, 1999), little research has focused on the development of charismatic leaders. Moreover, researchers have noted the importance of the language that charismatic leaders use in gaining follower commitment to their vision. This study contributes to previous research by investigating the effectiveness of training individuals to be charismatic in their communication style. Given the importance of language to effective leadership, this research is timely and important. This study consists of two phases. In Phase One, the effects of training on outcomes of learning, behavior and motivation was investigated. Forty-eight business students received charisma training, presentation training, or no training. In addition to measuring trainee knowledge and motivation, all participants prepared and gave a speech and the performance of all participants was videotaped. In the second phase of this study, undergraduates (N = 102) at another university watched one of these videotapes and performed a task based on the instructions given in the speech. The findings demonstrated the efficacy of the charismatic communication training. Those who received charismatic communication training performed better on a declarative knowledge test and exhibited more charismatic communication behaviors than those who received presentation skills training or no training. There was also support for the effectiveness of the charismatic communication training on follower performance and attitudes. Compared to the other experimental conditions, participants in the charisma condition performed better, adhered to the company vision more frequently, enjoyed the task more, and had higher perceptions of effective delivery and charismatic leadership. The effects of training on follower performance and attitudes were partially mediated by both nonverbal behaviors of body gestures and vocal fluency and content strategies of stories and analogies. Future research directions and practical implications are discussed.

<p> With companies seeking to increase organizational efficiency while promoting prosperous growth, creativity has become one of the most important leadership qualities sought after by employers. This has put a demand on Masters of Business Administration (MBA) graduates to possess creative skills, as well as a dependency for MBA students to acquire a quality MBA education. Although business education has entered into new domains of online learning, the criticism remains that business education does little to foster or strengthen students' creativity skills. Thus, with the evolution of online education arises a need to research the effectiveness of creativity within these new domains. This phenomenological study analyzed MBA alumni's perceptions about the fostering of creativity skills within an online MBA program. A qualitative study was conducted with 25 participants from 3 separate U.S. and internationally based online MBA programs in order to gain insight into the needed improvements and or positive instructional design elements, facilitation practices, and technological media tools that foster creativity in online MBA programs. This study addressed the following research questions through the lens of MBA alumni: 1. What are alumni perceptions regarding facilitation (of instructors) that either enhance and or stifle creativity skills in an online MBA program? 2. What are alumni perceptions regarding instructional design elements (exercises, assignments, and or activities that are built into curriculum) that either enhance and or stifle creativity skills in an online MBA program? 3. What are alumni perceptions regarding technological media that either enhance and or stifle creativity skills in an online MBA program? </p><p> Among the findings of this study was the discovery of several themes that concur with experiences that foster creativity skills in online MBA programs: 1. Informal and flexible instructors and course content equates creative learning opportunities. 2. Various active facilitating methods foster a learning process. 3. Latitude of creative learning is enhanced by the freedom and flexibility of students' choices. 4. Program content and delivery are driving factors in incorporating new knowledge and or creativity skills. 5. Technological media tools and opportunities that are driven by the student lead to the learning and practicing of creativity.</p>

<p> This Delphi Study was designed to explore job-knowledge and practitioner expertise needed by bachelor-level graduates in meeting employer expectations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) health care industry. An initial supposition was that bachelor-level graduates were not meeting employer expectations because of insufficient jobknowledge, creating a need to align preparation of undergraduate business school graduates with workplace demands in management and finance. Process steps, based on Total Quality Management (TQM) Quality Function Deployment (QFD) House of Quality Principles, involved translating employer job-knowledge requirements into academic knowledge components useful to business school curriculum decision-makers. Combined levels of triangulation were employed to study expectations of UAE employers. Purposive sampling was applied to identify the participants. Data collection methods included 10 semi-structured in-depth interviews and two Responsive e-Delphi rounds. Data analysis involved translating employer job-knowledge requirements into academic knowledge components that contribute to curriculum development to improve learning process quality within UAE undergraduate schools of business. Findings indicated a need to provide students the opportunity to gain understanding and experience in applying theory to solve business problems within a work environment. Specific, accurate academic knowledge specifications embedded in the curriculum during curriculum design are recommended. Findings of this research may be useful to curriculum developers, curriculum revisers, and classroom instructors within UAE schools of business.</p>

<p> This study revealed leaders' experiences in fostering innovation. The study, a qualitative inquiry, used the psychological phenomenological approach to gain insights from the perspective of ten leaders from a small group of successful U.S. biopharmaceutical companies. The theoretical lens or basis for this research included elements of leadership theory, with focus on transformational leadership and the use of questions, organizational culture, participation, structuring, reflection, creativity and other points from the extant literature that related to leaders fostering innovation. The themes presented here emerged from the collecting of interview data, with the aid of the theoretical underpinnings. The data included coding from works in leadership (Sashkin &amp; Sashkin, 2005), leader use of questions (Marquardt, 2005) and organizational culture (Hatch, 1997). The study's overarching question was: What is the lived-experience of leaders in respect to fostering innovation within the smaller successful biotech companies they lead? The study offers three main conclusions developed from 12 insightful themes. The main findings included: (a) elements of visionary leadership (Sashkin &amp; Sashkin, 2003) and leaders' use of questions (Marquardt, 2005) operated concurrently in fostering innovation; (b) leadership elements vary in their relative importance depending on the circumstance; (c) leaders' Purposeful Involvement helps to drive innovation; and (d) a broader conceptualization of leading contributes to innovation. Leaders' purposeful involvement is further explained. Other points salient to leaders' fostering of innovation are also discussed. </p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> Fostering innovation, leadership, creativity, inquiry, question, organizational culture, problem solving, action learning, transformational, ambidextrous, biotechnology, biomedical, life science, pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical.</p>