Thesis advisor: Paul Gray / Thesis advisor: Paul Schervish / The current economic crisis resembles a type of "critical situation" wherein everyday assumptions and routines sustaining hegemonic ideologies and their corresponding forms of social power are prone to be disrupted (Giddens 1987). Such situations provide opportunities for the relative strength of such hegemonies, and how they are effectively restored and/or challenged, to be uncovered. In undertaking this study I sought to discover the social and economic implications and lessons MBA students associate with the current economic crisis and how they frame and rationalize such perceptions. In so doing, I further aimed to uncover specific ideological processes they perform in preserving and/or challenging conventional tenets of liberal capitalism. I reexamine the sociological concept of ideology in reference to the empirical data, and test the capacity of Giddens' (1979, 1984) and Mannheim's (1949) combined methodologies in uncovering interconnections of consciousness, ideology and agency. I conducted semi-structured interviews with 23 MBA students from five universities in Boston, and used a combination of grounded theory and theory testing to analyze the data. Findings reveal not only the specific content comprising hegemonic notions of what constitutes economic and social reality among respondents, but also reflect how ideology functions as a holistic process of social and self understanding and how it reproduces, and is reproduced by, the performance of agencies within particular corporate and educational structures. I argue that the tenets espoused and enacted by many respondents reveal a stark challenge to future social change. Even amid the current crisis -the largest since the Great Depression -most respondents acknowledge that this event had little impact on how they view their professional vocations or the macro economic system. This finding not only speak strongly to the rigidity of conventional tenets underscoring our liberal capitalist culture, but also implies the urgent need to reconsider how our educational institutions should play a greater role in challenging conventional notions of reality espoused so fervently by burgeoning business professionals. I further argue that critical, systematic evaluations of consciousness and ideology should take a more substantial role in the social sciences in determining the restraints and possibilities for social change. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

As críticas que os programas de MBA têm recebido (LATHAM; LATHAM; WHYTE, 2004; CLOSS; ANTONELLO, 2014; RAMLALL; RAMLALL, 2016) e o aumento da ofertas desses cursos no Brasil (KARAWEJCZYK, 2015; WOOD JR.; CRUZ, 2014; GIULIANI et al., 2007; BACELLAR; IKEDA, 2005) levaram ao objetivo desta pesquisa de compreender os cursos de MBA brasileiros sob a perspectiva de gestores egressos desses programas. Para tanto, realizou-se uma pesquisa qualitativa exploratória, através de entrevistas semiestruturadas com vinte gestores egressos de MBAs. Através da análise de conteúdo, foram identificados como propósitos para realização dos cursos e que também foram contribuições dos mesmos: aprendizagem das ferramentas de administração, conhecimentos sobre gestão, criação de rede de relacionamentos, experiência internacional e desenvolvimento pessoal. Como lacunas e pontos fracos, surgiram aspectos como a falta de vivências práticas, a desatualização dos conteúdos, docentes com baixa qualificação, discentes com pouca experiência e a escassez de tempo (dos alunos e do curso). Já as sugestões apontadas para aprimoramento dos cursos relacionaram-se com o formato das aulas, a frequência e o local dos encontros, a internacionalização dos cursos, a vivência profissional dos professores e rigor nos programas, a composição das turmas conforme a experiência dos participantes e o desenvolvimento humano do gestor. / The criticisms that MBA programs have received (LATHAM, LATHAM, WHYTE, 2004, CLONE, ANTONELLO, 2014, RAMLALL, RAMLALL, 2016) and the increase in the offers of these courses in Brazil (KARAWEJCZYK, 2015; WOOD JR.; CRUZ, 2014; GIULIANI et al., 2007; BACELLAR; IKEDA, 2005), has led to the theme of the current research, which aims at understanding the MBA scenario in the country. For that, a qualitative exploratory research was carried out, through semi-structured interviews with twenty former MBA graduates. Through the analysis of content, the following purposes and contributions for the course were identified: learning management tools, management knowledge, networking, international experience and personal development. As flaws and weaknesses, aspects such as the lack of practical experiences, the outdated content, professor and students with little experience and the shortage of time (of the students and the course) appeared. The suggestions mentioned were related to course schedule, frequency and location of the meetings, internationalization of courses, teachers skills and rigour in the programs, the formation of the classes according to the participants experience and the human development of the manager.

We live in an age of public accountability. For university-based business schools, housed within institutions with responsibilities for fostering public wellbeing, public accountability represents major challenges. The specific challenge of this dissertation is interpreting that accountability in moral, as opposed to legal or bureaucratic terms. Much of the academic attention to public accountability has focused on the legal aspects of compliance and regulation. The systemic nature of the educative-formative problem of moral accountability argued herein is especially evident inside postgraduate management education. I argue that nascent ideas of moral accountability foreground a systemic and inescapable challenge to the legitimacy of the now ubiquitous Masters of Business Administration (MBA) within university based management education. Illustrating the formative-educative problem via a case study at an Australian university and drawing on a critical review of the management studies literature I argue that current approaches to meeting those public responsibilities are at risk of being marginal at best. This is a view increasingly recognised by those within the management studies field already committed to redressing amoral management theory and practice. Efforts to professionalise management by bringing management studies inside universities have long been abandoned in favour of following market logic - a predominantly financially driven logic that is formatively amoral - thus exposing universities' moral legitimacy to rising public skepticism, if not acute and justifiable concern. Beyond the professionalisation efforts and the compliance mentality of corporate governance and against the commonplace smorgasbord approach to business ethics (foreclosing engagement with larger and relevant political, ethical and philosophical dimensions) I argue for cultivating a specific capability for management graduates - one area that will yield considerable philosophical scope and pedagogical options while meeting the university's public responsibility. I make a case for cultivating reflective judgment on matters of moral accountability {and specifically at the individual level} as a defining capability in management studies - a capability that is worthy of public trust in universities. To that end I argue for a Kantian approach to cultivating reflective moral accountability. The scope of this approach is global, the mode is action-guiding principles under public scrutiny, where reverence for individual human dignity is at its base: a civic or enlightened accountability, oriented to earning and warranting public trust, by individuals and through institutions. Kantian hope in a cosmopolitan ethical commonwealth sustains practical-idealist commitment to cultivating this capability. This Kantian approach is shaped by Kant's grossly under-recognised moral anthropology: a composite of a modest metaphysical framework of justice intersecting with his almost completely ignored philosophy of experience / anthropology. The pedagogical approach developed here is based on Kant's moral anthropology and notion of maturity. It is oriented to deeply experiential organic learning as university-based preparation for reflective moral judgment in pressured, complex situations of uncertainty. The aim here is fostering ideas on approaching what is problematic not to develop a comprehensive theory of moral accountability in the MBA. Taken together this Kantian response sees paideia as central to the public role of university education, and as such represents a radical challenge to seemingly unassailable assumptions of authority in management theory and practice. I follow a phronesis approach in this research, a perspective on knowledge that views the social sciences as categorically different from the natural sciences, calling less for universal laws and more for knowledge drawing on wisdom and moral judgment derived through extensive experience. Flyvbjerg's phronetic approach to the social sciences guides the case study, influences the selection of perspectives in both the literature review and the Kantian considerations. I approach this educative-formative problem out of liberal-humanist, social-contract traditions.

We live in an age of public accountability. For university-based business schools, housed within institutions with responsibilities for fostering public wellbeing, public accountability represents major challenges. The specific challenge of this dissertation is interpreting that accountability in moral, as opposed to legal or bureaucratic terms. Much of the academic attention to public accountability has focused on the legal aspects of compliance and regulation. The systemic nature of the educative-formative problem of moral accountability argued herein is especially evident inside postgraduate management education. I argue that nascent ideas of moral accountability foreground a systemic and inescapable challenge to the legitimacy of the now ubiquitous Masters of Business Administration (MBA) within university based management education. Illustrating the formative-educative problem via a case study at an Australian university and drawing on a critical review of the management studies literature I argue that current approaches to meeting those public responsibilities are at risk of being marginal at best. This is a view increasingly recognised by those within the management studies field already committed to redressing amoral management theory and practice. Efforts to professionalise management by bringing management studies inside universities have long been abandoned in favour of following market logic - a predominantly financially driven logic that is formatively amoral - thus exposing universities' moral legitimacy to rising public skepticism, if not acute and justifiable concern. Beyond the professionalisation efforts and the compliance mentality of corporate governance and against the commonplace smorgasbord approach to business ethics (foreclosing engagement with larger and relevant political, ethical and philosophical dimensions) I argue for cultivating a specific capability for management graduates - one area that will yield considerable philosophical scope and pedagogical options while meeting the university's public responsibility. I make a case for cultivating reflective judgment on matters of moral accountability {and specifically at the individual level} as a defining capability in management studies - a capability that is worthy of public trust in universities. To that end I argue for a Kantian approach to cultivating reflective moral accountability. The scope of this approach is global, the mode is action-guiding principles under public scrutiny, where reverence for individual human dignity is at its base: a civic or enlightened accountability, oriented to earning and warranting public trust, by individuals and through institutions. Kantian hope in a cosmopolitan ethical commonwealth sustains practical-idealist commitment to cultivating this capability. This Kantian approach is shaped by Kant's grossly under-recognised moral anthropology: a composite of a modest metaphysical framework of justice intersecting with his almost completely ignored philosophy of experience / anthropology. The pedagogical approach developed here is based on Kant's moral anthropology and notion of maturity. It is oriented to deeply experiential organic learning as university-based preparation for reflective moral judgment in pressured, complex situations of uncertainty. The aim here is fostering ideas on approaching what is problematic not to develop a comprehensive theory of moral accountability in the MBA. Taken together this Kantian response sees paideia as central to the public role of university education, and as such represents a radical challenge to seemingly unassailable assumptions of authority in management theory and practice. I follow a phronesis approach in this research, a perspective on knowledge that views the social sciences as categorically different from the natural sciences, calling less for universal laws and more for knowledge drawing on wisdom and moral judgment derived through extensive experience. Flyvbjerg's phronetic approach to the social sciences guides the case study, influences the selection of perspectives in both the literature review and the Kantian considerations. I approach this educative-formative problem out of liberal-humanist, social-contract traditions.

<p>Previous findings have suggested that auditive white noise benefits cognitive performance under certain circumstances. The primary purpose of the present pilot study was to explore the effects of visual white noise on verbal episodic memory performance in a normal participant population. Performance was assessed by an immediate free recall test. A secondary purpose was to explore whether participants` eye blink rates and/or temporal processing alters in different noise conditions. The findings of the present study suggest that visual white noise does not affect recall performance among normal participants. However, partially different memory systems and/or memorizing techniques might be used in different noise conditions. Furthermore, noise was not found to affect participants` blink rates or temporal processing.</p>

Previous findings have suggested that auditive white noise benefits cognitive performance under certain circumstances. The primary purpose of the present pilot study was to explore the effects of visual white noise on verbal episodic memory performance in a normal participant population. Performance was assessed by an immediate free recall test. A secondary purpose was to explore whether participants` eye blink rates and/or temporal processing alters in different noise conditions. The findings of the present study suggest that visual white noise does not affect recall performance among normal participants. However, partially different memory systems and/or memorizing techniques might be used in different noise conditions. Furthermore, noise was not found to affect participants` blink rates or temporal processing.

Business schools have been under scrutiny over the last few years with regard to the type of manager leaders that they produce. This is because the business sector has suffered significantly, both financially and in terms of global reputation due to the unethical conduct of those in management and leadership of the organisations. The scandals that rocked the world in recent times, from business entities such as Enron and Tiger Brands provide examples of the unethical behaviour in the day–to–day running of business and further bring forth the essential need for an in–depth study in the behaviour of the manager–leaders. These manager–leaders are said to be graduates from business schools around the world. Researchers and business schools have started to put emphasis on the importance of ethical behaviour in manager–leaders. Business schools in particular have introduced and included business law and ethics as one of the modules in the curriculum of the MBA program so as to inculcate the ethical conduct in the present and emerging manager–leaders in organisations. Therefore, this study is based on the evaluation of the ethical behaviour of the MBA students at a selected business school in South Africa. The subjects of this study (MBA students) were subjected to questionnaires that prompted their convictions with regard to ethical behaviour at personal (individual) level and on company level as well. The results of the study indicated that the MBA students at this selected business school are ethical in behaviour at both individual and company levels, hence complied with principles that are guidelines in the renowned King reports. However, a comparative study with other business schools will be necessary so as to measure the relative ethical behaviour of the MBA students at other business schools. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Business schools have been under scrutiny over the last few years with regard to the type of manager leaders that they produce. This is because the business sector has suffered significantly, both financially and in terms of global reputation due to the unethical conduct of those in management and leadership of the organisations. The scandals that rocked the world in recent times, from business entities such as Enron and Tiger Brands provide examples of the unethical behaviour in the day–to–day running of business and further bring forth the essential need for an in–depth study in the behaviour of the manager–leaders. These manager–leaders are said to be graduates from business schools around the world. Researchers and business schools have started to put emphasis on the importance of ethical behaviour in manager–leaders. Business schools in particular have introduced and included business law and ethics as one of the modules in the curriculum of the MBA program so as to inculcate the ethical conduct in the present and emerging manager–leaders in organisations. Therefore, this study is based on the evaluation of the ethical behaviour of the MBA students at a selected business school in South Africa. The subjects of this study (MBA students) were subjected to questionnaires that prompted their convictions with regard to ethical behaviour at personal (individual) level and on company level as well. The results of the study indicated that the MBA students at this selected business school are ethical in behaviour at both individual and company levels, hence complied with principles that are guidelines in the renowned King reports. However, a comparative study with other business schools will be necessary so as to measure the relative ethical behaviour of the MBA students at other business schools. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

No description available.

O objetivo desta pesquisa foi compreender a relação entre Cognoscitividade do Agente e Produção de Conhecimento Especializado na experiência de formação gerencial de alunos de MBA. Sem partir de proposições estabelecidas, a pesquisa de campo se concentrou em aprofundar as categorias da literatura e as que emergiram durante o processo de investigação com objetivo de produzir teoria fundamentada acerca da aprendizagem gerencial em cursos de MBA (Strauss & Corbin, 2009). Participaram da pesquisa 48 alunos provenientes de dois programas de MBA Executivo no Brasil, com idades entre 27 e 54 anos (M=38,1/DP=7,15). Trata-se de um estudo longitudinal, em que a coleta de dados foi realizada por meio da observação participante e da triangulação de métodos qualitativos e quantitativos e de dados coletados em fontes primárias e secundárias (Gray, 2012). Os dados foram obtidos por meio de: (a) pesquisa documental, (b) entrevistas com alunos, (c) dois questionários aplicados em momentos distintos da pesquisa, e (d) escalas validadas e padronizadas para população brasileira para mensurar Otimismo, Esperança Cognitiva, Autoeficácia e Autoestima; (e) diário de campo. Três Estudos Pilotos foram conduzidos com o objetivo de validação dos instrumentos de coleta com as fontes primárias; quais sejam: os dois questionários e o roteiro semiestruturado de entrevista com os alunos. Para validação das interpretações realizadas no decorrer da pesquisa foram aplicadas técnicas de validação comunicativa, pragmática e transgressiva (Sandberg, 2005). Os dados qualitativos foram analisados por meio de técnicas de codificação e interpretação de conteúdo da Teoria Fundamentada (Strauss & Corbin, 2009) e os dados quantitativos foram analisados pela estatística de tabulação cruzada para comparação das categorias pelo Teste t (Gray, 2012; Hair et al, 2007). Os resultados demostram associações significativas entre propriedades e dimensões específicas ao processo cognoscitivo dos alunos e à produção de Conhecimento Especializado nos programas de MBA investigados. A monitoração reflexiva dos alunos e sua relação dialética de poder nas transações com as propriedades estruturais do curso foram analisadas à luz de uma matriz interpretativa proposta nesta pesquisa para compreensão do processo de aprendizagem individual. Foram identificadas e descritas influências da Propriedade Estrutural do curso de MBA no engajamento do aluno, na articulação de conteúdos e experiências em conhecimento especializado e no desenvolvimento da Autoestima e Autoeficácia. Também foram identificadas e descritas influências dos modos e estratégias de aprendizagem aplicados pelos alunos-agentes na atribuição de valor e reconhecimento de contribuições efetivas do curso para sua prática profissional e o desenvolvimento de carreira. A partir das evidências obtidas é proposto um modelo teórico compreensivo do processo de aprendizagem individual em alunos de MBA. Limitações do estudo são discutidas e pesquisas futuras são sugeridas ao final do trabalho. / The objective of this research was to understand the relationship between the Cognoscitivity of the Agent and the Specialized Knowledge Production in experience of managerial formation of students of the MBA Executive. The present research did not start from previous established propositions. Actually, field research focused on deepening the categories of literature and those that emerged during the research process in order to produce grounded theory about learning management in MBA courses (Strauss & Corbin, 2009). Participants were 48 students from two Executive MBA programs in Brazil, aged between 27 and 54 years (M=38,1/SD=7,15). This is a longitudinal study, in which data collection was conducted through participant observation and triangulation of qualitative and quantitative methods and data from primary and secondary sources (Gray, 2012). Data were obtained from: (a) documentary research, (b) interviews with students, (c) two questionnaires applied at different times of the research, and (d) standardized and validated scales for the Brazilian population to measure Optimism, Cognitive Hope, Self-efficacy and Self-esteem, and (e) a field diary. Three Pilot Studies were conducted for the purpose of validation of data collection instruments with the primary sources (i.e., the two questionnaires and the script of the semi-structured interviews with students). To validate the interpretations made during the research communicative, pragmatic and transgressive validation techniques were applied (Sandberg, 2005). Qualitative data were analyzed using coding techniques and content interpretation of Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin, 2009). and quantitative data were statistically analyzed by cross-tabulation for comparison of categories through the t test (Gray, 2012; Hair et al, 2007). The results demonstrate significant associations between specific properties and dimensions of the cognoscitive process of students and to the production of Specialized Knowledge in the Executive MBA programs investigated. The reflexive monitoring of students and their dialectical relationship of power in transactions with the structural properties of the course were analyzed in the light of an interpretative matrix proposed in this research for understanding the process of individual learning. Influences of the Structural Property of the MBA course in student engagement, articulation of content and experiences, and expertise in the development of Self-Esteem and Self-Efficacy were identified and described. The influences of the modes and learning strategies applied by the agency of the students in the value assignment and recognition of effective contributions of the course to their professional and career development were also identified and described. From the evidence obtained, a comprehensive theoretical model of the individual learning process in MBA students is proposed. Limitations of the study are discussed and suggestions for future research are presented at the conclusion.