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1 – 10 of over 136000Sabina Siebert and Graeme Martin
The dominant variance theory approaches to researching business school reputations are based on a positivistic hypothetico‐deductive research methodology and do not adequately…
Abstract
Purpose
The dominant variance theory approaches to researching business school reputations are based on a positivistic hypothetico‐deductive research methodology and do not adequately take into account either the different levels and types of contexts in which business schools operate or the diversity of stakeholder interests. The aim of this paper is to propose a more relevant contextualised framework for analysing the reputation of business schools that takes cognisance of the national business systems, industry/sector, university and relational contexts of the different stakeholders involved in socially constructing and enacting business school reputations. The authors also seek to explore the tensions between these often competing or unaligned agendas of stakeholders in business schools.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper that proposes a contextualised framework for analysing the reputation of business schools. It reviews the current state of theory on business schools’ reputations, analyses their weaknesses and potential research gaps, and proposes an alternative model to the dominant universalistic positivism in understanding business school reputations.
Findings
The authors conclude that the variance theory underpinning of current research does not take into account sufficiently either the diversity of stakeholder interests or the contexts in which business schools operate. Thus, the authors propose an alternative model to the dominant universalistic positivism in understanding business school reputations. This new model is based on four levels of context: national, industry, university and relational, and acknowledges that different stakeholders might have a dominant voice at each of these levels.
Originality/value
The authors attempt to fill a gap in the existing literature on business school reputations, and make a contribution to theory of reputation management.
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Kimmo Alajoutsijärvi and Kerttu Kettunen
The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for identifying the primary tensions that business school dean’s encounter when moving between different university…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for identifying the primary tensions that business school dean’s encounter when moving between different university contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is part of a larger research project on the development of business schools. This conceptual paper builds on the studies and personal experiences of business schools and their management in a number of different countries, primarily in Europe, North America, Asia, and the Middle East.
Findings
The present study argues that as a response to the increasing corporatization of higher education, the university sector has fragmented into at least three identifiable contexts: the traditional research university, the academic capitalist university, and the corporate university. The authors conclude that the match between a dean’s worldview and the university context ultimately determines the appropriateness, survival, and success of deanship.
Practical implications
The paper provides practical suggestions for managing business schools. Given that “good” leadership is always context dependent, no single deanship would fit for all business schools. As an outcome, both deans and the selection committees making decisions regarding their recruitment should be sensitive to their worldviews originating from the university contexts in which they previously worked.
Originality/value
Emphasizing a contextual approach to business school leadership, this paper proposes a new typology of deanship situations.
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Ahlam Hassan, David Gallear and Uthayasankar Sivarajah
While the importance of leadership in various domains has been highlighted in the extant literature, effective leadership in the context of higher education sector has not been…
Abstract
Purpose
While the importance of leadership in various domains has been highlighted in the extant literature, effective leadership in the context of higher education sector has not been well addressed in the leadership scholarship. There is a need to address the challenge of leadership effectiveness in the education sector, including business schools, given the failures noticed in the sector attributed to poor-quality leadership. The purpose of this study was therefore to explore the factors that affected leadership in the context of higher education institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is exploratory in nature as the study critically reviewed extant literature surrounding leadership practices specifically from a public-sector context to identify factors affecting leadership effectiveness.
Findings
The findings of the study pointed out that, regardless of the nation or organisation, leadership effectiveness is a factor that is dependent on how well the followers have accepted the leader. This indicates that, amongst the different challenges explored in this study, leadership effectiveness is not only a challenge by itself but is also affected by other challenges, including leadership practice and style.
Research limitations/implications
This research provides a better understanding of the critical factors affecting leadership practice of deans of business schools and how the styles’ influence on leadership practice, the relationship between leadership practice and leadership effectiveness and how leadership style translates into leadership effectiveness.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the growing body of knowledge surrounding leadership scholarship from a public-sector context about the challenges that affect leadership effectiveness in the context of HEIs and stimulates further investigation into those challenges.
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Ingmar Björkman, Adam Smale and Tomi J. Kallio
In this chapter, the authors review talent management in the research university sector, business schools in particular. The authors adopt an “exclusive” perspective on talent…
Abstract
In this chapter, the authors review talent management in the research university sector, business schools in particular. The authors adopt an “exclusive” perspective on talent management, assuming that some scholars contribute disproportionately to organizational performance. The authors identify two particular groups of scholars likely to be the target of exclusive talent management practices in business schools: (i) faculty on a tenure track career path and (ii) “star” tenured faculty with exceptionally strong track records. Focusing on these current and potential future “stars,” the authors review and discuss talent management practices related to talent identification, recruitment and selection, performance management, talent development, benefits and rewards, and tenure, promotion, and retention. In the extant literature, these topics have been mostly examined in the general university environment and less so in the business school context. This is somewhat problematic given that business schools have their own special characteristics. Moreover, some of the reviewed topics – especially talent development – have received only marginal scholarly interest thus far. Based on this literature review, and by drawing on their own experience working in different roles in academia, the authors highlight some of the gaps in the current body of knowledge and propose an agenda for future research.
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The aim of the paper is twofold: to question the current use of the extant competitive strategy frameworks imported from the context of the business firm; and to call for…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the paper is twofold: to question the current use of the extant competitive strategy frameworks imported from the context of the business firm; and to call for innovative frameworks that are more faithful to the nature, purpose, and needs of business schools.
Design/methodology/approach
An extensive literature review is undertaken in the field of business school competitive strategy. This literature is then evaluated to see how sensitive it is to the specific context of the business school. Inferences are then drawn and the paper is structured to make the case for the need to rethink the current approach to business school strategy.
Findings
The application of the current dominant approach in the competitive strategy literature, which prioritizes value capture over value creation, is questionable in the context of business school strategy. There are deep and multiple differences between business firms and business schools. These differences call for shifting the focus toward value creation and emphasizing the social mission of business schools.
Research limitations/implications
The paper focuses only on undergraduate education. Extending the argument to include other activities of business schools requires further research.
Practical implications
Business school strategy researchers and practitioners are encouraged to alter their current approach to be less occupied with competition and more concerned with value creation for students, stakeholders, and society at large.
Originality/value
The paper represents an early call for strategists and researchers to rethink their current dominant approach of applying the extant business strategy literature to business schools. It makes the case for the necessity of taking into account the deep and multiple differences between business firms and business schools.
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Denis Harrington and Arthur Kearney
This paper aims to consider the extent to which business school transition has created new opportunities in management development, knowledge transfer and knowledge creation.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to consider the extent to which business school transition has created new opportunities in management development, knowledge transfer and knowledge creation.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a critical review of knowledge exchange in a business school context with a particular focus on the “translation or management practice gap”.
Findings
Change in the nature of research undertaken in business schools opens up new opportunities for collaboration between academia and practice. The paper points to the need for more innovative forms of research engagement encouraging academic‐practitioner collaboration and practice‐based management development initiatives.
Research limitations/implications
The paper contributes to the debate on innovative forms of knowledge exchange and transfer and helps stimulate further studies examining potential approaches to fostering co‐learning and discovery and participatory forms of knowledge production.
Practical implications
Changes in business school environment and context offer opportunities for new modes of knowledge exchange both in management development and research. Practice based theory offers a new paradigm of management development.
Originality/value
Recent commentators refer to notions of academia and practice as “closed systems and self referential” and point to the requirement for greater attention on knowledge transfer, and to learn from knowledge transfer studies concerning practitioner/research communities of practice, networks and collaborations. The paper addresses this deficiency in the literature and points to key areas warranting further research.
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Netra Neelam, Pratima Sheorey, Sonali Bhattacharya and Monica Kunte
Lifelong learning has gained significant research attention world over because of its potential to enhance and ensure continuous employability. However, role of higher education…
Abstract
Purpose
Lifelong learning has gained significant research attention world over because of its potential to enhance and ensure continuous employability. However, role of higher education institute as a learning organization to develop lifelong learning attitudes among young adults has not been discussed much. Parameters that determine lifelong learning among working professionals or school-going children may differ from that of prospective managers studying in business schools. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have given guidelines on learning organization in higher education context which has not been empirically tested. The present study aims to develop a scale on learning organization based on the OECD guideline. It also aims to explore the impact of learning organization and learning processes on lifelong learning attitude in Indian business schools.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study develops a multidimensional scale to measure business schools’ perceived level of performance as a learning organization from the perspective of faculty. The scale considers a learning organization as a multidimensional second-order construct comprising organizational climate for learning, leadership support for knowledge exchange, support for innovation, applied research environment and vision communication. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) has been used to refine and validate the scale. The study also assesses the impact of business schools’ performance as learning organization on perceived learning processes and lifelong learning attitude from the perspective of business school students by using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The study reveals that a learning organization is characterized by organizational climate for learning, leadership support for knowledge exchange, support for innovation, applied research environment and vision communication. Learning organization determines both perceived learning processes (ß = 0.397) and lifelong learning attitude (ß = 0.259). The relationship between learning organization and lifelong learning partially mediates through learning processes (Sobel’s statistics = 1.82, p-value = 0.068, indirect effect = 29%). Lifelong learning is characterized by self-regulated reflective learning with knowledge gained through various sources including virtual sources.
Originality/value
Literature adequately speaks about various scales on learning organization, but there is no specific scale developed, so far, for higher education institutes. Thus, the unique contribution of the present study is the development of a new scale on learning organization based on OECD guidelines on higher education. The scale has been developed based on survey of faculty members and students of Indian business schools. The scale can be used to assess academicians’ perception toward effectiveness of a learning organization. Such information would help in formulating strategies on what should be the characteristics of teaching–learning process, knowledge acquisition and knowledge dissemination to ensure lifelong learning and continuous employability.
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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate key implications of globalisation for business schools, and to put structural alignment of academic structures with the Bologna…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate key implications of globalisation for business schools, and to put structural alignment of academic structures with the Bologna Declaration in a broader strategic alignment with the needs of a knowledge‐driven society and a socially sustainable development.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis uses systems theory for analysing dynamic change in society and a synthesis of its influences on business education, as we see the Bologna Process is neither conceived nor implemented with sufficient care for holism in the European effort to become an innovative society.
Findings
Business schools should extend their transformation effort beyond the Bologna Process and align their strategic model of operation with societal needs by integrating social requirements into their strategic framework.
Research limitations/implications
Research focuses on key external developments in business education at a transnational level. Future research should focus on the exploration of the business school response to social change in a local context.
Practical implications
A requisitely holistic picture of contextual change offers business school leaders deeper understanding of external implications for aligning schools with societal needs.
Social implications
Emerging social challenges in Europe are taken as the starting point for realigning a strategic model of business school operation with societal needs and the business world with the aim to improve schools' accountability and their evolvement into socially engaged actors with innovative approaches.
Originality/value
The paper presents a systemic and requisitely holistic view of social change for aligning the business school model of operation with the broader needs of a knowledge‐driven society that stretches beyond the formal academic structures unification in the Bologna Process.
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Mary Vigier and Michael Bryant
The purpose of this paper is to explore the contextual and linguistic challenges that French business schools face when preparing for international accreditation and to shed light…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the contextual and linguistic challenges that French business schools face when preparing for international accreditation and to shed light on the different ways in which experts facilitate these accreditation processes, particularly with respect to how they capitalize on their contextual and linguistic boundary-spanning competences.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors interviewed 12 key players at four business schools in France engaged in international accreditations and in three specific categories: senior management, tenured faculty and administrative staff. The interview-based case study design used semi-structured questions and an insider researcher approach to study an underexplored sector of analysis.
Findings
The findings suggest that French business schools have been particularly impacted by the colonizing effects of English as the mandatory language of the international accreditation bodies espousing a basically Anglophone higher education philosophy. Consequently, schools engage external experts for their contextual and linguistic boundary-spanning expertise to facilitate accreditation processes.
Originality/value
The authors contribute to language-sensitive research through a critical perspective on marginalization within French business schools due to the use of English as the mandatory lingua franca of international accreditation processes and due to the underlying higher-education philosophy from the Anglophone academic sphere within these processes. As a result, French business schools resort to external experts to mediate their knowledge and competency gaps.
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