Spring 2011
Contents
The Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
Emotional Intelligence and Job Satisfaction: The EQ Relationship for
Deans of U.S. Business Schools
Charles M. Coco............................................................................................................1
Initial Program Review of Graduate Programs through Student Satisfaction
Survey in Small Private Technical University in Southern California
Christine Alexander .....................................................................................................9
Justice in the Classroom: Does Fairness Determine Student Cheating
Behaviors?
Mary A. Lemons & Jeff L. Seaton .............................................................................17
The Role of Leadership Substitutes Theory in Adjunct Professor Preferences for Academic Leaders: A Qualitative Examination
Joy A. Jones .................................................................................................................25
Online and Traditional Courses: What are Demographic Differences?
Tim Klaus & Chuleeporn Changchit ........................................................................45
Is it More Than Just GPA? An Examination of Work Experience and
Test Preparation Effects on MFT-B Scores
Susie S. Cox, Jiun-Shiu Chen, & Jeff Totten .............................................................53
Integrating Quantitative Methods into a Graduate Business Curriculum
Robert D. O’Keefe & Lawrence O. Hamer................................................................59
Designing Incentive Systems to Enhance Faculty Qualifications
David W. Denton & William E. Rayburn ...............................................................71
An Ethnographic Study of New College Presidential Learning in a Cultural
Context
Michael J. Siegel .........................................................................................................79
Volume 7 Issue 1
Volume Seven Issue One
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Emotional Intelligence and Job Satisfaction:
The EQ Relationship for Deans of
U.S. Business Schools
Charles M. Coco
Brimmer College of Business & Information Science
Tuskegee University
Tuskegee, Alabama
ABSTRACT
The main purpose of this study was to determine if a positive relationship existed between Emotional Intelligence and Job Satisfaction for deans of business schools. A secondary purpose was to
determine which Emotional Quotient (EQ ) competencies were most important for satisfied deans
and how these competencies assisted processes related to hiring, retention, and development. The
discussion focused on theory and research in the areas of emotional intelligence, job satisfaction,
and academic leadership. Research objectives and a general conceptual model were developed to
illustrate the proposed relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction.
This study was focused on deans of AACSB and ACBSP accredited U.S. business schools. The data
collected included a total of 111 self-reports on surveys to assess EQ and job satisfaction. The statistical procedures of factor analysis and regression analysis were utilized for this study based on the focus
of the research objectives. The results of the factor analysis provided four EQ factors for regression
analysis.
The primary objective of this research was achieved by discovering that a positive relationship existed between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction in deans of business schools. The results
from the multiple regression confirmed that three of the four EQ factors were statistically significant.
The secondary research objective was also examined according to the regression results. The findings
revealed that the following EQ subscale competencies were most significant: Flexibility, Assertiveness, Stress Tolerance, Problem Solving, and Self-Actualization. In conclusion, this study presented
new research within the domain of higher education and the findings offered a glimpse into which
EQ competencies had a positive relationship to job satisfaction for deans.
INTRODUCTION
The study of emotional intelligence (EI) and job
satisfaction within occupational settings, such
as higher education, has important implications.
For instance, Chiva and Alegre (2008) stated
that, “EI is becoming one of the most important
individual competencies for organizations, and
has been theoretically related to organizational
performance and to individual variables like job
satisfaction” (p. 692). Sy, Tram, and O’Hara
(2006) emphasized the relationship between
employees with high emotional intelligence and
increased job satisfaction due to better assessing and managing of their emotions. Stein and
Book (2000) conducted extensive EQ research
on various occupations and developed top rated
factor listings by significance for thirty groupings as well as an overall work success ranking.
Concerning the ideal combinations of EQ factors, the authors contended that, “People who
are most satisfied in their work tend to be those
whose emotional skills fit the formula for that
work” (p. 262).
This study offered new research within the domain of higher education. The area of emotional
intelligence and job satisfaction for deans of business schools was examined. Deans have a major
role to fulfill within the administrative function
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
1
Charles M. Coco
of higher education. These individuals need to
manage complex situations through effective
planning, organizing, leading, and controlling.
They have to respond effectively to various organizational stakeholders both inside and outside
their respective institutions. Moreover, they
need to balance task initiatives with relationship
concerns in order to adequately function within
a collegial yet demanding environment (Leaming, 1998; Morrill, 2007; Wolverton & Gmelch,
2002). These workplace challenges call for flexible individuals who can solve problems, manage
stress, display optimism, etc., while staying satisfied and committed to their jobs. The purpose of
this study was to examine the proposed linkage
between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction for deans of business schools and attempt
to discover which of the EQ competencies were
most strongly related to job satisfaction.
The construct of Bar-On’s conceptual and psychometric model was used as a method to determine if emotional intelligence was related to job
satisfaction for the study group. The independent variables, EQ competencies, were measured
and assessed by using the BarOn EQ-i:125 online test instrument (Bar-On, 2004). An examination was conducted of which EQ competencies
were most essential for the dean position. This
examination provided a snapshot of the satisfied
dean in regard to EI. According to
Bar-On, people tested with average (90-109) to
above average EQ-i scores are considered emotionally intelligent and the EQ competencies supporting emotional intelligence are categorized
into Total EQ, 5 composite, and 15 subscale. The
composite variables include the following: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Adaptability, Stress
Management, and General Mood. The subscale
variables include the following: Self-Regard,
Emotional Self-Awareness, Assertiveness, Independence, Self-Actualization, Empathy, Social
Responsibility, Interpersonal Relationship, Reality-Testing, Flexibility, Problem-Solving, Stress
Tolerance, Impulse Control, Optimism, and
Happiness (Bar-On, 2004, pp. 44-46).
The dependent variable, job satisfaction, was
measured and assessed in an overall manner by
using a Global Job Satisfaction survey (Lucas,
1996; Price & Mueller, 1981) with eight statements and five Likert scale choices ranging from
2
Emotional Intelligence and Job Satisfaction: The EQ Relationship for Deans of U.S. Business Schools
strongly agree (5) to strongly disagree (1). A regression analysis was performed on the collected
data to determine if a positive relationship existed between the EQ factors and job satisfaction
for the study group of deans. In addition, a factor
analysis was performed to account for multicollinearity among the independent variables and to
examine if the EQ competencies were loading as
expected for this study.
LITERATURE REVIEW
BACKGROUND
Emotional intelligence (EI) is a current topic in
the field of management with historical roots
closely connected to psychology. One of the
field’s earliest contributors was E. L. Thorndike
(1920) who developed an innovative way to describe intelligence. He viewed a major component of human intelligence as social intelligence
which means the ability to function in interpersonal situations. The study of intelligence in the
emotional realm continued to develop over time.
More recent contributors include Mayer-Salovey,
Goleman, and Bar-On. The Mayer-Salovey model defines emotional intelligence as the ability to
perceive, understand, manage and use emotions
to facilitate thinking. The Goleman model views
emotional intelligence as an array of emotional
and social competencies that contribute to managerial performance. Bar-On defines emotional
intelligence as, “An array of noncognitive capabilities, competencies, and skills that influence
one’s ability to succeed in coping with environmental demands and pressures” (2004, p. 14).
Bar-On’s definition illustrated the importance
of emotional intelligence for determining an individual’s psychological well-being and potential
for life success. For the purposes of this study,
the Bar-On model was used as a way to describe
and interpret emotional intelligence characteristics.
The study of the concept of job satisfaction has
enhanced the body of research committed to
better understanding people within the context
of the workplace. Spector (1997) wrote that:
“Job satisfaction is simply how people feel about
their jobs and different aspects of their jobs” (p.
2). Cranny (1992) emphasized the significance
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
of job satisfaction theory by listing the many
academic areas devoted to its research and understanding. These research fields include: organizational psychology, organizational behavior,
vocational organizational sociology, and human
resource management. Henne and Locke (1985)
noted that workers who perceive their job values
are being fulfilled tend to be content or satisfied
whereas workers who perceive their job values as
being frustrated tend to be discontent or dissatisfied.
PRIOR RESEARCH
Prior research on topic was limited, especially in
higher education, due to the newness of studying
relationships between emotional intelligence and
job satisfaction. The following researchers provided diverse findings on similar subjects. For instance, Kafetsios and Zampetakis (2008) studied
523 educators in Greece. Results demonstrated
that emotional intelligence was an important
predictor of work affectivity and job satisfaction.
In another study that included 475 educators,
Kafetsios and Loumakou (2007) discovered that
the EQ competencies of General Mood and In-
terpersonal had significance to job satisfaction
depending on the age group under consideration.
Sy, Tram, and O’Hara (2006) conducted research
on 187 food service employees and concluded
that: “Our findings confirm the predictive power
of EI beyond the Big Five Personality factors on
important constructs such as job satisfaction and
performance”
(p. 471). Moreover, Howard (2009) found significant correlations between dimensions of
emotional intelligence and levels of job satisfaction in human service workers and
Bar-On (2004) cited an EQ study of 314 North
American participants where the amount of association between EQ variables and work satisfaction were determined.
METHODOLOGY
CONCEPTUAL MODEL
After reviewing the relevant literature a conceptual model was developed. The Conceptual
Model (see Figure 1) for this study illustrated the
overall EQ factor relationship to job satisfaction.
Figure 1
Conceptual Model: EQ and Job Satisfaction
OTHER FACTORS
EQ
COMPOSITE FACTORS
EQ
SUBSCALE FACTORS
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
JOB SATISFACTION
3
Charles M. Coco
The EQ composite and subscale factors were
highlighted.
PARTICIPANTS
The sample frame chosen for this study consisted of deans presiding over AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business)
and ACBSP (Association of Collegiate Business
Schools and Programs) accredited U.S. business
schools and programs. This sample frame was
chosen since the AACSB and ACBSP are major
accrediting bodies for business schools and represent a large number of business school deans
located in the United States. These accredited
schools presented an opportunity to focus on a
substantial group of institutions with (1) readily identifiable business programs, (2) geographically dispersed locations, (3) significantly varying
degrees of institutional size. An attempt was
made to identify and contact all of the sample
group deans during the survey process. A website search was conducted for each college or university in conjunction with a review of Prentice
Hall’s Faculty Directory for 2008-2009 (Hasselback, 2008). The number that responded by
successfully completing both surveys was 111
participants.
INSTRUMENTS
The independent variables, EQ competencies,
were measured and assessed using the BarOn
EQ-i:125. This survey was administered on-line
through Multi-Health Systems (MHS). A reliability analysis was performed in SPSS to determine the coefficient alpha for the EQ scale scores.
The Cronbach’s Alpha was determined to be
.946 which suggested that the scale scores were
reasonably reliable for the respondents. The job
satisfaction survey consisting of a 5-point Likert type scale was administered via an alternate
survey website and linked to MHS. The dependent variable, job satisfaction, was measured and
assessed using a global job satisfaction survey to
determine overall job satisfaction levels for respondents. Spector (1997) affirmed, “The global
approach is used when the overall or bottom line
attitude is of interest, for example, if one wishes
to determine the effects of people liking or disliking their jobs” (pp. 2-3). The survey used for
4
Emotional Intelligence and Job Satisfaction: The EQ Relationship for Deans of U.S. Business Schools
this study represented a valid and reliable instrument for gauging a respondent’s global job satisfaction (Lucas, 1996). The job satisfaction survey
included eight statements which represented dependent items that combined to create global job
satisfaction. A reliability analysis was performed
in SPSS to determine the coefficient alpha for the
job satisfaction scale scores. The Cronbach’s Alpha was determined to be .801 which suggested
that the scale scores were reasonably reliable for
the respondents (Green and Salkind, 2005; Nunnally, 1978).
ANALYSIS
Data analysis was conducted using various statistical techniques available within SPSS (Green &
Salkind, 2005; Wagner, 2007). The dependent
variable had a negative skew and did not pass the
K-S Test for normalcy. Therefore, a transformation of the dependent averaged raw scores was
computed in order to create normalized dependent scores. The transformed variable allowed
for using parametric tests, while meeting the assumption of normality. A correlation matrix was
generated and analyzed to check for collinearity
among the independent variables. A preliminary factor analysis (Hair, Anderson, & Tatham,
1987) was performed to examine if the EQ variables were loading as expected and a final factor
analysis was conducted with the highest loading variables (i.e., factor loadings greater than
.50). Regression analysis was performed on the
collected data to determine if a positive relationship existed between emotional intelligence and
job satisfaction. The correlation coefficient (R),
coefficient of determination (R2), and adjusted
R2 were interpreted to identify the direction,
linearity, and strength of relationship among
the variables. Scatter plots were graphed and
analyzed for an expected positive linear relationship between the EQ factors and job satisfaction.
Normal probability plots were generated for each
of the variables and examined for residuals clustering near the diagonal line. The level of significance (alpha value) chosen for this study was α
= .05, and test statistics (F-statistic, t-statistics,
and p-values) were interpreted to determine the
significance of the results. The observed significance level (p-value) was analyzed to determine if
the null hypothesis should be rejected.
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
RESULTS
isfaction, were (1) Flexibility, (2) Assertiveness,
(3) Stress Tolerance, (4) Problem Solving, and (5)
Self-Actualization.
EQ means and standard deviations were calculated in SPSS for the 111 respondents. Total EQ
had a sample mean of 104.28. The highest mean
score was 107.72 for the EQ variable of Independence, while the lowest was 99.25 for Interpersonal Relationship. The highest standard deviation was 13.52 for the EQ variable of Emotional
Self-Awareness, while the lowest was 10.00 for
Adaptability. The EQ mean scores were slightly
higher and the standard deviations were slightly
lower for this study as compared to the EQ-i normal mean score of 100 and standard deviation of
15 (Bar-On, 2004).
SUMMARY
MEAN SCORES
The global job satisfaction scores suggested that
deans of business schools possessed a high level
of job satisfaction. Since the research sample
had an original grand mean satisfaction score of
4.27 out of 5.00, it appeared that the respondent
deans were generally satisfied with their jobs. Lucas (1996) had similar findings with a calculated
satisfaction score of 4.23 out of 5.00 for business
faculty at church related liberal arts colleges and
universities.
REGRESSION
Regression analysis was conducted on each of the
EQ competencies in order to determine which
items had the strongest positive relationship to
job satisfaction for deans of business schools.
The purpose of individually testing each independent variable with global job satisfaction was
to gain a deeper level of understanding concerning the specific EQ subscale competencies related
to job satisfaction. The regression analysis also
allowed for determining a secondary objective of
this study which considered a top-five EQ subscale competency profile for deans of business
schools. The results of the regression analysis
revealed that 15 out of 21 EQ competencies, including Total EQ, were statistically significant
(p < .05). The relationship between Total EQ
and global job satisfaction was significant to the
.000 level (p < .05). The t-statistic was 4.230 for
the regression. In addition, the top five EQ subscale competencies that emerged from this study,
when analyzed individually with global job sat-
The primary motivator for doing this study was
the desire to better understand emotional intelligence and job satisfaction within the domain of
academic leadership.
Prior studies have shown the importance of having individuals with the right set of EQ competencies working in positions that best fit that
emotional intelligence profile. Even so, limited
research existed on the study of emotional intelligence and its significance of relationship to job
satisfaction. This study, to the best of the author’s knowledge, was the first to examine emotional intelligence and job satisfaction within the
context of deans of business schools. As a result,
new research within the domain of higher education was explored. The primary objective of
this research was achieved by discovering that a
positive relationship existed between emotional
intelligence and job satisfaction in deans of business schools. Furthermore, an interesting group
of top five EQ subscale competencies emerged
from the study. These findings offered a glimpse
into which emotional intelligence traits most
likely provided job satisfaction among the deans.
For instance, this study revealed that deans who
were—flexible within changing environments,
assertive and confident, tolerant of stressful conditions, adept at
solving multi-faceted problems, and able to selfactualize to reach their utmost potential—possessed the key traits linked to a more satisfying
career in academic leadership. It is important to
note that any inferences gleaned from this study
have generalizability limitations and may not be
applicable to all deans.
FUTURE RESEARCH
Although this study brought attention to the
topic of emotional intelligence and job satisfaction in deans of U. S. business schools, it focused
on an area with little if any previous research.
Furthermore, the limitations of this study to only
deans of business schools constrained the gen-
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
5
Charles M. Coco
Emotional Intelligence and Job Satisfaction: The EQ Relationship for Deans of U.S. Business Schools
eral application to a small yet significant group
within the broader domain of higher education.
Therefore, an expansion of research into deans of
other schools and disciplines would offer additional insight and opportunities for comparative
studies. Other educational administrators, such
as vice-presidents, also present possibilities for
pursuing a better understanding of the impact of
emotional intelligence on job satisfaction within
academic leadership at various levels of authority. Additional factors beyond EQ should be explored as to their role in influencing job satisfaction. Certain criteria could be established that
examine the capability and performance of the
deans. Research into potential positive outcomes
due to increased EQ and job satisfaction would
provide beneficial knowledge. It would be useful
to know, for example, if emotionally intelligent
and satisfied deans have more respect and loyalty among their faculty and staff. Moreover, do
these deans tend to get positive results in regard
to accreditation, enrollment, donations, budgets,
and other target measures.
In conclusion, future research should
build upon the knowledge gained from this
study for assisting in areas of recruitment, selection, training, and development. The assessment
of which EQ competencies have the most significant influence upon job satisfaction within academic leadership needs further investigation. It
would be important to determine if the subscale
competencies of Flexibility, Assertiveness, Stress
Tolerance, Problem Solving, and Self-Actualization discovered in this study are consistently
prominent among the other subscale competencies as to positive influence on job satisfaction.
REFERENCES
Bar-On, R. (2004). BarOn emotional quotient
inventory: A measure of emotional intelligence.
Toronto, Canada: Multi-Health Systems.
Chiva, R., & Alegre, J. (2008). Emotional intelligence and job satisfaction: The role of organizational learning capability. Personnel
Review, 37(6), 680-701.
Cranny, C. J., Smith, P. C., & Stone, E. F. (Eds.).
(1992). Job satisfaction: How people feel about
their jobs and how it affects their performance.
New York: Lexington Books.
6
Green, S. B., & Salkind, N. J. (2005). Using SPSS
for Windows and Macintosh: Analyzing and
understanding data (4th ed.). Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Hair, J. F., Jr., Anderson, R. E., & Tatham, R. L.
(1987). Multivariate data analysis with readings (2nd edition). New York: Macmillan
Publishing Company.
Hasselback, J. R. (2008). Accounting faculty directory for 2008-2009. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Pearson Prentice Hall.
Henne, D., & Locke, E. A. (1985, April). Job dissatisfaction: What are the consequences? International Journal of Psychology, 20(2), 221240.
Howard, M. C. (2009). Emotional intelligence as
a predictor of job satisfaction, organizational
commitment, and occupational commitment
among human service workers. Dissertation
Abstracts International, 69,12B, 7842.
Kafetsios, K., & Loumakou, M. (2007). A comparative evaluation of the effects of trait emotional intelligence and emotion regulation
on affect at work and job satisfaction. International Journal of Work Organization and
Emotion, 2(1), 71-87.
Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric theory (2nd
ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Price, J., & Mueller, C. (1981). Professional turnover: The case of nurses. New York: S. P. Medical and Scientific Books.
Spector, P. E. (1997). Job satisfaction: Application, assessment, causes, and consequences. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Stein, S. J., & Book, H. E. (2000). The EQ edge:
Emotional intelligence and your success. Toronto, Canada: Multi-Health Systems.
Sy, T., Tram, S., & O’Hara, L. A. (2006). Relation of employee and manager emotional intelligence to job satisfaction and performance.
Journal of Vocational Behavior, 68, 461-473.
Thorndike, E. L. (1920). Intelligence and its
uses. Harper’s Magazine, 140, 237-235.
Wagner, W. E., III (2007). Using SPSS for social statistics and research methods. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
Wolverton, M., & Gmelch, W. H. (2002). College deans: Leading from within. Westport,
CT: The American Council on Education and
Oryx Press.
Kafetsios, K., & Zampetakis, L. A. (2008). Emotional intelligence and job satisfaction: Testing the mediatory role of positive and negative
affect at work. Personality and Individual Differences, 44(3), 710-720.
Leaming, D. R. (1998). Academic leadership:
A practical guide to chairing the department.
Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company.
Lucas, D. J. (1996). Need fulfillment, localism/
cosmopolitanism and job satisfaction: An investigation of business faculty at church related, liberal arts colleges and universities. (Doctoral dissertation, Indiana University, 1996).
Dissertation Abstracts International, 57, 07A,
2899.
Morrill, R. L. (2007). Strategic leadership: Integrating strategy and leadership in colleges and
universities. Westport, CT: American Council on Education and Praeger Publishers.
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
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Charles M. Coco
8
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Initial Program Review of Graduate Programs through
Student Satisfaction Survey in
Small Private Technical University in
Southern California
Christine Alexander
Department of Graduate Studies
Coleman University
San Diego, California
ABSTRACT
Accrediting bodies are looking towards Program Review as an essential practice driving quality
assurance processes (WASC, 2009.) One of the ways in which to establish a baseline of information for future comparison is to survey student satisfaction among alumni and current students
(McKeachie, 1996.)
This study examines student satisfaction in the graduate studies programs in a small private technical university in Southern California. As a method to provide baseline data, this study explores
areas of student satisfaction that include overall program satisfaction, teacher communication, and
curriculum aligned to program objectives. A Likert scale and short answer questions were used for
the student survey sent to recent alumni and current students of the graduate programs. The results
provide a baseline of student satisfaction and identify areas for improvement.
INTRODUCTION
One of the goals of the study is to determine a
baseline assessment measure of program effectiveness at the graduate level. A new MBA program, as well as a change in leadership within the
graduate department serves as impetus for the
current program review. In addition, the university is at the preliminary stage of applying for
regional accreditation. While program reviews
were part of the self-study process in past accreditation applications, the new accrediting body has
identified additional criteria in determining accreditation eligibility.
Western Association for Schools and Colleges
offers a Resource Guide for Good Practices in
Academic Program Review. Criteria for a review
include CFR4.4, “The institution employs a deliberate set of quality assurance processes at each
level of institutional functioning, including periodic program review. These processes include
assessing effectiveness, tracking results over time
using comparative data from external sources,
and improving structures, processes, curricula,
and pedagogy” (WASC, 2009).
In order to begin the process of program review, a
baseline of overall graduate program satisfaction
needs to be determined. One of the preliminary
measures to be included in this program review
will be student satisfaction used as a rough gauge
of how the programs are being assessed by current students and recent alumni.
LITERATURE REVIEW
It is a nationally recognized tool for American
colleges and universities to use student evaluation of faculty to measure instructional effectiveness of teachers. The review of literature suggests
that student ratings can lead to changes in course
delivery and thus more favorable student evaluation (McKeachie, 1996.) In addition, research
indicates that student ratings are acceptably reliable and valid indicators of teaching effectiveness that can lead to modest improvements in
teaching (Braskamp & Ory, 1994). One of the
areas assessed in the student satisfaction survey
is communication with instructors. Parayitam,
Desai, and Phelps, 2007, posed the hypothesis
that students’ perception of teacher’s communi-
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
9
Christine Alexander
cation is positively related to student satisfaction
with teachers. One of the findings was a high
correlation between perceived course content,
communication, satisfaction and effectiveness
(Ibid, 2007). Our student survey included communication with instructors as a measure of student satisfaction.
Additional areas included in the student satisfaction survey are the questions of whether the
curriculum addresses the program objectives of
developing leadership and team building skills,
enhancing existing technical expertise, and
improving understanding of advanced system
management techniques, current trends and future trends in information system management.
These goals are a synthesis of the goals of the
three graduate programs offered at this small private technical university in Southern California.
The goals of the graduate programs are in alignment with industry measures of workplace skills.
Noll and Wilkings (2002) conducted a survey
to elicit the importance of specific skills in three
employment-staffing groups. Noll and Wilkins
recommendations for information systems curricula included: knowledge of business functional
areas, business environment and specific industry; ability to interpret business problems and to
develop appropriate technical solutions; and ability to work collaboratively in a team project environment, and to plan, organize and lead projects
(2002.)
The overall quality of the curriculum was surveyed from the student’s perspective, as well as
determining whether the curriculum meets the
program objectives. The survey also determined
overall program satisfaction. Current students
and recent alumni of the graduate programs were
surveyed as to whether the programs, as a whole,
develop leadership and team building skills, enhance existing technical expertise, and improve
understanding of advanced systems management
techniques, current trends and future trends in
information systems management.
CURRENT STUDY
The current study aimed to determine the overall
satisfaction level of current students and alumni
of three graduate programs of a small private
technical university in the Southern Califor-
10
Initial Review of Graduate Programs in Small Private Technical University in Southern California
nia. The current study was exploratory and was
meant to provide baseline information for a newly launched (start-up less than one year) MBA
program, the current level of satisfaction for a
graduate program in information systems, and
an online business and technology management
program. The study also examined student reaction to whether curriculum is aligned with program objectives, the quality of the curriculum,
communication with instructors, overall program satisfaction and additionally, short answer
questions asked students to list areas of interest,
most valuable courses, and reasons for selecting
most valuable courses, and additional topics to be
added to curriculum.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the study is to gather data as a
starting point for program evaluation of three
graduate programs. This university is also at the
beginning stages of working towards application
for regional accreditation. With the accreditation criteria including more data driven outcomes, the survey will be utilized as part of that
trend or expectation towards an increase in data
collection and analysis. This study is important
in initiating a process of program review that includes determining the strengths and weaknesses
of the graduate programs as viewed by current
graduate students and recent alumni. The student satisfaction areas surveyed include curriculum, faculty communication with students, and
overall program effectiveness. The results will be
instrumental in making improvements to curriculum, teacher communication with students,
and student satisfaction.
METHODS
The survey instrument was designed to address
program review questions in the following areas: curriculum’s relationship to the program
objectives, the quality of the curriculum, communication with instructors, overall program
satisfaction. Short answer questions were also included. The open-ended short answer questions
identified student areas of interest, most valuable
courses taken, reasons for selecting most valuable courses, and additional topics that should be
added to curriculum.
The survey asked students to rank the items on
a five point Likert Scale with 1 representing that
they strongly disagree and 5 indicating that they
strongly agree.
PROCEDURE AND SUBJECTS
The instrument referenced above was distributed
to all recent alumni (within last six months) and
current graduate students enrolled in the Master
in Business Administration, Master of Science
Information Systems Management, and online
Master of Science in Business and Technology
Management program of a small technical private university through the university electronic
mail system. The recent alumni graduating within the last six months were surveyed in order to
tap into the most current iteration of the graduate curriculum. All students were given equal
opportunity to respond to the survey, which
consisted of a combination of statements and
a Likert Scale and a series of open-ended ques-
DISCUSSION
In this study, current students and recent alumni
of the graduate studies department at a small
technical university in Southern California were
surveyed on overall satisfaction.
The survey results can be seen in Table 1. The
survey was divided into five areas.
The first area addressed the relationship of the
curriculum aligning with the program objectives:
• Did the curriculum develop leadership
and team building skills?
• Did the curriculum enhance existing technical expertise?
• Did the curriculum improve your understanding of advanced system management
techniques, current trends and future
trends in information system management?
These questions were of particular interest because of their importance to industry professionals (Noll & Wilkings, 2002.) The students gave
these particular measures a mean score of 4.3,
Table 1
Student Satisfaction
Item
Q1
Q2
THE INSTRUMENT
Q3
To provide baseline data and to determine the
current level of student satisfaction with the curriculum and overall quality of three graduate
level programs, a survey instrument was utilized.
The instrument was designed to address areas
related to the curriculum and overall program
satisfaction. The instrument was not designed
to address student services or environmental features of the university.
Q4
Q5
Q6
Q7
Q8
Q9
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
tions. After six weeks, a reminder was sent to all
students requesting responses if they had not yet
participated. Total number of students sent the
survey was 65. Total number responding was 21.
The response rate was 32%.
Q10
Curriculum Develops leadership & team building skills
Curriculum enhances existing technical expertise
Curriculum improves understanding of advanced system mgmt
techniques, current trends and future trends in IS management
Increase in overall competence in field
Program curriculum is effective and current
Faculty interested in student learning
Instructors available to answer questions
Overall, program developed leadership and team building skills
Overall, program enhanced existing technical expertise
Program improved understanding of advanced system management
techniques, current trends and future trends in IS management
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
Mean
SD
4.3
3.5
1.10
1.50
4.1
0.96
3.8
3.8
4.1
4.2
4.2
3.3
1.10
1.10
0.91
0.88
0.98
1.20
3.9
1.00
11
Christine Alexander
3.5, and 4.1 respectively. Questions numbered 1
and 3 yielded scores pointing to program effectiveness. Leadership and team building skills are
objectives students felt satisfied in having been
addressed in the curriculum. The student survey
results from Question #2, however, “Did the curriculum enhance existing technical expertise,”
suggests future consideration. As a historically
“technical” university, do the graduate programs
offer students sufficient opportunity to enhance
their technical skills? The score of 3.5 indicates
that there is room for improvement in this particular objective. As part of the Program Review
process, this particular objective also needs to be
evaluated for future inclusion. Is it a viable objective in light of the fact that the programs focus
on skills related to management, versus technical
expertise? This is an area where further examination is needed.
The second area of the survey addressed quality
of the curriculum. Item #4, “The program has
increased my overall competence as a working
professional in computer-related fields” yielded
a mean score of 3.8 with a SD of 1.1. Item #5
resulted in similar scores of a mean of 3.8 and
an SD of 1.1. These items prompt further questions for future surveys. A follow up question in
this particular area of the survey might include
feedback that generates specific skills that are
currently not being addressed in the curriculum.
If overall competence is not being enhanced to
an expected degree, what future inclusions in the
curriculum would create greater student satisfaction? As a baseline, however, these results provide needed information for initial assessment of
the graduate programs.
Next are the survey questions related to communication with instructors. Students are given the
opportunity to evaluate teacher effectiveness at
the end of each course. Data on individual teacher effectiveness is maintained. These questions in
the survey, though, addressed areas of communications with instructors that focus on instructor receptivity. Specifically, the survey asked if
faculty were interested in student learning and
if they were available to answer questions. The
median scores of 4.0 and SD 1.0 and 4.1 and SD
0.95 indicate a general trend that students feel
that instructors are interested in student learn-
12
Initial Review of Graduate Programs in Small Private Technical University in Southern California
Table 2
Summary of Open-Ended Questions
ing and available to answer questions. This is also
supported in later open ended questions.
The last three Likert style questions asked students to rate overall program effectiveness. These
questions were posed to examine the overall collection of courses meeting the program objectives, versus individual course curriculum. These
questions asked students to step back and assess
the program offerings as a whole.
The interesting result here is that these last three
questions mirrored the first three questions of
the survey. The first three questions asked if the
curriculum:
• Develops leadership and team building
skills
• Enhances existing technical expertise
• Improves understanding of advanced
system mgmt techniques, current trends
and future trends in information system
management
The last three questions ask these questions of
the program versus the curriculum. The results
of the last three questions are very similar to the
first three.
Q1 = 4.3, 1.0
Q8 = 4.2, 0.98
Q2 = 3.5, 1.5
Q9 = 3.3, 1.2
Q3 = 4.1, 0.96
Q10 = 3.9, 1.0
One of the reasons for the last three questions
was to examine one of the features of the master’s
programs: students may enter the programs at
any time. There is not a set sequencing of courses. Student may enroll at any time, and none of
the courses hinge on material covered in past
courses. These results were interesting in that
they suggest that non-sequential course offerings
bears neither negatively nor positively on student
satisfaction.
The open ended responses are summarized in Table 2. The trends emerging from these responses
are extremely useful in providing comparison information.
The first question identifies general areas of interest. This cluster of responses generates a way to
characterize the students who are choosing the
graduate programs. They are students, for ex-
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Areas of Interest
Project mgmt, systems
analysis & design
International business
Business management
Team projects and
presentations
Business and IT
IT management in
financial industry
Most Valuable Courses
Reasons for Selecting
Most Valuable Courses
Additional Topics to
be Added to Current
Curriculum
Instructors and the
More emerging
knowledge I acquired from
technologies
them
Areas of interest and
International Business
most useful in current job
and Project Management
position
Leadership
Instructor was informative
Project Management
More related to
Enhances skills
and Leadership
leadership
Mgmt in 21st Century
Financial Analysis,
Project Management
IT Legal Environment
Instructor was great
Compliance
Networking and
virtualization
Decision Support
Systems and Cyberlaw
Decision Support Systems
helps in making informed
choices at work and in
personal life. Cyberlaw
was relevant yet new info
Theory and practical
course in networks
and servers
Computer security and
law
Financial Planning,
Emerging Technologies,
Database Design, and
Project Management
Provides valuable insight
on current business trends
and a core knowledge for
the future
The program is good
for now, but Supply
Chain & Enterprise
Systems, LAN Design
can be added in the
future
Finance
Professor provided the
right kind of work as well
as the right amount of
work
Engineering
Decision Support
Information security and Systems, Project
networking
Management, Financial
Planning
IT and management
IT, business & computer
technology and
innovation
Information systems
management
Courses in Information
Systems Mgmt
Every class is a mindopener, learn new things
and new ideas
Leadership, Project
Management,
Information Security,
Database Systems
They were taught well
Latest trends and
upcoming changes in IT
and improve leadership
qualities
Helps expand career
horizon and creativity in
business
Business & IT should
be integrated and
synchronized
Well taught
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
13
Christine Alexander
Initial Review of Graduate Programs in Small Private Technical University in Southern California
Table 2
Summary of Open-Ended Questions
Areas of Interest
Most Valuable Courses
Information
management,
networking, software
quality assurance
Financial Planning,
Information Security,
Project Management,
Network Readiness
Systems management
Systems Engineering
Software engineering
Networking
Networking
Business and hotel
management
HR, Financial Planning,
Emerging Technologies,
Decision Support
Systems
Financial Planning,
Project Management
Project Management,
Financial Planning
Finance
ample, interested in systems analysis and design,
international business, project management, financial management, networking, and virtualization.
The second question is by far the most important to the Program Review process. It indicates
which courses student find the most valuable.
Overall, the most valued courses were Project
Management and Financial Analysis (both listed
9 times as most valuable), Leadership, Decision
Support Systems, Emerging Technologies, and
Security.
The reasons students selected these courses as
the most valuable points to, first and foremost,
the instructors. Comments included, “instructor was great,” “taught well,” and “instructor was
very knowledgeable.” Another reason was the
course utility, “most useful in my current job.”
Another interesting comment included, “Decision Support Systems helps in making informed
choices at work and in personal life.” Additional
positive feedback included “provides valuable
insight on current business trends and a core
knowledge for the future.” Among other reasons
for course value was the fact that the course of-
14
Reasons for Selecting
Most Valuable Courses
Instructors were
exceptional in teaching
those courses. Very
knowledgeable
Related to my work
experience
Additional Topics to
be Added to Current
Curriculum
Enterprise resource
planning, business
intelligence
Learned a lot
Instructors make us learn
and understand the course
Group presentations and
projects
I learned more aspects of
business, helped me to
make decisions based on
my observations
Dot net or java
More programs other
than MS and MBA
fered information in which the students had no
prior exposure. One class that stands out as most
valuable for this reason is the course in finance.
The last item of the open-ended questions asks
students to suggest additional topics to be added
to current curriculum. The responses here provide useful feedback when refreshing existing
courses. Some of the suggestions include additional examples of emerging technologies, more
topics related to leadership, compliance, and the
theory and practice of networks and servers.
Students viewed their positive experiences with
instructors as one of the most important reasons
why they indicated a course as being most valuable. Another highly repeated response was the
importance placed on courses such as Project
Management and Finance. Leadership and team
building skills were objectives students felt satisfied in having been addressed in the curriculum
and graduate programs as a whole. The student
survey results also indicated students were satisfied in the programs improving student understanding of advanced system management
techniques, current trends, and future trends in
information systems management. Additional
information gleaned from the survey addressed
the feature of the graduate program that included the ability of students to enter the program
cycle at any time. These results were interesting
in that they suggest that non-sequential course
offerings bears neither negatively nor positively
on student satisfaction. The data provided in the
student surveys provide useful baseline data from
which to proceed toward program improvement,
higher levels of student satisfaction, and possible
other future course offerings. Future surveys will
be compared to this baseline to help establish
progress towards these goals.
REFERENCES
Braskamp, L.A., & Ory.J.C. 1994. Assessing
faculty work. San Francisco, CA; Jossey-Bass
Publishers.
Ehie, Ike. C. (2002). Developing a Management
Information Systems (MIS) Curriculum:
Perspectives from MIS Practitioners. Journal
of Education for Business. 77(3), 151-158.
McKeachie. W.J. (1996). Student ratings of
teaching. American Council of Learned Societies Occasional Paper No. 33, Washington
DC. http://www.acls.org/op33.htm#mcKeachie.
Noll, Cheryl L., Wilkins, Marilyn (2002). Critical Skills of IS Professionals: A Model for
Curriculum Development. Journal of Information Technology Education1(3), 143-153.
Valle, Matthew (2006). A Model of Engaged
Learning for the 21st Century. The Journal of
Academic Administration in Higher Education. 2(1), 49-56.
WASC Resource Guide for “Good Practices’ in
Academic Review, September, 2009. http://
wascsenior.org/node/253.
WASC Document Library, Assessment Plan
MBA for Executives in Life Sciences. http://
www.wascsenior.org/dindit/files/forms/SDSU_
A ssessment _ Pla n _ a nd _Curricu la r_ Map _
EMBA_LifeSciences.pdf.
Yew, Bee K. (2008). A Perspective on a Management Information Systems (MIS) Program
Review. Journal of Information Technology
Education
These suggestions will be further explored as we
continue the Program Review process.
The data provided in the student surveys provide
useful baseline data from which to proceed toward program improvement and higher levels of
student satisfaction. Future surveys will be compared to this baseline to help establish progress
towards these goals.
CONCLUSION
The implications of the results point to a significantly high level of overall student satisfaction.
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
15
Christine Alexander
Appendix 1
Graduate Survey
Please place an “X” to indicate whether you are a current student or alumni
Current StudentqAlumniq
Please place an “X” to indicate which program
MSISMq
MBAq
MSBTMq
On a scale of 1 to 5, please rank the following: 1 Represents Strongly Disagree; 5 Stands for Strongly
Agree
Student and Alumni Survey of Curriculum’s Relationship to the Program Objectives
Did the Curriculum address the following objectives?
1. Develop leadership and team building skillsq
2. Enhance existing technical expertiseq
3. Improved your understanding of advanced system management techniques, current
trends and future trends in information system managementq
Quality of Curriculum:
1. The program has increased my overall competence as a working professional in computer-related fieldsq
2. The graduate program curriculum is effective and currentq
Communication with Instructors:
1. Faculty were interested in student learningq
2. Instructors were available to answer questions q
Overall Program Satisfaction:
1. Overall, the program developed leadership and team building skillsq
2. The program enhanced existing technical expertiseq
3. Program improved understanding of advanced system management techniques, current trends and future trends in information system managementq
Short Answer Questions:
1. What are your areas of interest?
2. What are the most valuable courses taken?
3. What are your reasons for selecting the most valuable courses?
4. What are additional topics you think should be added to the current curriculum?
Thanks for taking part in the survey; your feedback is appreciated!
16
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Justice in the Classroom:
Does Fairness Determine Student Cheating Behaviors?
Mary A. Lemons
University of Tennessee-Martin
Martin, Tennessee
Jeff L. Seaton
Murray State University
Murray, Kentucky
ABSTRACT
As cheating behaviors increase in higher education, it has been predicted that these behaviors will
carry forth to the workplace. Using scenarios, we investigated cheating behaviors in regards to distributive and procedural justice. We propose that students use cheating as a coping response to balance the perceived injustice created by their instructor’s use of unfair grading methods. The results
of our study show that the relationship between unfair treatments in the classroom had a significant
effect on students’ cheating behaviors.
INTRODUCTION
Cheating behaviors in the classroom are a serious problem that has garnished national attention (Ahlers-Schmidt & Burdsal, 2004; ChoryAssad, & Paulsel, 2004; Maramark & Maline,
1993; McCabe & Trevino, 1997; Petress, 2003;
Pincus & Schmelkin, 2003; Zimny, Robertson
& Bartoszek). Petress (2003) defined cheating
as “intellectual theft” and suggested that it is
spreading widely throughout our academic environments.
Research demonstrates that society believes that
schools, especially business schools, have the responsibility to increase students’ awareness of
the importance of maintaining strong ethical
standards (Cole & Conklin, 1996; KonheimKalkstein, 2006; George, 1988; Knotts, Lopez
& Mesak, 2000; Volpe, 2008). Although the
focus on academic cheating has increased, and
most universities have proclaimed a vigilant effort to prevent such behavior, relatively little
attention has been directed at discovering why
such behavior occurs. Past research on academic
cheating has examined individual characteristics
such as age, gender, grade point average, social
class, moral identity and extracurricular activities of college students as antecedents to cheating (Pino & Smith, 2003;Wowra, 2007). While
these studies are important in an effort to identi-
fy the students who exhibit a higher proclivity to
cheat, teachers have no control over these factors.
Teachers need suggestions for what actions they
can take to reduce cheating in their classrooms.
Stearns (2001) suggested a need for research
into the contextual factors that might influence
cheating. Organizational management literature
offers one contextual variable, perceived justice,
which might be responsible for academic integrity. Many studies exist that examine the perceived
justice of situations and the effects on employees.
However, to our knowledge, this is the first study
to empirically examine the relationship between
perceptions of justice in the classroom and students’ academic integrity.
THEORETICAL FOUNDATION
In 1994 a report on academic integrity was prepared and published for the National Association
of Student Personnel Administrators by Gehring
and Pavela. In their report they defined the term
dishonesty (cheating) as:
an intentional act of fraud, in which
a student seeks to claim credit for the
work or efforts of another without authorization, or uses unauthorized materials or fabricated information in any
academic exercise….. includes forgery of
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
17
Mary A. Lemons & Jeff L. Seaton
academic documents, intentionally impeding or damaging the academic work
of others, or assisting other students in
acts of dishonest. (1994: 5).
In separate studies, 54 percent of students at a
southwest university (Haines, Diekhoff, LaBeff
& Clark, 1986), 82 percent at a Midwest university (Stern & Havlicek, 1986), and 86 percent at
a large southern university (Michaels & Miethe,
1989) admitted to cheating during their years at
college. Bernard Whitley, Jr. (1998) conducted
a meta-analysis of 107 studies related to college
cheating. He found that 70.4 percent of students
in the studies had admitted to being involved in
some type of cheating incident while attending
college.
The publicized situations where individuals exhibit ethical lapses in corporate America are not
a result of a sudden decline in moral values, but
instead, much of their ethical behavior developed
over time, and may be attributed to time spent in
the academic environment (Petress, 2003). Some
suggest the continuous spread of academic misconduct in our schools is due to the lack of vigilant and proactive stance on academic integrity
by parents, teachers, administrators and school
boards (Petress, 2003; Volpe, 2008). Unfortunately, students not respecting the climate of academic integrity while in college may carry their
unethical behavior into their professional and
personal relationships (Norris & Swift; 2001;
Wowra, 2007).
Based on the above information, we conducted
an informal ad-hoc survey where students were
asked for their opinion about instructors’ behaviors in the classroom and the response students
have to those behaviors. One issue that seemed
to permeate throughout the students’ responses
was the degree of fairness of the behaviors. It appeared that when the student perceived the behaviors of the instructor to be unfair it unleashed
a multitude of negative behaviors by the students.
One such behavior was the students’ desire to
continue to follow a strict code of academic integrity. The students justified their negative actions as a coping response to the unfair treatment
by the instructors.
18
Justice in the Classroom: Does Fairness Determine Student Cheating Behaviors?
PERCEPTIONS OF JUSTICE
Distributive justice refers to the fairness or equity
of the manner that rewards are distributed. Adam’s equity theory (1965) was one of the first acknowledgements of justice. This theory suggests
that individuals compare the input/outcome ratio of relevant others to their own input/outcome
ratio to form equity perceptions. Equity theory
is primarily concerned with distributive justice, or the fairness of outcome distribution. In
our study, inputs are the contributions students
make in the classroom for which they expect a
fair grade. The inputs are in the form of effort,
such as studying, attending class, and completing
assignments. The outcomes or rewards are student grades. When students perceive inequitable
distributions of grades, negative coping behaviors
(cheating) may be used to justify unethical behaviors. In a study of 1,369 college students, Sterns
(2001) found that a large majority of the students
who admitted to acts of academic dishonesty had
evaluated their instructor’s behaviors much lower
than did the students who did not commit acts of
academic dishonesty. He also suggests that the
relationship between students and instructors affects academic integrity. However, we could not
find any studies testing the justice construct and
cheating. We developed the following hypothesis to test this relationship.
some control over the process and outcome attainment tend to be perceived by participants as
fairer than procedures that deny process control
(Greenberg, 1990). Process control (or “voice”)
refers to the opportunity participants have in
communicating their views and opinions in a
decision‑making process. The greater the process
control allowed to participants, the more likely
they regard the decision‑making procedures
as fair (Leung & Li, 1990). In addition, when
decision‑makers communicate a justification for
the decision reached and the decision‑maker is
considered sincere, participants view the process
as more fair (Bies, 1987). Students who have
poor grades may express their dissatisfaction by
focusing on how unfair the decision was because
students who had better grades put forth less effort by not coming to class or by studying less.
However, when individuals have a “voice” in the
decision‑making process, they are generally more
satisfied with the outcome, even when it is not the
one they favor (Folger & Greenberg, 1985). In
other words, when the perception of procedural
justice in classroom decisions is present, students
should experience higher satisfaction with grade
outcomes, even when their grade is low. Perceptions of a fair process regarding student grades
may result in improved student motivation as
well as reduced cheating incidents. The following hypothesis describes the relationship tested.
H1: Perceptions of distributive justice influence student cheating behaviors.
H2:
H1a: Students who experience high perceptions of fair distributive justice in
the classroom have a low proclivity to
cheat in the same class.
H2a: Students who experience high perceptions of fair procedural justice in
the classroom have a low proclivity to
cheat in the same class.
H1b: Students who experience high perceptions of unfair distributive justice
in the classroom have a high proclivity to cheat in the same class.
H2b: Students who experience high perceptions of unfair procedural justice
in the classroom have a high proclivity to cheat in the same class.
Procedural justice refers to the fairness of the
procedures used in making decisions (Folger &
Greenberg, 1985). Thibaut and Walker developed procedural justice in the early 1970’s as the
result of a series of reactions to dispute‑resolution
processes. As additional research was conducted in this area (for reviews, see Lind & Tyler,
1988; Tyler, 1987), it became clear that the findings were reflective of a more general tendency
across a variety of settings. Procedures granting
The likelihood of being caught may also contribute to students’ proclivity to cheat. When instructors leave the room during a test, it may be
hard for even the most ethical students to keep
their eyes on their own papers. In addition, we
believe the harsher the penalty for cheating, the
less likely individuals are to engage in cheating.
Thus, we controlled for both of these variables.
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Perceptions of procedural justice influence student cheating behaviors.
METHOD
To test the hypotheses, data were collected from
282 traditional undergraduate students (44%
women, 79% Caucasian) from several large
Southeastern universities. The age range of respondents was from 20 to 50 years with a mean
of 20 years. The mean college status was junior
level with 46% having a G.P.A. higher than 3.0
on a 4.0 scale. The students were administered
the survey during regular class and were offered
no inducement for their participation.
While much research has been conducted in this
area, no studies exist examining student’s perceptions of their professor’s fairness in the classroom
and ensuing cheating behaviors. The first section of the survey presents four scenarios (fair
distributive, unfair distributive, fair procedural,
and unfair procedural), which we asked students
to rate based on their perceptions of fairness. The
items used to measure perceptions of fairness
were based on Folger and Konovsky’s 1989 scales,
which use four items for distributive justice and
three items for procedural justice. The variables
were measured using a frequency of response
method with a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5 (1
= very unfair; 5 = very fair). Estimates of reliability for the scales yielded .80 for the distributive
fair, .92 for the distributive unfair scenario, .92
for the procedural fair and .84 for the procedural
unfair scenario.
We used one item to ask respondents to rate
the degree of likelihood they would cheat were
they students in the developed scenarios. Cheating behaviors were defined as plagiarism (using
someone else’s words without giving them credit), buying or using a friend’s paper and pretending it is your own, copying from someone else’s
test, using cheat sheets, or using other forms of
cheating, such as text messaging, picture phones,
or calculators. Next, we asked students to tell us
the possibility they would cheat in college based
on the likelihood of being caught (0% chance of
being caught to 100% chance of being caught).
The scale for likelihood of cheating based on the
chance of being caught yielded an estimate of reliability of .80. The variables were measured using a frequency of response method with a Likert
scale ranging from 1 to 5 (1 = very likely; 5 = very
unlikely). Finally, we asked students to rate the
likelihood they would cheat based on the severity
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
19
Mary A. Lemons & Jeff L. Seaton
Justice in the Classroom: Does Fairness Determine Student Cheating Behaviors?
of the punishment. Examples of penalties ranged
from no penalty to expulsion from the university
with the same rating scale as above (1 = very likely; 5 = very unlikely). Reliability estimates for
penalty yielded .83.
RESULTS
Table I shows the partial correlation coefficients
of the predictor and criterion variables. In H1a,
we state that student perceptions of fair distributive justice in the classroom affect cheating. Specifically, as perceptions of fair distributive justice
increase, student cheating should decrease. An
examination of the correlation between these
variables indicates the proposed negative relationship between fair distributive justice and
cheating in the classroom. However, this relationship was not significant; therefore H1a was
not supported by this study.
In H1b, we propose that student perceptions of
unfair distributive justice in the classroom influence cheating. As students perceive that professors are unfair with the distribution of grades,
cheating increases. An examination of the correlation between these variables indicates a positive significant relationship (p <. 05) between
unfair distributive justice and cheating in the
classroom. As the perception of unfair grade dis-
tribution increases, the cheating behaviors also
increase. Thus, H1b was supported in our study.
Our second set of hypotheses states students’
perceptions of fair procedures during the grading process affect cheating behaviors in the classroom. A positive significant relationship (p <.
01) emerged between fair procedural justices and
cheating behaviors. This was the most significant
and interesting relationship in our study. Instead
of fairness decreasing cheating as hypothesized,
the positive sign of the correlation indicates as
the perception of fair grading procedures increase, cheating behaviors also increased.
To investigate this relationship, we split the student respondents into two groups based on one
standard deviation (.04) plus or minus the mean
(4.17) of likelihood of cheating. We named the
groups ethical (n=174) and unethical (n=101).
We ran a simple linear regression on each group,
resulting in two equations. See Figure 1 for a
plot of the groups. For the ethical group, when
there was a 75 – 100 percent chance of not being
caught (4.41), they were as likely as the cheaters
to take advantage of the situation. The unethical
students start with a likelihood of cheating much
quicker than the ethical group at 2.51 (50% likelihood of not being caught) on a 5-point scale, and
the chance of cheating accelerates more quickly.
As their perceptions of justice in the classroom
Control Variables
Dist Proc
Dist
Fair Unfair Unfair
Total Total Total
DistFairCheat1
1.000 .357** .417** .150* -.024
Proc Unfair Cheat .357** 1.000
.428** .117
-.018
Dist Unfair Cheat
.417** .428** 1.000
.262** -.051
Proc
Fair
Total
.076 -.130* -.034
.182** .003 -.090
.185** .127* .002
Likely
.150* .117
.262** 1.000
.009 -.001 -.038
Total Proc Fair Cheat
Penalty Dist Fair Total
-.024 -.018
-.051
.009 1.000 -.007 .174**
Total
Proc Unfair Total
.076
.182** .185** -.001
-.007 1.000 .152*
Dist Unfair Total
-.130* .003
.127* -.038
.174** .152* 1.000
Proc Fair Total
-.034 -.090
.002
.299** .090 -.152* -.003
**. Correlation is significant at 0.01 level *. Correlation is significant at 0.05 level
20
behaviors. As the perception of unfair grading
procedures increase, the cheating behaviors also
increase. Therefore, results lend support to H2b.
Several issues merit further study. First, because
this is the first study of relationships between
classroom justice and cheating behaviors, future
researchers should attempt to identify additional variables related to this association. One
moderator of this relationship might be affect,
or the positive or negative mood or emotion of
the individual at the time of survey administration (Forgas, 1992). A student who comes to
class after a disagreement with his or her roommate might perceive the fairness of decisions
differently than before personal problems arose.
Similarly, a student who has recently received a
low grade might perceive lower justice than the
day before the grade was given. In addition, we
found the harsher the penalty and the higher
the likelihood of being caught cheating; the less
Our last hypothesis, H2b, states students’ perceptions of unfair grading procedures by professors influence cheating in the classroom. Specifically, as students perceive their teachers are not
using fair procedures, cheating increases. A positive significant relationship (p <. 05) was found
between unfair procedural justice and cheating
Figure 1
Ethical and Unethical Student Groups
Under the Fair Procedural Justice Scenario
Likelihood of being caught
5
Ethical
4.41 + .071
4
Table 1
Correlations
Dist
Proc Dist Un- Proc
Fair Unfair
fair
Fair
Cheat Cheat Cheat Cheat
go up, their likelihood of cheating also goes up.
At that point, justice in the classroom is perhaps
seen as an opportunity to cheat even more. Maybe, they see their fair teachers as “suckers” or “easy
A” teachers. Additionally, if a teacher is seen as
too fair, students may perceive a lighter penalty
if they do get caught. Some professors tell students there will be penalties, but when they catch
them cheating; they fail to follow through with
the appropriate punishment. Although H2a was
not supported in this data set, our results demonstrate an interesting phenomenon that deserves
further investigation.
.299**
.090
-.152*
-.003
1.000
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Unethical
2.51 +. 25
3
2
1
1
2
3
4
5
Perceptions of Justice
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
21
Mary A. Lemons & Jeff L. Seaton
likely individuals were to engage in that type behavior. Therefore, further research on these variables is also needed. The cross-sectional nature of
the study also renders it difficult to draw causal
conclusions about the relationships among the
variables. Although the correlations exist, crosssectional research does not explain why they
exist or what other external factors might have
caused the observed correlations. We did control
for likelihood of being caught and harshness of
penalties, but other variables may exist also. Because the collected data were self-reported, some
of the observed relationships may be exaggerated
because of common-method variance or the consistency motif; the results of the partial correlation test did not indicate this to be a critical issue.
Discussion
This study examined students’ perceptions of
fairness in the classroom and the effect they
might have on cheating behaviors. A significant
relationship emerged between unfair distributive
and unfair procedural justice and the proclivity to cheat. As the perception of unfair justice
increased, so did the cheating behaviors of the
students. A significant relationship between fair
distributive justice and cheating was not found,
but a significant and surprising result emerged
between fair procedural justices and cheating.
In this scenario, when the expectation of being
caught is 25% or less, even the ethical students
would cheat. In our pilot study, comments from
some of the students included statements that
they believe cheating is wrong and they would
never cheat regardless of the teacher’s actions;
our numbers relay something different. Before
conclusions are drawn, however, future research
is needed in this area.
This study supports the conclusion that perceptions of unfair justice in the classroom affect
students’ propensities to cheat. When unethical
behavior is ignored, students face a point where
their personal ethics are most important. We
suggest that additional precautions be taken to
alert students to the likelihood of being caught.
Should students feel the teacher is lax about
cheating behaviors, they may be more likely to attempt to “get away” with unethical practices.
Making students aware of your own values toward unacceptable behavior is the first step to
22
Justice in the Classroom: Does Fairness Determine Student Cheating Behaviors?
influencing their behavior. Listing your expectations on the syllabi also demonstrates your commitment to maintaining acceptable behaviors in
your class. The more likely a harsh penalty will be
enforced, the less likely students are to cheat in
the classroom. Thus, issuing and enforcing stiff
penalties for unethical acts, such as cheating, is
one way to reduce these behaviors in the classroom.
Another lesson from this study involves monitoring and diligence by educators. Since the likelihood of being caught in the act of cheating reduces students’ unethical behavior, strict monitoring
by instructors is necessary to curtail dishonesty
in the classroom. Our findings demonstrate
the need for educators to define what penalties
will be administered should students be caught
cheating, and to be consistent with enforcement.
Some professors list requirements for attendance,
classroom participation, and grade distribution,
but when citing requirements for academic conduct, they refer students to their college handbooks. Students need more explicit instructions
regarding what is considered cheating.
New technology provides many options for educators today. Safe Assignment, for example, can
be used to curb plagiarism as well as to teach students how to avoid it. This program allows students to enter their papers as drafts. They can see
the sections highlighted as plagiarism, and then
correct the problems before final submission.
Professors also see the results throughout the
process; thus, they can also offer help and suggestions. The result is a paper without plagiarisms
and a lesson learned by the student. In addition,
student papers are entered into a database; if future students try to use the paper again, the entire content will be flagged.
As well as educators, the results of our research
also hold implications for managers. In today’s
business environment more and more incidents
of unethical behavior are surfacing. Students
not respecting the climate of academic integrity
while in college will likely carry their unethical
behavior into their professional and personal
relationships (Petress, 2003). Harsh penalties
and strict monitoring may help curtail unethical
behaviors. First, by providing explicit guidelines
in the form of a written Code of Ethics, managers will make employees aware of expectations.
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Second, consistent enforcement of penalties for
unacceptable actions is necessary to show the
commitment of the company. Finally, a good
monitoring system removes temptations that
some employees might have.
We also suggest organizations support education in their area. Offering input regarding the
importance of ethical training in Academia, especially business schools, provides awareness of
this issue to the creators of curriculums. Ethics
should be incorporated into all aspects of education. As students become aware of the importance of high morals in business, they may begin
to see that it can be an employment requirement
of some organizations. While managers cannot
hope to change deeply ingrained values in their
employees, they can and should control their subordinates’ behaviors during work hours.
Conclusion
The effects of justice perceptions in the classroom
are products of individual cognitive processes,
which develop in response to cultural expectations (Bazerman et al., 1994). The causal attributions made by students during the formation of
justice perceptions in the classroom may explain
why some students cheat while others do not. If
academic cheating has reached an epidemic level,
as stated by today’s researchers (Ahlers-Schmidt
& Burdsal, 2004; Chory-Assad, & Paulsel, 2004;
Maramark & Maline, 1993; McCabe & Trevino,
1997; Petress, 2003; Pincus & Schmelkin, 2003),
and if their predictions hold true that these behaviors will transition into the professional environment, corporate America’s future managers
are going to definitely be “the most ethicallydiverse generation in history” (Pelton & True,
2004). When these students reach professional
environments, we may see many of the newer
generation of managers willing to engage in unethical behavior. We hope this study will serve as
a strong impetus to researchers for more in-depth
studies of justice and cheating in the classroom.
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Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
The Role of Leadership Substitutes Theory in
Adjunct Professor Preferences for Academic Leaders:
A Qualitative Examination
Joy A. Jones
Regent University
Virginia Beach, Virginia
ABSTRACT
This phenomenological study examined preferences of adjunct professors for academic leaders. Utilizing structured interviews of eight adjunct professors and thematic coding procedures, this study
reveals that adjunct professor preferences for academic leaders align with leadership substitutes
theory. Although distance between academic leader and adjunct professor neutralizes the effects of
leadership, informal communication appears to substitute for leadership. This study indicates that
adjunct professors prefer supportive and approachable leaders but do not want to be micromanaged.
This study also shows that although adjunct professors need formal directives regarding resources, they look to informal communication networks for motivation and direction. Future research
should include quantitative studies examining differences between adjunct and full time professor
preferences for leaders and substitutes for leadership.
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of the current study was to investigate preferences of adjunct professors for
academic leaders. Implicit leadership theory
suggests that leaders are evaluated based on
beliefs and assumptions about the attributes
and behaviors of effective leaders (Eden &
Leviatan, 1975). Yukl (2006) explained that,
“Implicit theories involve stereotypes and
prototypes about the traits, skills, or behaviors that are relevant for a particular type
of position” (p.130). Situational theories of
leadership contend that not all traits and
behaviors associated with leadership are effective in all situations. Thus, a leader might
be effective in one organizational context,
but ineffective in another (Fratangelo, 1999).
Designers of situational models of leadership
(e.g., Fiedler, 1964; House, 1971; Hersey &
Blanchard, 1977; Kerr & Jermier, 1978) agree
that leadership effectiveness varies according to the nature of environmental factors
(McPherson, Crowson, & Pitner, 1986).
Kerr and Jermier (1978) argued that certain
contexts, such as physical distance, might
minimize the influence of leadership. As distributed and dispersed employees, adjunct
professors may not have frequent contact
with academic leaders. Luby (2001) noted
that leaders of dispersed employees cannot
observe the daily performance of employees; therefore, the leader’s ability to provide
guidance may be limited. According to leadership substitutes theory, under these types
of conditions, rather than experience ambiguity, employees search for other sources of
direction (Kerr & Jermier). In contrast, Jackson and Schuler (1985) suggested that role
ambiguity is highest when one works alone,
receives limited feedback, and has limited interactions with the leader.
Adjunct faculty are a key component in higher education because approximately 44% of
faculty at four-year institutions are adjunct
(Ronco & Cahill, 2004), and approximately
64% of community college faculty are adjunct
(National Center for Educational Statistics,
2005). Thus, the aim of the current study was
to examine adjunct professor preferences for
leader attributes. Specifically, through interviews with eight adjunct faculty members,
this study investigated the following research
questions: (a) what are adjunct professor preferences for academic leaders; and (b) do ad-
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
25
Joy A. Jones
junct professor preferences for academic leaders align with leadership substitutes theory.
Taking a phenomenological approach to this
exploratory study permitted understanding
of participant experiences in working with
academic leaders. Although the study provides practical and theoretical implications
for leaders of distributed employees in higher
education, the study has limitations. The use
of snowball sampling was effective in finding
information rich cases (Patton, 2002); however, participants might have recommended
others with similar views, ideas, and beliefs
about the organization and leadership. Byrne’s (1971) similarity attraction paradigm
suggests that people tend to be drawn toward
individuals who are similar in terms of demographic characteristics, activities, and attitudes. Thus, the use of snowball sampling
might have created a homogeneous sample.
Although the sample varied in age, tenure,
and teaching discipline, the homogeneity of
race and gender may have limited the findings to a predominately-Caucasian male perspective.
Furthermore, researcher bias could be a limitation in the study. The researcher served as
an adjunct professor and, due to previous experiences working with an academic leader,
the researcher may bring certain biases to the
study. Although the researcher made efforts
to ensure objectivity, biases might shape the
way the researcher views and understands the
data (Creswell, 2003). Bias cannot be fully
eliminated. However, the researcher largely
negated bias by the richness of the data and
the use of clear and specific rules established
prior to conducting interviews (Flanagan,
1954).
The Role of Leadership Substitutes Theory in Adjunct Professor Preferences
Leadership
Kerr (1977) suggested that the assumption
that leadership has powerful effects on the
functioning of an organization is the basis
for leadership theory. Yukl (2006) explained,
“Leadership has been defined in terms of
traits, behaviors, influence, interaction patterns, role relationships, and occupation of
an administrative position” (p.2). Although
there are multiple definitions of the construct
(Stogdill, 1974), Yukl contended that most
definitions of leadership include the following assumptions: (a) leadership involves a
process, and (b) intentional influence is exerted by one person over another to guide, structure, and facilitate activities and relationships
in a group or organization. The current study
utilizes the following operational definition of leadership, “Leadership is an interactive process between the leader and follower
whereby the leader attempts to influence the
follower to achieve a desired goal” (Meadows,
1997, p.7).
Academic Leadership
Leadership development has received scarce
attention in the realm of higher education
(Astin, 1993). Gmelch and Wolverton (2002)
suggested that effective academic leadership
involves building community, setting direction, and empowering others. This study utilizes the following operational definition of
academic leadership, “Academic leadership is
the act of building a community of scholars
to set direction and achieve common purposes through the empowerment of faculty and
staff” (p. 5).
Adjunct Professor
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Adjuncts are not a homogeneous group
A review of the literature led to three fun- (Ronco & Cahill, 2004). Ronco and Cahill
damental theoretical underpinnings for the noted, “In addition to the ‘aspiring academpresent study: (a) implicit leadership theory, ics’ who piece together part-time teaching
(b) contingency theory, and (c) leadership assignments because full-time opportunities
substitutes theory. Prior to discussing the are not available, there are professionals, speliterature, defining leadership, academic cialists and experts who bring the advantage
leadership, and adjunct professor is im- of their primary careers to the classroom”
(p.2). Furthermore, adjuncts may teach part
perative.
time as a transition into retirement or post26
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
retirement from full time teaching. For the
purpose of the current study, adjunct professor refers to all “part time faculty who are
hired either on a long term or short term basis, but paid on a part-time contract outside
of the regular faculty pay plan” (Ronco &
Cahill, p.2).
Implicit Leadership Theory
Implicit leadership theory refers to the general ideas that people have about traits and behavior of leaders. Eden and Leviatan (1975)
developed the construct in their landmark
study that asked participants to describe
the leadership of a plant. Schyns (2006) explained that “implicit leadership theories
are cognitive structures incorporating traits
and behaviors that individuals associate with
the word leader” (p.189). These schemata
are stored into memory and activated when
individuals encounter a leader (Kenney,
Schwartz-Kenney, & Blascovich, 1996). Yukl
(2006) explained that implicit leadership
theories involve stereotypes or prototypes
about characteristics pertinent to a particular
type of position, individual, or context.
Research has been conducted on the relationship between implicit leadership theory
and performance appraisals (e.g.,Stumpf &
London, 1981; Bauer & Baltes, 2002; Syhns,
2006); leader-member exchange theory (e.g.,
Engle & Lord, 1997; Epitropaki & Martin,
2005); relational leadership theory (UhlBien, 1996); organizational citizenship behavior (Heilman & Chen, 2005); charisma
(Awamleh & Gardener, 1999); perceptions
of transformational and transactional leadership (Maher, 1997); and small group leadership (Philips & Lord, 1982; Nye, 2002).
Researchers have also examined implicit
leadership theories and cross-cultural perceptions (e.g., House, Javidan, Hanges, & Dorfman, 2002), as well as gender bias (Eagly &
Mladinic, 1989; Morrison & Von Glimow,
1990; Schyns, 2001; Sczesny, Bosak, Neff,
& Schyns, 2004), and minority bias (Morrison & VonGlimow, 1990; Peterson & Dietz,
2005; Chung-Herrara & Lankau, 2005) as
detriments to perceptions of leaders.
Wisniewski (2007) reported that academic
leaders are viewed as more competent and effective when they demonstrate the following
characteristics: (a) development of a core set
of values and vision; (b) effective communication, including listening, written and oral
communication; (c) reflection and analysis;
(d) creation of a positive climate; (e) problem
solving and risk taking; (e) perseverance; and
(f) collaboration and facilitation. Gmelch
and Wolverton (2002) noted that perceptions of effective academic leadership stem
from leaders demonstrating empowerment,
direction setting, and community building.
However, previous research on faculty indicates that academic behaviors are discipline
specific. For instance, Gmelch and Wolverton contended that academic leaders exhibit
differences in leadership attributes because of
socialization into different disciplinary cultures. In a like manner, faculty preferences
for leaders differ depending on the academic
department or type of position.
Yukl (2006) noted, “It is more difficult to
assess leader competence when reliable indicators of performance are absent, the opportunity to observe the leader’s actions is not
available, or a long delay occurs before leader
actions affect performance” (p.129). Despite
being part of specific academic disciplines,
adjunct faculties may not be acculturated
into academic departments to the degree of
full time professors. In addition, adjunct
professors may not receive reliable and timely
indicators of performance or opportunities
to observe leader actions. Thus, adjunct faculty preferences for academic leader attributes
may be contingent on the situation.
Contingency Theories
Contingency models of leadership (Fiedler,
1964) emerged as an answer to Stogdill’s
(1948) “call for an approach based on the interaction of leader traits with situational parameters” (Chemers, 2000, p.29). Contingency theories encompass models that explain
leadership effectiveness in terms of situational moderators. Contingency implies that the
relationship between leadership traits/behaviors and effectiveness is contingent upon as-
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
27
Joy A. Jones
pects of the situation. McPherson et al. (1986)
noted that designers of situational models of
leadership (e.g., Fiedler, 1964; House, 1971;
Hersey & Blanchard, 1977; Kerr & Jermier,
1978) agree that leadership effectiveness varies according to the nature of environmental
factors. Examples of contingency models of
leadership include path goal theory (House,
1971), least preferred coworker contingency
theory (Fiedler, 1964), situational leadership
theory (Hersey & Blanchard, 1977), cognitive resource theory (Fiedler & Garcia, 1987),
and leadership substitutes theory (Kerr &
Jermier, 1978).
Leadership Substitutes Theory
Kerr and Jermier’s (1978) leadership substitutes theory asserts that aspects of a situation can reduce the importance of leadership. Although the literature on leadership
substitutes theory is not extensive and has
attracted strong criticism (Dione et al., 2002;
Keller, 2006), Keller concluded, “leader behaviors and substitutes account for unique
variance in subordinate attitudes and performance” (p.204). Yukl (2006) explained the
leadership substitutes model was developed
to “identify aspects of the situation that may
reduce the importance of leadership by managers and other formal leaders” (p. 225). Specifically, the theory distinguishes between
two types of situational variables: neutralizers and substitutes. Yukl suggested that neutralizers “are any characteristics of the task
or organization that prevent a leader from
acting in a specified way or that nullify the
effects of the leader’s actions” (p.225). Kerr
and Jermier (1978) proposed thirteen dimensions, which may neutralize the effectiveness
of leaders, such as: (a) follower’s ability, experience, training, and knowledge; (b) follower’s professional orientation; (c) intrinsically
satisfying tasks; (d) closely knit cohesive work
groups; (e) the follower’s need for independence; and (f) spatial distance between superior and subordinate.
Yukl (2006) defined substitutes as aspects
that “make leader behavior unnecessary or
redundant…any characteristics …that ensure
subordinates will clearly understand their
28
The Role of Leadership Substitutes Theory in Adjunct Professor Preferences
roles, know how to do their work, be highly
motivated, and be satisfied with their jobs”
(p.225). Fratangelo (1999) noted that characteristics of the individual, task, and the
organization might act as substitutes and
neutralizers for leadership. In the original
conceptualization of the model, Kerr and
Jermier (1978) focused on identifying substitutes and neutralizers for supportive (i.e.,
consideration) and instrumental leadership
(i.e., initiating structure). The theorists noted
that professional orientation, intrinsic motivation, and cohesive workgroups might substitute for leadership, while dispersed subordinate work sites could neutralize leadership
influence.
Researchers, such as Weiss (1989) and
Fratangelo (1999), reported that teachers
perceive themselves as professionals. Bass
(1998) argued that, in teaching, professionalism includes commitment to caring and
commitment to the profession. Fratangelo
suggested that educators are committed to
pursuing certain paths because of their desire to conform to organizational and professional norms rather than because of leadership. Furthermore, Scott (1966) explained
that professionals in bureaucratic organizations resist authority and cultivate horizontal
rather than vertical relationships. Research
on distributed employees indicates that subordinates, whose supervisors cannot observe
their daily performance and activities, search
for other sources of leadership and direction
(Luby, 2001). As distributed and sometimes
disconnected employees, adjunct professors
may have different needs than full time professors. Although some studies have been
conducted on leadership substitutes theory
and education (e.g., Fratangelo, 1999; Pitner,
1988), research on adjunct professors preferences for academic leaders and leadership
substitutes theory is nonexistent.
METHODOLOGY
The current study employed a qualitative research methodology to collect and analyze
data. Erickson (1986) contended that conceptions of qualitative data emerge during
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
data analysis. Therefore, this study did not
test defined hypotheses.
Participants
Patton (2002) explained, “Qualitative inquiry typically focuses in depth on relatively
small samples, selected purposefully” (p.
230). Purposeful sampling allows selection of
information rich cases (Patton). In the current study, the researcher utilized snowballsampling procedures to select participants.
In accordance with snowball sampling, the
first interviewee contacted another in order
to increase rapport and trust between the
researcher and the participants (Quader &
Oplatka, 2008). A colleague recommended
the initial participant.
The study sample consisted of eight adjunct
professors from a community college in the
northeast. Six participants were male and two
were female. Participants varied in age: three
participants were 25-35, two participants
35-45, one participant 45-55, and two participants were sixty or over. All participants
were Caucasian. Participants represented diverse teaching disciplines and departments,
and varied in years of experience teaching.
Data collection procedure
This study utilized a phenomenological approach
in order to understand participant experiences
with academic leadership. Husserl (1965) explained that researchers should “exclude all empirical interpretation and existential affirmations” (p.577). The nature of phenomenology
encourages the researcher to remain distant and
unbiased in the discovery of meanings. Flanagan
(1954) suggested that establishing rules eliminates potential bias and allows data collection to
be more simplistic. In the current study, the researcher established clear and specific rules prior
to conducting research in order to reduce potential researcher bias.
Utilizing structured, open-ended interviews, this
study employed Seidman’s (2006) recommendations for interviewing including (a) avoiding
leading questions, (c) limiting researcher interaction, (d) tape recording interviews, and (e) tran-
scribing interview tapes. Following Creswell’s
(2003) guidelines, the interviews began with a
grand tour question (i.e. what do you want in
an academic leader) , followed by four follow up
questions (i.e. what kind of specific interactions
do you need from your leader, what would you
like to see regarding communication with your
leader, what specific behaviors of your leader do
you believe are effective, and what specific behaviors of your leader to you believe are ineffective).
The researcher interviewed participants face to
face in various locations at the participants teaching institution. Interviews were video recorded,
supplemented with field notes of the data. Prior
to taking part in the interviews, the researcher
provided participants with background information including (a) the purpose of the study, (b)
sponsorship (i.e., data were collected as part of a
doctoral research project), and (c) anonymity.
Data analysis procedure
Marshall and Rossman (1999) suggested
that data collection analysis in qualitative
research should be a simultaneous process.
Flanagan (1954) explained that researchers
should classify and transcribe information
while information is fresh. For this reason,
the researcher transcribed interviews verbatim immediately following data collection.
The researcher took field noted as a precaution for losing data. The analysis of this
study followed Tesch’s (1990) thematic coding procedures. The researcher read the data
several times and took notes on patterns and
regularities, coded the data into categories,
and then grouped and compared the data.
ATLAS version 6 qualitative software aided
thematic coding.
In order to ensure internal validity, the researcher utilized member checking and peer
review procedures. The participants reviewed
the final themes to determine whether the
findings were accurate reflections of their
experience (Creswell, 2003). Furthermore,
another professor at the researcher’s institution reviewed the transcriptions and coded
themes, checking for accuracy. In addition,
the researcher ensured internal validity by
presenting negative or discrepant information and by clarifying bias (Creswell).
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
29
Joy A. Jones
The Role of Leadership Substitutes Theory in Adjunct Professor Preferences
they were intrinsically motivated to do their
job and did not need to be motivated by a
The following themes emerged from the anal- leader. One participant explained, “I look
ysis of the data: micromanagement, profes- for distance and confidence in my expertise.
sionalism, resources, supportive leader, and I don’t want anybody in my backyard. I have
informal communication.
been teaching for many years and I want my
leader to have faith in my ability.”
Findings
Micromanagement and Professionalism
A common theme in the data included negative attribution to academic leaders who
micromanaged. The theme of micromanagement emerged twenty-two times in the data.
One participant explicitly stated, “Micro
managers put too much stress on the people
they manage.” Another participant explained
that an effective academic leader should be
“confident, efficient, delegating, the opposite
of a micro manager.” Participants indicated
that effective academic leadership encompassed treating faculty as professionals. Three
participants used the term professional as
the opposite of micromanager. The following comments from the interviews further
explain the theme of professionalism.
• I need a leader who understands we are
part time and we have other things going
on. We are still experienced professionals
though and we don’t need to be talked
down to [sic]. They often belittle the contributions of adjunct faculty.
• I don’t want a leader who diminishes what
I bring to the table. The leadership needs
to be more professional and less micromanaged. It’s operated here like a factory
or an industrial plant, not like a professional environment.
• We get paid nothing and they expect a
lot from us. I am a professional. I don’t
cut class just for the heck of it. I should be
treated like a professional. I had surgery
and they wanted to dock my pay for missing class. I feel like there is a parent child
relationship. We are treated childishly
rather than professionally.
Participants also remarked that micromanagement was a sign of distrust. One participant suggested, “A good academic leader delegates authority and trusts the people they
delegate to.” Participants also suggested that
30
Resources
When asked what specific interaction or
communication the participants wanted
from academic leaders, the majority of participants reported wanting interaction that related to scheduling, textbooks, and the goals
and objectives of the institution. None of the
participants indicated wanting or needing
more communication from their leader. One
participant explicitly stated, “All I need from
my leader are the resources to do my job.”
Other participants indicated:
• I like my own space; I don’t want to be
contacted all the time.
• All I need to know is the book, the schedule and that is it.
• I just need to know what affects me as a
teacher.
• I need someone who will get the schedule
done in a timely manner and let me know
about events happening on campus.
• It would be good if adjunct faculty could
access the minutes to department meetings since we are not able to attend.
• The leader should articulate goals and
objectives of the department and college.
• A leader is effective when the employees
are clear about the college mission statement, goals, and objectives. We get a lot of
broad emails about the college plans and
those are good.
Supportive Leadership. A few participants
reported wanting a supportive leader. When
describing an ideal academic leader, the majority of participants indicated that they
wanted a leader who was supportive, open,
and approachable but left them alone to be
independent. One participant reported that
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
he did not want to be micromanaged, but
suggested that the academic leader should
be visible on campus. Another participant
noted, “It would be nice to have someone to
contact about issues or problems. I don’t want
too much involvement though. I guess there
is a fine line there.” Several participants suggested that approachability was an important
characteristic of an academic leader. Many
participants also acknowledged that they
wanted a leader with previous teaching experience in order to understand the needs of
adjunct faculty.
Informal Communication
Surprisingly, the theme of informal communication emerged in almost every interview.
Although most participants did not report
needing more interaction with or communication from their leader, all participants suggested the need for informal communication
networks among adjunct professors. Furthermore, the participants who suggested a need
to improve formal communication linked
the discussion to a failure of informal communication networks. In addition, many participants acknowledged feeling disconnected
from the institution and reported that improvement in informal networks would help
them feel connected.
Participants reported:
• Adjuncts don’t have much of a presence
on campus and this is because they are
not paid to be here so they leave. Adjuncts
should have some place to meet on campus
that is bright and open. We need a place
where we can meet and bounce off ideas.
• We are often not around and don’t get
notified about campus events. The grapevine is important for us and it doesn’t flow
to us most of the time. Since the grapevine
doesn’t flow, we need better information
on campus events and happenings.
• Adjuncts often feel isolated and don’t get
connected. I would like to see a group of
adjuncts joining together in a network.
Communication with my colleagues is
more important to me. It is important not
just to come and go but to be connected to
the group.
• If someone is new, they [sic] may feel like
they are floundering. This is probably going to come from us making a community
for ourselves.
• I would like face-to-face meetings with all
adjuncts. It seems like adjuncts are breaking apart from full time faculty and aren’t
a part of the group. Adjuncts need a place
to meet and talk to other adjuncts and
discuss problems and concerns.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Data analysis revealed that adjunct professor preferences for leadership attributes align
with leadership substitutes theory. Kerr and
Jermier (1978) noted that aspects of the situation that may substitute for leadership include any characteristic of the subordinate,
task, or organization that ensure employees
understand their roles, know how to do the
work, motivate employees, and provide job
satisfaction. Although distance between an
academic leader and adjunct professors might
neutralize the effects of leadership, informal
communication appears to substitute for
leadership. These findings align with Kerr
and Jermier’s discussion of neutralizers and
substitutes for supportive and instrumental
leadership. Although participants want leaders who are supportive and approachable,
they prefer not to be micromanaged. For adjunct instructors, micromanagement is the
antithesis of professionalism and trust. The
study reveals that adjunct instructors need
formal directives regarding schedules, campus events, textbooks, and other resources,
but seek informal communication networks
for motivation and direction. As Gmelch and
Wolverton (2002) noted, “Academic leadership is the act of building a community of
scholars to a set direction and achieve common purposes through the empowerment of
faculty and staff” (p.5). This study’s findings
reveal the importance of community and
empowerment in the academic leadership of
adjunct professors. Furthermore, this study’s
findings support Scott’s (1966) assertion that
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
31
Joy A. Jones
The Role of Leadership Substitutes Theory in Adjunct Professor Preferences
professionals in educational institutions re- Dionne, S. D., Yammarino , F. J., Atwater , L. E.,
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& James, L. R. (2002). Neutralizing substithan vertical relationships. From a practical
tutes for leadership theory: Leadership effects
perspective, the findings indicate that acaand common source bias. Journal of Applied
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munication networks by providing opportu- Eagly, A. H. & Mladinic, A. (1989). Gender stenities and environments for adjunct faculties
reotypes and attitudes toward women and
to gather and collaborate. Future research
men. Personality and Social Psychology
should include quantitative studies examinBulletin, 15, 543-558.
ing differences between the preferences of
adjunct and full time professors for academic Eden, D., & Leviatan, U. (1975). Implicit leadleaders and substitutes for leadership.
ership theory as a determinant of the factor
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Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Online and Traditional Courses:
What are Demographic Differences?
Tim Klaus
College of Business
Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi, Texas
Chuleeporn Changchit
College of Business
Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi, Texas
ABSTRACT
The number of online courses offered by higher education institutions and the number of students
enrolling in these courses continues to grow. The wide-spread availability of high-speed Internet,
technological advances of software used for online courses, and increasing numbers of non-traditional students enrolled in college courses contribute to this growth. This study examines the demographic differences between students in online courses versus traditional courses. Over four semesters, the demographic data was examined to determine what significant differences exist between
students enrolled in an online section of a required core business course and a traditional section of
the same required core business class. Four demographics are found which are significantly different
between the online and traditional sections of a course. The differences and conclusions from the
data analysis are discussed.
INTRODUCTION
Traditionally, distance-learning classes were
offered through the mail. This provided some
flexibility to students as assignments and tests
could be completed remotely and sent in to the
university for grading. The problems with this
course medium were the slow correspondence
and minimal lack of interaction with instructors.
Thus, many universities chose not to offer courses
in this format. However, over the past 15 years,
online courses have overcome these negative aspects as near instantaneous interaction became
available. In addition, the various tools offered
by online course interfaces such as email, online
discussion boards, real-time chat rooms, whiteboards, the posting of files, and online whiteboards have led to an improved learning forum.
The number of online courses offered by universities as well as the number of students enrolled
in these courses has increased greatly over the
past few years. As college demographics change
and technological tools are available and widely
adapted, the education needs are altered and
there is a higher demand for more flexible and
convenient methods in obtaining a higher education (Klaus & Changchit, 2009). One study
reports that the number of students enrolled in
at least one online course doubled to four million
between the years 2003 and 2008 (Clark, 2009).
No longer are higher education institutions focused on just the traditional, right out of high
school, full-time students who live on campus
since many students are now completing degrees
while working full-time. This leads to a greater
demand for flexible classes as job schedules are
often unpredictable and the desire to minimize
time commuting to the college campus.
From the perspective of universities and instructors developing online courses today, questions
remain regarding the cost of successfully implementing online courses as well as the quality
of online courses. For students, there are many
viewpoints that exist regarding whether an online course is desired. Some students prefer taking online courses while others are very hesitant
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
45
Tim Klaus & Chuleeporn Changchit
to enroll in an online section of a course if a
traditional section is available. Thus, this study
seeks to examine if there are any demographic
differences between students desiring an online
section versus students who desire a traditional
section of a course. To pursue this objective, this
study discusses prior studies that relate to student perceptions of online courses. The methodology of this study is then discussed, followed by
an analysis of the data collection and a discussion
of the results. This knowledge should lead university administrators as well as instructors designing online courses to better tailor courses to
the students that enroll in them.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Some case studies have shown that technology
can be an effective tool at enabling course instruction (Tennent, Windeknecht, and Kehoe,
2004; Hong, 2002; Lee, Tan, and Goh, 2004).
Online courses provide some benefits over traditional course instruction as it can help to individualize the education process. Students taking
online courses are forced to have a greater degree
of self-reliance and discipline. Students who do
not put forth the required initiative in the course
will likely fail the course, which may be a reason
why online courses tend to have a slightly higher
failure rate than traditional courses. However,
students which do take charge of their own learning often end up increasing their level of learning
in the course.
Typically, students who better handle online
course formats have been shown to be those who
are more independent, self-motivated, and with
clear career goals. Lower retention rates for online courses have been attributed to reasons such
as lack of personal interaction, inexperienced
faculty, students unaware of the expectations,
and students with multiple obligations. Students’
willingness and ability to adapt to the environment and work within the online environment
are usually found to be the major determinants
of satisfaction with the learning experience
(Stokes 2001).
Online and Traditional Courses: What are Demographic Differences?
teleconferencing via telephone and video, are necessary for classes to be effective (Hazari, 2004). It
is important that institutions assess what is effective for their students and the types of courses
before structuring the online aspects. The type
of course that best suits a student should not
be determined solely by the administration, but
through soliciting student input as classes that
follow a more traditional classroom setting may
not be appropriate in some cases while in others
it is. Even if financial data may support the use of
online courses in terms of saving money, it would
not be beneficial to implement the online courses
if there was resistance by students (Wang, 2004).
Online courses are growing in number, both in
the number offered in universities and in the
number of students participating in the classes
(Lee, Tan, and Goh, 2004). These courses can be
tailored in several ways, with varying degrees of
video, web-material and participation of faculty
members that best suits the student population,
the course, and the time-frame. No one format
for a course is best for everyone or for every
course. Therefore, it is especially important that
institutions take these characteristics into consideration when tailoring their courses with online formats. Understanding the characteristics
of students who are attracted to online courses
can help determine the format and options for
course design so the course may be most effective
at providing a learning environment.
From the perspective of higher learning institutions, an important concern is to develop the
courses that best allow the students to participate and gain an appropriate learning experience
(Lam, 2005). It is important that institutions
conduct a prior assessment of students’ attitudes
toward online courses in order to make an optimum course for the institution as well as its participants. This study examines the demographics
of students, analyzing the differences between
students enrolled in an online section and a traditional section of a course. The following section
describes the demographic factors that may affect students’ preference towards online courses.
For this study, we are exploring the demographics of students to determine if there are significant differences between students who are taking an online section of a course and those that
are taking a traditional section of a course. The
following hypotheses are proposed and will be
tested in this study:
H1: There is no significant difference in the
gender of students taking an online
course versus students taking a traditional course.
H2: There is no significant difference in the
age of students taking an online course
versus students taking a traditional
course.
H3: There is no significant difference in the
ethnicity of students taking an online
course versus students taking a traditional course.
H4: There is no significant difference in the
employment status of students taking
an online course versus students taking
a traditional course.
H5: There is no significant difference in the
distance a campus is from the home of
students taking an online course versus
students taking a traditional course.
Research Model
H6: There is no significant difference in the
prior experience of online courses of students taking an online course versus students taking a traditional course.
H7: There is no significant difference in the
owning a computer of students taking
an online course versus students taking
a traditional course.
H8: There is no significant difference in the
level of Internet access at home of students taking an online course versus students taking a traditional course.
Based on the hypotheses described above, the
model used to guide this research is illustrated in
Figure 1 below. Eight measurement variables and
one response variable were measured as follows:
METHODOLOGY
A questionnaire was developed to investigate
the hypotheses. To derive the questions, two instruments created by Rovai (2002) and Driver
(2002) were adapted and combined (Changchit
and Hostetler, 2003). Additional minor changes
in wording were made to tailor the questionnaire
versions to their respective settings. Two professors were asked to pretest the questionnaire in
order to ensure its clarity. Their feedback was incorporated into the final version.
Figure 1
Research Model
Gender (H1)
Age (H2)
Ethnicity (H3)
Employment Status (H4)
Distance from Home (H5)
Decision to Take an
Online or a
Traditional Class
Have Taken an Online
Course (H6)
Computer Owned (H7)
As most organizations have been demanding
technological familiarity, it is important for universities to assess what parts/types of technology
best suit their courses. Not all options, such as
46
PROPOSED DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS
AND RESEARCH MODEL
Internet Access at Home (H8)
Measurement Variables
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
Response Variable
47
Tim Klaus & Chuleeporn Changchit
Data were collected from Junior and Senior level
Business students enrolled in a required Management Information System (MIS) course. The
same instructor taught this course over the period of four semesters. Every semester, this MIS
course had both an online section (fully online
through the Blackboard classroom management
portal), and a traditional section (taught fully in
a classroom). Both online and traditional students responded to the same questions, but the
questionnaire format differed. To obtain the responses from students in the traditional section
of the course, the questionnaire was hand distributed in order to encourage them to respond.
These participants were given the survey and
allowed class time to complete the survey. Sixtytwo (58 were valid responses) students taking the
traditional section voluntarily responded to the
questionnaire. For the online students, the questionnaire was created as a web form. An email
was sent to all students in the online section with
a hyperlink to the online questionnaire, requesting their participation in the questionnaire. One
hundred and thirty-two (126 were valid responses) students taking the online section responded
to the questionnaire.
The questionnaires informed students that all
responses would be anonymous and there was
no question included which would allow anyone
to identify a particular student. In addition, students were informed that their decision to participate in the study was completely voluntary.
Table 1 summarizes demographics of the respondents.
ANALYSIS
DATA ANALYSIS
In order to test the hypotheses stated in the prior
section, two groups were created (Online and
Traditional), based solely on whether the student
was in the online section or the traditional section of the course. ANOVA was used to examine
the differences of these groups based on the demographic data obtained from the students.
The results of Hypotheses H1-H8 are summarized in Table 2, which shows ANOVA results
pertaining to the hypotheses.
48
Online and Traditional Courses: What are Demographic Differences?
H1 – there is a significant difference in the gender between students that chose online
versus traditional sections of the course.
Females took a significantly higher portion of online sections.
H2 – there is no significant difference in the
ages of students that took the online section versus those that took the traditional section of the course.
H3 – there is no significant differences in the
ethnicities that took the online section versus the traditional section of the
course.
H4 – there is a significant difference in the employment status of students taking the
online section versus the traditional section of the course. A much larger percentage of students not employed enrolled in
the online class while a much larger percentage of students who were employed
either part-time or full-time enrolled in
the traditional section of the course.
H5 – there is a significant difference in the distance from students’ homes to the university between students enrolled in the
online section versus the traditional section of the course. For students living 30
minutes or less from campus, there was a
higher percentage which chose the traditional section. For students living 30
minutes or more from campus, there was
a much larger percentage that chose the
online section.
H6 – there is a significant difference in previously online course experience between
the students which chose the online section versus the traditional section. The
online section had a significantly higher
percentage of students who had previously taken an online course. The traditional
section had a significantly lower percentage of students who had previously taken
an online course.
H7 – no significant difference was found between the online and traditional sections
for whether students own a computer at
home.
H8 – no significant difference was found between the online and traditional sections
for whether students had Internet access
at home.
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Table 1
Respondent Demographics
Male
Gender
Computer at
Home
Computer at
Work
Traditional
Online
Traditional
Online
Traditional
Online
Taken an
Online Course Traditional
Before
Online
Employment
Status
Traditional
Online
Internet Access
at Home
Traditional
Online
Computer
Knowledge
Ethnicity
Age
Traditional
Online
31 (53.4%)
46 (36.5%)
Yes
57 (98.3%)
125 (99.2%)
Yes
50 (86.2%)
66 (52.4%)
Yes
35 (60.3%)
94 (74.6%)
Full Time
31 (53.4%)
45 (35.7%)
Part Time
20 (34.5%)
3 (2.4%)
None
Dial-up
2 (3.4%)
7 (5.6%)
Very Poor
Poor
1 (1.7%)
3 (5.2%)
3 (2.4%)
2 (1.6%)
1 (1.7%)
5 (4.0%)
Fair
8 (13.8%)
24 (19.0%)
Anglo
Traditional
Online
Traditional
Online
University’s
Distance from Traditional
Home
Online
Female
30 (51.7%)
69 (54.8%)
Under 18
1 (1.7%)
3 (2.4%)
<10 min.
14 (24.1%)
2 (23.8%)
Asian
Black
4 (6.9%)
2 (3.4%)
12 (9.5%)
2 (1.6%)
18-25
>25-35
43 (75.4%)
9 (15.5%)
84 (66.7%) 32 (25.4%)
10-30 min. >30-60 min.
32 (55.2%) 11 (19.0%)
54 (42.9%) 32 (25.4%)
27 (46.6%)
80 (63.5%)
No
1 (1.7%)
1 (0.8%)
No
8 (13.8%)
60 (47.6%)
No
23 (39.7%)
32 (25.4%)
Not employed
7 (12.1%)
78 (61.9%)
High speed
(i.e., DSL, Cable)
55 (94.8%)
114 (90.5%)
Good
Very Good
24 (41.4%)
22 (37.9%)
58 (46.0%)
39 (31%)
Native
Hispanic
American
22 (37.9%)
0 (0.0%)
42 (33.3%)
1 (0.8%)
>35-50
Over 50
4 (6.9%)
1 (1.7%)
6 (4.8%)
1 (0.8%)
1-2 hours
>2 hours
1 (1.7%)
0 (0.0%)
2 (1.6%)
8 (6.3%)
Table 2
ANOVA Results
Hypothesis
H1
H2
H3
H4
H5
H6
H7
H8
Demographic
Gender
Age
Ethnicity
Employment Status
Distance from Home
Taken an Online Course Previously
Own Computer at Home
Have Internet Access at Home
F Value
4.7538**
0.0002
0.2752
2.8099*
2.8765*
3.8927*
0.3169
0.7791
* p<0.10 ** p<0.05
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
49
Tim Klaus & Chuleeporn Changchit
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
As shown in the results section, there are various significant differences in the demographics
of students who are taking online sections of a
course versus students taking traditional sections of a course. Gender, employment status,
distance the university is from a student’s home,
and whether a student has taken an online course
previously all are significant demographic differences between the sections of the course. The
results for gender is consistent with previous
studies (Rothmund, 2008), as a higher level of females tend to enroll in online courses, although
there is little consensus regarding the reason. Distance from the university was expected since the
convenience of an online course tends to be an
important factor why students choose an online
course. In addition, it was expected that students
who have taken an online course will be more
likely to take another online course. It was typical that students who tend to choose an online
course once have various reasons to do so such as
preferring that instruction medium and the convenience of online courses; thus these students
are likely to repeat the choice of enrolling in an
online section. However, of the four significant
factors that were identified, the result of employment status was a surprising finding. Previous
research has indicated that flexibility is a major
benefit of online courses (i.e., Drennan, 2005),
which implies that students who are employed
full-time or part-time would be more likely to
enroll in an online course. However, the opposite
was found in this study since it was the students
not employed which constituted a significantly
larger percentage of students who selected the
online course. This may be due to a large number
of night classes offered at the university in which
this study was conducted. Since night classes were
available, students employed full- or part-time
may have not needed the flexibility of schedule
available with online courses and thought it may
be easier to participate in a traditional course after a long day of work rather than setting forth
the self-discipline often required to complete online courses. Another reason could be that since
few online courses are offered at the university,
students who are not employed prefer an online
course if it is available in order to have more variety in course offerings.
50
Online and Traditional Courses: What are Demographic Differences?
The other four factors, age, ethnicity, owning a
computer at home, and Internet access at home,
did not result in significant differences between
the students enrolled in the online section versus
the traditional section of the course. Of these,
age was a surprising result with a very low and
non-significant f-value. Since previous studies have suggested that college students that are
not of the traditional college age (18-23) prefer
online courses (Rothmund, 2008), the fact that
no significant difference was found is surprising.
However, upon looking on the data further, over
90% of respondents for both the traditional section and the online section ranged in age from
18-35 years old. Since the courses did not have
many students in other age categories, the data
may have been skewed, causing the data analysis
not to detect differences that may exist in the 35
and above age categories.
For universities considering online classes, this
study presents several areas that a university can
focus on. Since there are gender, employment
status, distance from home, and previous online
course experience differences between students
that take online sections and traditional sections
of a course, courses can be better tailored to meet
the students enrolled in each class. Course designers should be aware of the demographics of
students more likely to take the course to better
meet their learning needs. In addition, a university could promote online courses in such a way
that students more likely to prefer online courses
are aware of the options available to them.
These initial findings warrant further investigation. To achieve a better understanding of
all of the demographics in online courses, future
research should gather more demographic data
from a larger sample base, so that demographics
such as age have large categories of data particularly in the age categories above 35. Furthermore,
investigating the characteristics of courses that
are better suited as online courses would benefit
higher education institutions striving to meet the
needs of students.
REFERENCES
Changchit, C. and Hostetler, E. (2003). A Comparative Study of Student Perceptions: Online
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
vs. Traditional Classrooms. Communications
of the IIMA Journal, 3(3), 107-118.
Clark, Kim. (2009). Online Education Offers Access and Affordability. U.S. News
and World Report. April 2. http://www.
usnews.com/articles/education/online-education/2009/04/02/online-education-offers-access-and-affordability.html, accessed
1/29/2010.
Drennan, Judy and Jessica Kennedy. (2005).
“Factors Affecting Student Attitudes Toward
Flexible Online Learning in Management Education.” The Journal of Educational Research.
Jul/Aug. 98(6), 331-338.
Driver, M. (2002). Exploring Student Perceptions of Group Interaction and Class Satisfaction in the Web-Enhanced Classroom. The
Internet and Higher Education, 5(1), 35-45.
Rovai, A.P. (2002). Development of an Instrument to Measure Classroom Community. The
Internet and Higher Education, 5(3), 197-211.
Stokes, S. P. (2001). Satisfaction of college students with the digital learning environment:
Do learners’ temperaments make a difference?
The Internet and Higher Education, 4(1), 3144.
Tennent, B., Windeknecht, K., & Kehoe, J.
(2004). Teaching with technology: Valueadded innovation or necessity? Campus-Wide
Information Systems, 21(4), 144.
Wang, W. (2004). How university students view
online study: A PCP perspective. CampusWide Information Systems, 21(3), 108.
Hazari, S. (2004). Strategy for assessment of online course discussion. Journal of Information
Systems Education, 15(4), 349-355.
Hong, K. (2002). Relationships between students’ and instructional variables with satisfaction learning from a Web-based course.
The Internet and Higher Education, 5(3),
267-281.
Klaus, T. and Changchit, C. “Online or Traditional: A Study to Examine Course Characteristic Contributing to Students’ Preference
on Classroom Settings,” International Journal
of Information & Communication Technology Education, V(3), 2009, pp. 14-23.
Lam, W. (2005). Teaching e-business online: The
Universitas 21 global approach. Journal of
Electronic Commerce in Organizations, 3(3),
18-41.
Lee, C. S., Tan, D. T. H. T., & Goh, W. S. (2004).
The next generation of e-learning: Strategies
for media rich online teaching and engaged
learning. International Journal of Distance
Education Technologies, 2(4), 1-16.
Rothmund, Constance. (2008). Correlation between Course Interactivity and Reported Levels of Student Satisfaction in Hybrid Courses.
Dissertation – Capella University.
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
51
Tim Klaus & Chuleeporn Changchit
52
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Is it More Than Just GPA?
An Examination of Work Experience and
Test Preparation Effects on MFT-B Scores
Susie S. Cox
McNeese State University
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Jiun-Shiu Chen
McNeese State University
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Jeff Totten
McNeese State University
Lake Charles, Louisiana
ABSTRACT
This study looks beyond the individual demographic characteristics that may influence performance scores on standardized tests such as the Educational Testing
Service’s Major Field Test in Business (MFT-B). We investigated the influence
of grade point average (GPA), work experience, perceived preparedness, review
sessions, and practice exams on student performance on the MFT-B. Our findings
reveal that in addition to students’ GPA, students reporting having more work
experience scored higher on the MFT-B than students reporting less work experience did. Furthermore, students that felt their college course work had prepared
them for the exam also scored higher than those students who perceived not being
well prepared by college course work. We did not find a significant relationship
between attending review sessions or taking practice exams and performance on
the MFT-B. These findings and possible implications are discussed.
INTRODUCTION
Although assessment has always been a critical element of education, it has gained renewed attention from colleges of business seeking to receive
and maintain accreditation. Accrediting bodies
such as the Association to Advance Collegiate
Schools of Business (AACSB) set standards for
colleges of business to meet in order to gain and
maintain accreditation of programs. AACSB
(2010) requires that the college develops learning
goals based on its mission, assesses the progression toward goals, and monitors revisions in curriculum taken to move toward achievement of
learning goals. To ensure quality of programs at
all accredited institutions, minimum standards
for a broad business education are defined; however, specific learning objectives of the college
are to be determined by the participative faculty.
Because of the broad base of general business
knowledge required, many colleges have one or
more learning goals that address basic business
knowledge that warrant assessment.
AACSB does not specify the types of assessment tools to be used in the assessment process.
It only requires that there be direct assessments
of student learning. Course embedded questions,
projects, presentations and standardized tests are
all part of the assessor’s toolbox. However, each
type of assessment comes with both advantages
and disadvantages (see Pringle & Michel, 2007).
For example, multiple instructors and multiple
sections of courses can complicate the assessment process. Recent research has also suggested
that there may be a cohort effect on assessment
(Contreras, Badua, Chen, & Adrian, in press).
Therefore, assessors must put careful thought
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
53
Susie S. Cox, Jiun-Shiu Chen, & Jeff Totten,
into which form of assessment will provide the
greatest benefit in spite of the disadvantages.
As part of the movement to establish direct assessments that confirm student learning, a number of colleges have begun to use comprehensive
standardized tests to evaluate students’ knowledge. The Major Field Test in Business (MFTB) developed by Educational Testing Service
(ETS) is an assessment tool designed to evaluate
basic learning outcomes in the area of business
education. The MFT-B assesses a variety of core
business areas such as accounting, economics,
management, information systems, quantitative
business analysis, finance, marketing, legal and
social environment, and international issues (ets.
org, 2010). The MFT-B offers several benefits. It
not only allows assessment of individual students
but also allows schools to compare results with
other schools. Thus, the MFT-B allows colleges
to benchmark their progress with other colleges
across the United States.
To date, there have been a number of studies in
various disciplines that have examined the relationship of comprehensive test performance
and grade point average (GPA), major field of
study (Contreras, et al., in press), demographic
variables (i.e., gender, age) (Loewen, Roessen, &
Katzman, 1988; Buckless, Lipe, & Ravenscroft,
1991), and individual states such as motivation
(Bycio & Allen, 2007: Bagamery, Lasik, & Nixon, 2005; Terry, Mills & Sollosy, 2008). Bycio
and Allen (2007) found that core business GPA
was a significant predictor of MFAT-B performance as well as other GPAs and SAT scores. In
addition, student motivation was found to be associated with MFAT-B performance. This study
supported their findings from a previous study
(Allen & Bycio, 1997). Terry et al. (2008) found
that when ETS performance is part of the capstone course grade, students’ performance on the
MFT test increased. Contreras et al. (in press)
found that in addition to age, gender, and GPA,
students’ major was related with performance on
the MFT. These findings suggest that the differences in curriculum could influence performance
on the exam.
Yet, there remains virtually a limitless number
of factors that can and do influence performance
on standardized testing. Therefore, in the present
study, we attempted to replicate findings of prior
54
Is it More Than Just GPA? An Examination of Work Experience and Test Preparation Effects
research and extend the knowledge by examining additional variables: review session, practice
exams, perceived preparedness and work experience. The college of business where the data
were collected was interested in evaluating the
effectiveness of newly implemented review sessions and practice exams provided by the college.
Because a large percentage of the student body
is employed, the college also was interested in
the effect of work experience on MFT-B performance scores. From these interests, we developed
several hypotheses, which are provided in the section that follows.
HYPOTHESES
Our first hypothesis for this study was to replicate previous findings that posit grade point average is positively related to MFT scores (Allen &
Bycio, 1997; Bycio & Allen, 2007; Contreras et
al., in press). Therefore, the following hypothesis
is offered.
H1: Student’s GPA will be positively related
to MFT scores.
The perception that the content of the MFT-B
was measuring what was learned in coursework
may be viewed as the student’s ability to recall
course material and understand its relevance.
The survey given to the students after they completed the MFT-B addressed this by asking the
question, “How well do you feel that your college
course work has prepared you for this exam?” The
following hypothesis is offered.
H2: Student’s perception of college coursework preparing them for the MFT
exam will be positively related to MFT
scores.
With the rising educational cost, more and more
students have to work to support themselves and
the educational expenses. The Bureau of Labor
and Statistics reported that 54.1 percent of college students are employed (bls.gov, 2008). Employment in addition to being a college student
is often viewed as a disadvantage. Employment
may reduce time for study, class attendance, and
course projects or homework. In addition, there
may be an added level of stress by having to deal
with work demands and inflexible bosses. To
address this concern, the survey asked, “How
many years have you worked more than 20 hours
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
a week?” The purpose of the question was to address the issues that many small regional universities face. Students often attempt to work more
than part-time while registered in college as
full-time students. Having additional demands
on one’s time would seem to present a challenge
for the student to learn and retain information
from the course work. Therefore, the following
hypothesis is offered.
H3: The years of work experience will be
negatively related to MFT scores.
Some schools, in hopes of improving standardized test scores, provide review sessions for students and encourage students to take practice exams. We believe that review sessions and practice
exams would be helpful since students may have
taken foundation courses several years before
they take the MFT-B. The review sessions and
practice exams would help students recall course
material from foundation courses. Therefore, by
attending the review session and taking practice
exams it is posited that students’ performance on
the MFT-B test should improve.
H4a: Attending review sessions will be positively related to MFT-B scores.
H4b: Taking practice exams will be positively related to MFT-B scores.
METHOD
Procedure and Sample
Graduating seniors in the college of business at
a regional state university completed the Major Field Test in Business (MFT-B) available
through the Educational Testing Service as a
component of program assessment and a requirement for graduation. A survey was developed to
assess current trends in the university. The assessment committee was interested in assessing the
effect of newly implemented review sessions and
the potential of outside employment influencing
student performance. Immediately following the
exam, students were asked to complete a brief
one-page survey. Sixty-three students completed
the survey. Three students failed to provide an
identification number; therefore, the survey responses could not be matched with the individual student’s MFT-B score. These three surveys
were discarded from further analysis. The sample
consisted of 60 respondents.
Measures
Performance scores from the MFT-B were collected from the MFT-B report. A brief survey
provided to students after taking the MFT-B
contained the questions of interest. The only
identifying information on the survey was a
corresponding MFT-B code used for matching the survey responses to the MFT-B score.
A five-point Likert-type scale was used with
“1” representing “Strongly Disagree” and “5”
representing “Strongly Agree” for the first
question. The question stated, “My course
work in the College of Business adequately
prepared me for the MFT exam.” Students
were also asked to report their GPA and how
many years they have been employed at least
20 hours per week. In addition, students reported if they had attended review sessions or
taken practice exams. The MFT website offers a thirty-question practice exam, in which
the students were informed.
RESULTS
The correlations, means, and standard deviations
for the variables are reported in Table 1. The
MFT-B scores were positively correlated with
GPA, years of work experience, and perceived
preparedness but negatively correlated with taking practice exams. The MFT-B scores were not
correlated with attending the review sessions.
GPA was not correlated with years of work experience or perceived preparedness; nor were years
of work experience and perceived preparedness
significantly correlated with each other. For the
next step in the analysis, MFT-B scores were regressed on GPA, perceived preparedness, work
experience, attending review sessions, and taking
practice exam.
The results of the regression analysis revealed
that Hypothesis 1 was supported. GPA was
found to significantly predict MFT-B scores (B
= .48, p < .00). Hypothesis 2 was supported. Perceived preparedness was significantly related to
MFT-B scores (B = .33, p < .01). Years of work
experience was found to be positively related to
MFT-B scores (B = .25, p < .02). Although this is
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
55
Susie S. Cox, Jiun-Shiu Chen, & Jeff Totten,
Is it More Than Just GPA? An Examination of Work Experience and Test Preparation Effects
Table 1
Correlations, Means, and Standard deviations
Variable
1. MFT score
2. GPA
3. Years of work Experience
4. Perceived Preparedness
5. Attend Review Session
6. Practice Exam
N = 60; *p<.05; **p<.01
Mean
SD
159.07
3.14
4.72
3.35
.38
.12
13.18
.45
3.45
1.00
.49
.32
a significant result, the relationship is not in the
direction predicted. Thus, Hypothesis 3 is not
supported. We did not find significant relationships between attending review sessions or taking practice exams. Therefore, Hypothesis 4a and
4b were not supported.
DISCUSSION
This study contributes to the growing body of
knowledge on the MFT-B. We were able to replicate previous findings that GPA is positively related to MFT-B scores. However, our study had
several unexpected findings. From the regression
analysis we found that the MFT-B scores were not
significantly related with attending the review
sessions or taking practice exams. One would
think that practice exams and review sessions
would benefit the student and have a positive effect on scores. However, there is the possibility
that those attending the sessions were those that
were more concerned about taking the MFT-B.
Furthermore, the MFT-B test intends to measure
the critical knowledge in a major field of study.
1
2
3
.49**
.30*
.43**
.13
-.27*
.07
.12
.26*
.01
4
.07
.06
-.04
5
.05
-.34*
.25
This scope is beyond the area of each individual
course. It is comprehensive. Therefore, it will be
very difficult to prepare for such a test in a short
amount of time. This could be one reason why attending the review sessions did not appear to affect the outcome of the test. Students just cannot
gain substantial knowledge by such short review
sessions. In this study, there was an opportunity
for students to attend ten review sessions, each
covering different core topic on business.
Another interesting finding was that work experience had a positive impact on MFT-B scores.
This was opposite of what was hypothesized. Our
findings may signify that the MFT-B exam is the
type of test that does not only test basic knowledge but also integration of knowledge. According to the following statement about the MFT
exams, this may be the case.
The ETS Major Field Tests are comprehensive
undergraduate and MBA outcomes assessments
designed to measure the critical knowledge and
understanding obtained by students in a major
field of study. The Major Field Tests go beyond
Table 2
Regression Analysis Results for MFT-B Scores
Independent Variable
B
SE
B
t
14.25
.91
4.25
.14
-4.27
3.25
.39
1.47
3.02
4.70
.48
.25
.33
.01
-.11
4.38
2.35
2.88
.05
-.91
R
R2
Adj R2
Std. Error of the Estimate
.70
.49
.43
9.91
GPA
Years of work Experience
Perceived Preparedness
Review Session
Practice Exam
*p < .05
56
Sig
.00*
.02*
.01*
.96
.37
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
the measurement of factual knowledge by helping you evaluate students’ ability to analyze and
solve problems, understand relationships and interpret material from their major field of study
(ets.org).
There are several plausible reasons that students who reported having more work experience scored higher on the exam. The first possible reason is maturity. Students reporting more
work experience are not only likely to be physically older but also have likely gained maturity
through work and additional responsibilities.
Furthermore, one goal of a business school is to
teach students about business so that they can
apply it in real life settings. Those that have been
employed longer have had the opportunity to apply the business knowledge gained and this experience may have solidified the knowledge with
the experience. Thus, these students may be better equipped to analyze the material and made
better decisions.
Although not hypothesized, we noticed that
GPA and work experience were not significantly
correlated although both are significantly related
to performance on the MFT-B. An explanation
for why working experience may affect MFT-B
test scores but not be related to GPA could be
that GPA is more likely to assess knowledge of
specific material for each course rather that integration of all business knowledge. A student’s
GPA is a reflection of knowledge gained in a specific course. It is more narrowly focused. Students
may easily grasp course concepts and do well in
each class even without significant working experience. Work experience may not benefit student learning in a particular class but may benefit
overall understanding of all business knowledge,
which may positively affect the student’s performance on the MFT-B test.
IMPLICATIONS AND LIMITATIONS
Our findings suggest that working for business
major students may not be a bad idea. From our
own teaching experience at the College of Business, we found working may have some positive
impact on student learning. Students with more
working experience tend to grasp concepts and
integrate knowledge better. They find it easier
to relate knowledge they learn from the class to
their real life situation. By working the student
is gaining real world knowledge and witnessing
the concepts taught in business courses put into
action. In contrast, students without significant
working experience tend to view the concepts
from the class just as theory. Even though they
may learn the knowledge and do well on class exams, they may not be able to apply such knowledge.
The findings of this study could imply that although GPA is a predictor of performance on
the MFT-B, work experience is also a potential
predictor. A practical implication of this finding for colleges of business is to find methods of
providing students with experience applying the
concepts learned in class. This may occur within
courses or required internships. This concept has
been recognized by some MBA programs, which
now require applicants to have a certain number
of years of work experience. In order to enhance
student learning, colleges could require at the
advanced level business courses that students
have some form of work experience. For example,
consider which students will benefit most from a
senior level leadership course – those with work
experience or those who have no experience in
dealing with a boss, coworkers, or subordinates.
Although this study does present some interesting findings, it is not without limitations. The
sample size of study is quite small. However, significant findings were noted. Another limitation
to the study is that it was conducted at one university with one cohort of students. Testing these
findings with a larger, more diverse sample would
be beneficial.
The findings presented in this study suggest a
number of additional variables that should be
considered. The fact that perceived preparedness was significantly related to MFT-B scores
would suggest that variables such as test anxiety,
self-efficacy (Bandura, 1993) and locus of control
may play a role in test performance. Confidence
in one’s preparedness for an exam may directly
influence one’s ability to perform better on an
exam.
CONCLUSION
There is a broad area of literature that has evaluated test performance. This study contributes to
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
57
Susie S. Cox, Jiun-Shiu Chen, & Jeff Totten,
that knowledge and suggests that further study is
merited. Although cognitive ability as represented by GPA does influence test performance, we
found that there are other factors that affect performance. Understanding these factors, can help
colleges of business improve not only test scores
but address program and curriculum changes
that will truly impact student learning.
REFERENCES
AACSB Eligibility Procedures and Accreditation Standards for Business Accreditation Revised 2010. Retrieved from www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/AAACSB-STANDARDS-2010.
pdf.
Allen, J.S. & Bycio, P. (1997). An Evaluation of
the Educational Testing Service Major Field
Achievement Test in Business. Journal of Accounting Education, 15, 503-514.
Bagamery, B., Lasik, J., & Nixon, D. (2005). Determinants of success on the ETS Business
Major Field Exam for students in an undergraduate multisite regional university business
program. Journal of Education for Business, 81, 55-63.
Educational Testing Services (2010). Retrieved
from
http://www.ets.org/portal/site/ets/
menuitem.1488512ecfd5b8849a77b13bc392
1509/?vgnextoid=f119af5e44df4010VgnVC
M10000022f95190RCRD&vgnextchannel=
86f346f1674f4010VgnVCM10000022f9519
0RCRD.
Loewen, J.W., Roessen, P., & Katzman, J., (1988).
Gender Bias in SAT Items. EDRS Document
ED 294 915, Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New
Orleans.
Pringle, C., & Michel, M. (2007). Assessment
practices in AACSB-Accredited business
schools. Journal of Education for Business.
82(4), 202-211.
Terry, N., Mills, L., & Sollosy, M. (2008). Student grade motivation as a determinant of
performance on the business major field
ETS exam. Journal of College Teaching &
Learning, 5(7), 27-32.
Bandura, A. (1993). Perceived self-efficacy in cognitive development and functioning. Educational Psychologist, 28, 117-148.
Buckless, F.A., Lipe, M.G., & Ravenscroft,
S.P. (1991). Do gender effects on accounting
course performance persist after controlling
for general academic aptitude? Issues in Accounting Education, 6(2), 248-258.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2008). Economic
news release: College enrollment and work
activity of 2008 high school graduates. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/hsgec.nr0.htm.
Bycio, P., & Allen, J. S. (2007). Factors associated
with performance on the Educational Testing
Service (ETS) Major Field Achievement Test
in Business (MFAT-B), Journal of Education for Business, March/April, 196-201.
Contreras, S., Badua, F., Chen, J., Adrian, M. (in
press). Documenting and explaining Major
Field Test results among undergraduate students. Journal of Education for Business.
58
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Integrating Quantitative Methods into a
Graduate Business Curriculum
Robert D. O’Keefe
College of Commerce and
Kellstadt Graduate School of Business
DePaul University
Chicago, Illinois
Lawrence O. Hamer
College of Commerce and
Kellstadt Graduate School of Business
DePaul University
Chicago, Illinois
ABSTRACT
The need for business practitioners to have a working knowledge of mathematics and statistics is
widely accepted. However, MBA programs seem to be constantly struggling with how quantitative
skills and techniques should be integrated into a curriculum. While the present study focuses on
business programs (more specifically, graduate business programs), discussions with faculty members from other colleges within our University and other universities suggest that the problems described within the article are endemic across all areas of study within which mathematical and
statistical analysis and interpretation are critical components. The authors present a number of
alternative ways that quantitative methods have been incorporated within a curriculum and point
out the respective advantages and shortcomings of each approach. The authors conclude that the
traditional approaches to integrating quantitative methods all have significant shortcomings and
suggest that a technology-enabled, just-in-time approach included as a component of each course beyond the required courses in quantitative methods may be the most effective approach to enhancing
the overall curriculum and satisfying both student and faculty expectations.
INTRODUCTION
During a wide ranging interview Peter Drucker
made the following remark: “I’m always appalled
at how little statistics my students or my clients
know; yet it is a core discipline, a vital area of
knowledge.” (Chapman 2001 p.16) This is a very
revealing comment which incorporates two separate but related points with which a number of
faculty members have expressed agreement 1)
quantitative skills are a crucial component of decision making and 2) students appear to have a
limited ability to apply quantitative techniques
to managerial decision-making.
Basic mathematics and statistics are essential
components of graduate education in many disciplines (Mills 2002, Giesbrecht 1996). In business education, basic quantitative and interpre-
tive skills have always been included in graduate
(MBA) curricula. These topics are frequently
designated as “tools” required for advanced MBA
coursework. Traditionally applicants whose
transcripts showed no completed coursework in
either or both mathematics and statistics have
been advised to complete coursework in these areas early in their program of studies.
This report discusses the procedures put in place
to assure that students were offered the opportunity to acquire both a working knowledge of basic mathematical and statistical methods and an
appreciation of the relevance of these methods to
business decision making. All of the approaches
instituted over the years were well-meaning and
seemed relevant to the objectives set for them.
In the end, however, an honest assessment of
the outcomes achieved so far shows that, for one
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
59
Robert D. O’Keefe & Lawrence O. Hamer
reason or another, the procedures proved largely
ineffective. Following a discussion of the approaches implemented, the problems associated
with each of the approaches are outlined and
a new approach designated as the just-in-time
method is suggested as a means of overcoming
these problems. The authors hope that readers
will recognize their own institutions in the discussion of experiences and consider the suggested approach for adoption and implementation
within their own MBA programs.
THE CORE CLASSES APPROACH
For a long period of time DePaul’s MBA curriculum relied on a traditional approach which
offered formal courses in both Mathematics and
Statistics. The curriculum included two core
Graduate School of Business (GSB) courses. The
two courses and the policy regarding the waiver
of each course appeared in the graduate bulletin
are shown in Figure 1.
As shown in Figure 1 the policy resulted in
granting waivers of both courses to individuals
who had graduated from an accredited business
undergraduate program. With regard to nonbusiness school graduates seeking admission to
the MBA program it was noted that a number of
Integrating Quantitative Methods into a Graduate Business Curriculum
traditional Liberal Arts and Science undergraduate programs included coursework in both mathematics and basic inferential statistics. Certainly
engineering and physical sciences undergraduate
programs included both mathematical and statistical techniques, and behavioral and social science programs required one or more courses in
statistics. Therefore, the same waiver policy was
applied to applicants who had completed such
programs.
As outlined in the policy statement (Figure 1) examination of their academic transcripts resulted
in almost all of the applicants with undergraduate business degrees and a considerable number
of applicants with non-business undergraduate
degrees meeting the qualifications for a waiver of
either or both GSB 501 and GSB 502.
The critically important issue, however, was and
still is, not whether the applicants had completed
either undergraduate or graduate coursework in
mathematics and statistics, but whether they really knew enough about mathematical and statistical applications to be able to proceed to more
advanced coursework.
Did those students who qualified for course
waivers really have a sufficient level of command
of the mathematical and statistical techniques
Figure 1
Quantitative Classes in the Core Curriculum
GSB 501—Mathematical Analysis for Decision Making.
The objective of this course is to introduce the student to mathematical concepts necessary for the
analysis of business problems. Topics covered are: a brief review of college algebra, differential calculus and linear algebra.
Prerequisite: Graduate Standing. 4 hours.
Waiver Policy: GSB 501 may not be required if a student has had at least one course
in Differential Calculus.
GSB 502—Statistical Analysis for Decision Making.
The objective of this course is to introduce the student to statistical concepts necessary for the analysis of business problems. Topics covered are: descriptive and inferential statistics, hypothesis testing,
and an introduction to regression.
Prerequisite: GSB 501 or equiv. 4 hours.
Waiver Policy: GSB 502 may not be required if a student has had at least one course
in Statistics
60
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
expected in an MBA program? Experiences
over time have shown such an assumption to be
doubtful. Mathematics and statistics are often
unpopular required courses in most undergraduate programs and students seem in a great hurry
to get these courses over with, be satisfied with
rote learning and hope to never see the material
again.
By the time they were admitted to the MBA program and received waivers of the basic courses,
they had probably forgotten most of what they
had earlier learned. So it was not surprising to
hear that, when a professor incorporated a mathematical method or a statistical inference into a
class presentation, he or she reported being frequently greeted with mostly blank expressions.
From a faculty member’s perspective a waiver or
the completion of the appropriate coursework
should indicate some level of competence and
so faculty members expected they would see
evidence of both recognition and recall which
would justify the waiver and validate competence. From the students’ perspective the statistical tests and mathematical formulae may look
vaguely familiar—the contents of a bad dream
they hoped would never reoccur—but here it is
and so as not to look foolish: some will choose to
nod knowingly while others will look away and
keep silent.
Faculty members who required either or both
mathematical and statistical analyses as integral
components of the courses they taught complained that the students were unprepared. They
reported that when they introduced mathematical or statistical concepts which were relevant to
the course objectives, student apathy or an obvious lack of understanding made it necessary for
them to spend time reviewing the appropriate
mathematical or statistical technique or to use
even more time to teach it from square one. This
represented a violation of faculty expectations,
an unplanned use of valuable class time, and ultimately a departure from both the teaching and
learning objectives of the course. Interestingly,
this lack of preparation was equally apparent for
many of those students whose transcripts showed
evidence of having completed the requisite courses necessary for a waiver and for those students
who had recently completed both GSB 501 and
GSB 502.
THE PREREQUISITE APPROACH
Responding to the faculty complaints about the
effectiveness of GSB501 and GSB 502 in preparing students to deal with mathematical and statistical techniques, tests and inference relevant
to advanced MBA coursework, the College appointed a committee to study the situation and
recommend appropriate actions toward a resolution. Based on faculty members’ feedback, the
committee charged with examining the problems experienced with mathematics and statistics concluded that the two courses offered were
ineffective in meeting the objectives set for them
and recommended that they be dropped from
the curriculum. The committee report took the
position that the introductory mathematics and
introductory statistics courses were to the MBA
curriculum what the typical preparatory or bridge
courses are to an undergraduate curriculum. The
preparatory courses may count for some credit
but, as substitutes for more substantive courses,
they detract from a curriculum designed to enhance a student’s education and career preparation. Instead of continuing to offer statistics and
mathematics courses which only extended the
students’ programs of study, the committee recommended to position the completion of basic
mathematical and statistical courses as requirements for admission to the MBA program.
For those applicants, who otherwise met the requirements for admission but had never taken
a formal course or courses in mathematics and
statistics, admission to the GSB would be contingent on the successful completion of an appropriate course or courses. How and where
the applicants completed the necessary courses
and acquired knowledge of mathematical and
statistical methods would be their personal decision. The committee’s recommendations did
not exclude the applicants choosing to take these
courses which were offered in the undergraduate
programs.
It did not take long to accumulate qualitative evidence that the recommended change in policy,
which directed that applicants complete mathematics and statistics courses wherever they chose
to take them, was a mistake. It was, in fact, an
abject failure. Faculty complaints about the lack
of preparation in mathematics and statistics increased in both number and volume. The Col-
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
61
Robert D. O’Keefe & Lawrence O. Hamer
lege administration took these complaints very
seriously and again appointed a committee of
experienced faculty members to study and make
recommendations toward finding solutions to
the problem. The College was then in a period of
curriculum revision and so it seemed an opportune time to revise the operational policy governing mathematical and statistical preparation.
Outsourcing Instruction
The committee charged with examining the
graduate mathematics and statistics policy decided to modify the “do it yourself” recommendation for applicants who had no prior courses
in mathematics. The new recommendation
maintained the requirement that applicants
to the MBA program must present evidence of
the having completed traditional coursework
in basic mathematical and statistical concepts.
The committee, however, further recommended
that the College outsource the basic mathematics and statistics courses as well as seminar instructional and review sessions. The courses and
seminar sessions were to be conducted by faculty
members from the School of Computer Science.
The committee expected that Computer Science
would incorporate the very latest in technology
and the instructors assigned to teach the courses
and conduct the seminars would familiarize the
students with contemporary software packages
that would be used to learn and to later review
the techniques. The committee’s report assumed
that students who completed these seminars
would retain the instructional software packages
and later use them to review mathematical and
statistical applications relevant to both subsequent elective and concentration courses. Completion of these “for credit” courses and seminars
would be a required for entry into the sequence
of courses which constituted the revised MBA
curriculum. The seminars would be available to
students who, as undergraduates, had completed
the requisite mathematics and statistics courses
but recognized that they needed to review mathematical and statistical applications.
The “for credit” designation meant for a fee: it
did not mean that the hours accumulated would
count toward the hours needed to complete the
MBA degree. The “for credit” designation was
a very practical suggestion. The majority of stu-
62
Integrating Quantitative Methods into a Graduate Business Curriculum
dents enrolled in the MBA program receive educational assistance from their employers and our
experience had been that employers offered tuition reimbursement to students only for classes
that were taken for credit. Should the content of
classes make regular use of mathematical analysis, statistical inference, or both as components
in support of the learning process, that should be
an incentive for students to realize the benefits
of these self-review techniques and it would be
in their best interests to devote time to sharpening their skills. In preparation for these review
workshops the committee performed a content
analysis of concepts that had been included in
the GSB501 and GSB 502 courses and spoke
with faculty members who incorporated these
mathematical and/or statistical concepts into
their courses. The results of the survey and discussion yielded the list of concepts incorporated
into Figure 2.
Undergraduate Program Perspective
The Department of Economics faculty members
unanimously contended that undergraduate
students did not know enough about Calculus
to benefit from the sort of analyses necessary
to grasp Economic principles. Interestingly
enough, this reported deficiency in both basic
statistical and mathematical knowledge seemed
common to those undergraduates, who had only
recently completed the three formal mathematics and statistics courses required in the their
degree program. An undergraduate curriculum
committee examined the reported deficiencies of mathematical and statistical knowledge
among undergraduates and proposed that the
undergraduate problem could be resolved by
adding two additional credit hours of instruction to the twelve hours required in the undergraduate degree program. This recommendation
was adopted. Formal and informal discussions
with faculty members’ led to the conclusion that
over the period of time between the implementation of the committee’s recommendation and
the present there has been, at best, only limited
evidence of appreciable improvement.
The point to be made is that if undergraduate
students, or at least some of them—and no one
seems to be able to say exactly how many—who
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Figure 2
Mathematical and Statistical Concepts Relevant for MBA Curriculum
Math Concepts
Statistics Concepts
Linear Equations & Functions
Descriptive Statistics
Nonlinear Equations
Probability Theory
Simultaneous Equations
Sampling
Differential Calculus
Confidence Intervals
Logarithmic Functions
Hypothesis Testing
Mathematics of Finance
Nonparametric Statistics
Notation/Vectors/Matrices/Summation
Statistical Inference
Graphic Representation
Introduction to ANOVA
Introduction to Regression
recently completed their required sequence of
mathematics courses are not prepared to apply
what they had learned to their advanced required
and elective courses then what ought to be expected of graduate students whose experience
with Calculus is most likely a far more distant
memory.
As previously reported, for a time the program included instruction in basic mathematics and statistics in our GSB 501 and GSB 502 courses and
even after that intense experience, the students
still did not seem to measure up to faculty expectations. The well-meaning foray into outsourcing courses and review seminars seemed to yield
no better results. Faculty members continued to
report that if they introduced a computational
technique relevant to understanding an aspect of
course content, they had to extensively review it
or just accept that they would have take the time
to teach at least the basics of the technique. These
reviews and additional course content took valuable time away from the substantive content of
coursework.
The Core Class Approach: Part I
Faced with the inescapable conclusion that the
several efforts toward trying to assure that students enrolled in the MBA or MS programs were
familiar with the basic concepts of mathematics and statistics had not achieved the objectives
set for them, the College appointed yet another
committee to study the problem and to recommend solutions. The committee examined the
problem, deliberated several possible solutions
and eventually approved a proposal from the Department of Economics to add a comprehensive
course in basic mathematics and statistics to the
graduate curriculum. GSB 420: Applied Quantitative Analysis was pilot tested and eventually
approved as a four-credit hour required course.
The course incorporated several of the characteristics of the previous efforts. It was, however,
more comprehensive in its content combining
both mathematical and statistical applications in
a single course. Also it was more comprehensive
in its reach in that it was listed as a requirement
for all entering students and the credit hours
assigned to the course would count toward the
hours required to complete a graduate degree.
A waiver of the course was possible but only if a
student could successfully pass an examination
created by the Department of Economics. The
topics included in the course description (see
Figure 3) mirrored those which had been earlier
identified for inclusion in the outsourced courses
and seminars (see Figure 2). The Department of
Economics agreed to staff the course and to offer
the number of sections sufficient to meet student
demand. Finally, the course would utilize the
most recently available mathematical and statistical software packages. These packages would
be used initially for learning and later for review.
As was the case in the outsourced experiences
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
63
Robert D. O’Keefe & Lawrence O. Hamer
students were to be encouraged to retain the
course software packages in order to review those
mathematical and statistical techniques relevant
to the content of both the required and elective
courses which constituted their degree programs.
A finding that reinforces the depiction of incoming applicants as not well prepared in the areas
of mathematics and statistics is derived from the
experience of students taking the test to qualify
for waiver of the course. The results of the testing
showed that that only about .01% of those who
opted to take the waiver test actually passed it.
By far the great majority of students who in the
past would be considered qualified for a waiver
of GSB 501 and GSB 502 were enrolled in GSB
420.
It should be noted that the core class approach
does not imply a face-to-face (as opposed to online) class. As compared to face-to-face courses,
online courses have consistently been found to
result in comparable levels of student learning
(Garfield and Ben-Zvi 2007, Utts 2003, Ward
2004); although online students tend to be
less satisfied with their courses (Summers et al.
2005). The issue is whether or not the quantitative skills are taught as a stand-alone course; not
the course’s mode of delivery.
Integrating Quantitative Methods into a Graduate Business Curriculum
Math and Statistics Skills Evaluation
The placement of quantitative skills, such as those
typically taught in statistics and math courses, in
the MBA curriculum has implications for faculty, students, and for the program itself.
Faculty considerations: Faculty members have
reported that teaching is easier and learning is
more efficient when students have consistent
backgrounds and levels of preparation. When
students are exposed to quantitative courses at
various times (due to course waivers, substitutions, and/or sequencing), the instructors often
have a difficult time managing the balancing act
between a) spending class time reviewing statistical and mathematical techniques that students
need to use in a given course and b) helping students learn how to appropriately use the results
of those techniques. It is almost always the case
that faculty members preferred to focus on the
latter but felt pressured by the course objectives
and deficiencies in students’ level of preparation
to focus on the former.
Overall Program Considerations
Perhaps the most obvious reason to be concerned
about the placement of quantitative skills is that
sound decision-making requires the ability to
incorporate a variety of information (much of
which is quantified) into the decision-making
process. This is true across fields. Financial decisions often require computations of the present value of money, Operations decisions often
require computations of the impact of discrete
changes on the overall manufacturing process.
Marketing decisions often require computations
of break-even analyses, etc. Thus the entire curriculum benefits if students are adept at current
quantitative techniques, and especially if these
skills are present from the early stages of a program’s curriculum. However, knowledge of
quantitative techniques in and of itself is rarely
specified as one of a program’s learning goals.
Rather most programs seek to teach students
an ever-increasing amount of business-function
related theories, concepts, skills, and abilities.
Quantitative skills are generally conceived as
foundation-level skills necessary to appropriately learn the business-function related material. However, as the length of a curriculum is
generally fixed and space in the curriculum is a
limited resource, incorporating mathematics and
statistics courses into a curriculum often results
in the exclusion of more topical subjects from
that curriculum.
Student Considerations
Figure 3
GSB 420: Applied Quantitative Analysis
This course provides a comprehensive review of some basic mathematical and statistical methods
and stresses their practical applications in business and economics. The course will equip the student with the quantitative skills required in the MBA program and will also provide a good foundation for addressing typical problems that arise in business. Additionally, the skills acquired in the
course will also help the student prepare for the quantitative sections of professional exams, such as
the CFA, the CPA and the CMA exams.
This course will stress learning through applications/problem-solving using Excel and/or Minitab
software for data analyses. However, the course must be analytical and theoretical to the extent that
is necessary to develop a correct understanding of the topics presented. The topics covered in the
course include relevant mathematical concepts: use of relevant functions and solving equations in
unknowns, elementary calculus and graphing functions. It also focuses on relevant statistical concepts: probability theory, hypothesis testing, regression analysis and forecasting.
Prerequisite: Graduate Standing
Waiver Policy: While students cannot waive this class based on previous coursework, you may attempt to waive the course through completing the
waiver exam
64
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Prospective MBA students often search for two
conflicting criteria in a potential MBA program.
First, these students want to be treated as individuals with respect to their academic preparation. In other words, prospective students are
often attracted to programs that allow courses to
be waived based upon past academic work and/or
permit students to satisfy a given requirement by
selecting from a range of courses. This criterion
can lead a given MBA program to allow students
to waive out of any required quantitative courses
since such courses are often viewed as foundation skills or allow students with appropriate
courses listed on their transcripts to take higher
level quantitative courses. On the other hand,
students are often seeking programs that provide
opportunities for them to build relationships and
camaraderie that often come from sharing the
same experiences. Some of these experiences are
extracurricular, but much relationship building
occurs as a group of students progresses through
a program at the same pace and in the same classes. The shared experience criterion suggests that
MBA programs would improve the student experience by standardizing the quantitative course
requirements and by not allowing students to
waive out of the course without first demonstrating an appropriate level of knowledge.
An honest evaluation of the effectiveness of the
various approaches to the issue of mathematical
and statistical skills would likely conclude that
each of the approaches has serious drawbacks,
and the treatment of mathematics and statistics
skills within the MBA program still leaves a great
deal to be desired. Table 1 summarizes the ability of each approach to meet the criteria discussed
previously.
Effect on Downstream Courses
While incorporating a quantitative skills course
into the core curriculum is a dramatic step, it
does not appear to have had much of an effect
on students’ quantitative abilities in other core
classes. Evidence of this is seen in the grades for
two core classes: Managerial Accounting (which
has the quantitative course as a prerequisite) and
Financial Management (which has Managerial
Accounting as a prerequisite). Comparing the
mean GPA for the two classes for the time period
before the course was added to the MBA core to
the time period since the course was added reveals that student performance has increased in
Managerial Accounting as the mean GPA has
increased from 3.37 to 3.51 (p-value = .002) but
not in Financial Management (p=.068). Looking at the average GPA over time (see Figure 4)
suggests that even the significantly different
mean for Managerial Accounting is associated
with very little substantive difference that can be
attributed to the curriculum change.
Student Complaints
Most of the recommendations and subsequent
actions regarding quantitative skills in the MBA
curriculum were stimulated by the complaints
about student abilities. Students have also registered their complaints regarding the inclusion
of mathematical and statistical concepts in the
curriculum. In exit interviews conducted over
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
65
Robert D. O’Keefe & Lawrence O. Hamer
Integrating Quantitative Methods into a Graduate Business Curriculum
Student Considerations
Allow for individual differences
Program Considerations
Save space
Seminar
Student Considerations
Allow for individual differences
Uniform experience
4
Lack of skill currency
3
Lack of Uniform preparation
Student Considerations
Mean GPA
Lack of Uniform experience
2
1
Student Considerations
Uniform experience
0
Faculty Considerations
Uniform preparation
2008
Prerequisite
Save space
Uniform preparation
Faculty Considerations
Mean GPA for Core Accounting Course
2007
Program Considerations
Skill currency
2006
Uniform experience
Faculty Considerations
Figure 4
Average GPA for Managerial Accounting and Financial Management
Pre- and Post-Changes to MBA Core Curriculum
2005
Allow for individual differences
(with waivers)
Uses space
sake of number crunching alone is frequently
denigrated. But, an understanding of statistical
computation and statistical inference should be
integral components of our overall curriculum.
2004
Core Course(s)
Program Considerations
2003
Student Considerations
Disadvantage
2002
Advantage
2000
Approach
able to use them to determine the likelihood of
the success or failure of a policy, strategy, or tactic; or the direction new policies or strategies and
tactics ought to take. Number crunching for the
2001
Table 1
Evaluation of Various Approaches to Quantitative Material in MBA Program
Program Considerations
Old Curriculum
Save space
Skill currency
Student Considerations
Uniform preparation
Quasi-uniform experience
4
Student Considerations
3
Allow for individual differences
66
Mean
GPA
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Old Curriculum
2008
2007
2006
2005
0
2004
Statistical inference is important. One can hardly interpret the contents of data tables and distributions without a working knowledge of what
the numbers really indicate. A competent MBA
ought to be able to make such inferences and be
1
2000
that the students were not familiar with these
techniques and took the path of least resistance
by glossing over or avoiding incorporating them
in class presentations. Faculty members have
made comments to that effect.
2
2003
Quasi-uniform experience
several years students have reported that the
College expected them to complete GSB 501
and 502 or required them to show equivalency
for these courses or attend various seminars or,
more recently, required them to complete GSB
420, only to have them find that the mathematics and the statistics they learned in these courses
or workshops were rarely mentioned in any depth
throughout the remainder of their programs of
study. Some faculty members may have assumed
Mean GPA for Core Finance Course
2002
Approach
Faculty Considerations
2001
Self-paced
Modules
New Curriculum
New Curriculum
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
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Robert D. O’Keefe & Lawrence O. Hamer
Moving Forward: Just-in-Time Review
An effort to integrate and to assume better control of the MBA required an objective assessment
of which mathematical and statistical applications techniques were required to assure that
students received maximum benefit from the
courses which comprise the respective degree
programs. It is not enough to collect a faculty
wish list of techniques and applications which
could be used if only the students were theoretical mathematicians, graduate nuclear engineers,
or Nobel class econometricians. What is needed
is a continual accounting of those techniques that
are really necessary to assure that MBA graduates
are competent in calculation and interpretation.
Once a reasonable array of faculty expectations
is recorded the next step is to infer the levels and
methods of instruction which would be most effective in achieving quantitative methods competency objectives.
Honesty compels the admission that the analyses required in MBA classes are very frequently
not the sorts of computations one makes on a
day-to-day basis. Further, even some otherwise
very bright people, are near phobic when it comes
to mathematics of any kind. They may have, at
some time, memorized the calculation formulae and applied them without a clue as to their
meaningfulness. It is widely agreed that learning
which is not meaningful is soon and easily extinguished. It is also well accepted that when meaningfulness and repetition are combined, one sees
learning that lasts and can be applied to new situations. (Hill, 1970)
The mathematics and statistics course experiences lead to several conclusions. First, it appears
that students need time to review quantitative
techniques immediately before they are asked
to apply those techniques. Second, including
quantitative material in the core curriculum is
an effective way to ensure that students can integrate quantitative skills in their decision-making. These observations are the foundation of the
just-in- time approach recommended as an effective means for students to learn the quantitative
techniques immediately before they are asked to
integrate those skills into decision-making in the
various business functions. The recommended
procedure is outlined in figure 5.
68
Integrating Quantitative Methods into a Graduate Business Curriculum
Figure 5
Procedure for
Just-in-Time Quantitative Skills
1) Designate appropriate quantitative
skills as prerequisites for the MBA
program.
2) Make self-paced software packages that help students refresh their
quantitative skills available to students.
3) Require instructors to explicitly
state the mathematical and/or statistical techniques that students will
be expected to know and at what
point in the course schedule will
each technique be used.
4) Require students to utilize the selfpaced packages in order to refresh
their quantitative skills.
5) Encourage instructors to incorporate quantitative techniques into
their classes and assignments.
Evidence argues in favor of self-paced learning
modules. Many disciplines (including business
and non-business fields) have used computer
simulation methods to teach a variety of statistical techniques including basic statistics for a
number of years (Goodman 1986); Econometrics and regression (Farrall 1995); and statistical power (Arnholt 1997). Consequently, there
are a number of software tools that have been
shown to enhance students’ learning of quantitative skills (Chance et al. 2007), and these tools
have consistently been found to enhance student
learning (Mills 2002). The effectiveness of the
simulations appears to stem from their interactivity. Interactive tutorials have been found to
increase student learning (Aberson et al. 2003).
Further, this just-in-time approach more easily allows quantitative skiils to be incorporated
into core classes using active-learning techniques
which have consistently been found to increase
student learning (Giraud 1997, Garfield and
Ben-Zvi 2007, Hamer 2006, Keeler and Steinhorst 1995, Magel 1998) The use of self-paced
modules encourages students to be active partici-
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
pants in their learning which may help improve
their problem-solving ability.
SUMMARY
Statistical computation and inference, those
things which many students learned at some
time in the past are not exactly in the same class
as riding a bicycle. One does forget: memory is
like that. A 30-year-old who has not ridden a
bicycle for 15 years can get on a bike and ride,
but hardly with the grace of a 15-year-old. People
who studied a foreign language in high school or
college are not expected to translate text without
access to a dictionary or phrase book. A person
who computed his last “t”, “F” or “R” when Bill
Clinton was President needs a little time and a
little brush up on those skills. So if faculty members are disappointed in the level of skill they
see in their classes, they will have to understand
that both physiology and psychology are against
them. Unless one computes and interprets on a
regular basis, these skills erode.
Business professionalism requires quantitative
competence and the ability to incorporate quantitative skills into decision-making. Because the
MBA is a business professional degree, quantitative material should be incorporated into the
core curriculum of MBA programs. While few
people would dispute the assertion that quantitative skills are important, effectively integrating
these skills into MBA curricula seems to be very
difficult. The authors presented a series of actions
that have been taken in an attempt to ensure that
MBA students in our College have sufficient
knowledge of mathematics and statistics and the
ability to apply this knowledge in decision-making situations. More specifically, these actions
ranged from including quantitative courses with
waivers allowed for prior coursework in the core
MBA curriculum to treating quantitative skills
as prerequisites and back to including quantitative skills in the core (while allowing students
to test out of the course). While all of the treatments of quantitative skills have been well-reasoned and thoughtfully implemented, they each
had serious shortcomings and none could be considered a success from the point-of-view of assessing students’ ability to demonstrate quantitative
skills throughout their MBA programs and after
graduation.
In order for any approach to quantitative skills to
be effective, it must meet a number of complex,
and sometimes conflicting, criteria including the
desire on the part of students to have a curriculum
that is tailored to their needs and an experience
that is consistent with their classmates’ experiences. Also the approach adopted must address
and satisfy the faculty members’ expectations
that students will proceed to advanced classes
with uniform quantitative preparation and, as a
result, allow for an ever increasing inclusion of
current material relevant to each of the business
functions that comprise MBA education.
REFERENCES
Aberson, Christopher L., Dale E. Berger, Michael R. Healy, and Victoria L. Romero
(2003), “Evaluation of an Interactive Tutorial
for Teaching Hypothesis Testing Concepts”,
Computers in Teaching, vol. 30(1), 75-78.
Arnholt, Alan (1997), “Using Simulation as a
Teaching Technique in Determining Power
and Efficiency of Various Statistics”, American Statistical Association Proceedings of the Section on Statistical Education, Alexandria VA: American Statistical
Association, 143-147.
Chance, Beth, Dani Ben-Zvi, Joan Garfield, and
Elsa Medina (2007), ”The Role of Technology
in Improving Student Learning of Statistics”,
Teaching Innovations in Statistics Education Journal , accessed October 15, 2010
from http://repositories.cdlib.org/uclastat/
cts/tise/.
Chapman, Christy (2001), “Taking Stock: An
Interview with Peter Drucker”, Biz Ed, November/December pp.13-17, Quote on p.16.
Ferrall, Christopher (1995), “Interactive Statistics Tutorials in Stata”, Journal of Statistics
Education, vol 3(3). available online at www.
amstat.org/publications/jse/v3n3 .
Garfield, Joan and Dani Ben-Zvi (2007), “How
Students Learn Statistics Revisited: A Current Review of Research on Teaching and
Learning Statistics”, International Journal
of Statistical Review, vol 75(3), 372-396.
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
69
Robert D. O’Keefe & Lawrence O. Hamer
Giesbracht, Norman (1996), “Strategies for Developing and Delivering Effective Introductory-Level Statistics and Methodology Courses”, ERIC Document Reproduction Service,
No. 393-668, Alberta, BC.
Giraud, Gerald (1997), “Cooperative Learning
and Statistics Instruction”, Journal of Statistics Education, 5(3). Retrieved October
17, 2010, from http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v5n3/giraud.html
Goodman, Terry (1986), “Using the Microcomputer to Teach Statistics”, Mathematics
Teacher, 79, 210-215.
Hill, W.F. (1970) Psychology: Principles
and Problems. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company
Keeler, Carolyn M., & R. Kirk Steinhorst
(1995), “Using Small Groups to Promote Active Learning in the Introductory Statistics
Course: A Report From the Field”, Journal
of Statistics Education, 3(2). Retrieved
October 15, 2010, from http://www.amstat.
org/publications/jse/v3n2/keeler.html
70
Magel, Rhonda.C (1998), “Using Cooperative
Learning in a Large Introductory Statistics
Class”, Journal of Statistics Education,
6(3). Retrieved October 17, 2010, from http://
www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v6n3/magel.html
Mills, Jamie D (2002), “Using Computer Simulation Methods to Teach Statistics: A Review
of the Literature”, Journal of Statistics
Education, vol 10 (1).
Utts, Jessica (2003), “What Educated Citizens
Should Know About Statistics and Probability”, The American Statistician, 57(2),
74–79.
Ward, Barbara (2004), “The Best of Both
Worlds: A Hybrid Statistics Course”, Journal of Statistics Education, 12(3), 74–79.
Retrieved October 17, 2010, from http://www.
amstat.org/publications/jse/v12n3/ward.html.
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Designing Incentive Systems to
Enhance Faculty Qualifications
David W. Denton
College of Behavioral and Health Sciences and
Department of Psychology
Austin Peay State University
Clarksville, Tennessee
William E. Rayburn
Department of Management, Marketing, and General Business
Austin Peay State University
Clarksville, Tennessee
ABSTRACT
A review of faculty qualifications is undertaken at the applicant level by faculty search committees;
at the program level by accrediting bodies and program review teams; and at the level of individual
faculty by retention, tenure and promotion committees. Many academic departments struggle to
find ways to promote faculty professional development that serves the needs of individual faculty
and the department or program with which they are affiliated. This paper describes the creation of
three professional development incentive systems to improve faculty qualifications. The paper emphasizes the importance of identifying overarching goals/objectives and particular strategies/initiatives intended to realize the achievement of those goals/objectives. The incentive systems include
both performance-based and behavior-based components. These systems provide either financial or
non-financial incentives intended to generate faculty behavior change which can lead to enhanced
faculty qualifications.
INTRODUCTION
Faculty qualifications and the development of
those qualifications is a concern throughout
higher education. Regional accrediting bodies
such as the Southern Association of Colleges and
Schools (SACS) review faculty credentials as one
element of a comprehensive accreditation or reaccreditation process. Similarly, particularly in
applied discipline, specialty accrediting bodies
such as the Association to Advance Collegiate
Schools of Business (AACSB) or the National
League of Nursing (NLN) review faculty credentials and/or accomplishments as part of making
judgments about faculty qualifications. At the
department level, it is not uncommon for external program review teams to assess the qualifications of faculty. To address this need, institutions
often provide a set amount of money to faculty
members on a non-contingent basis to reimburse
them for “professional development” expenses.
This approach can produce uneven outcomes.
This paper outlines an approach to enhancing
faculty qualifications that can produce more intentional results targeted toward achieving goals
that are meaningful to the organization.
The concept of faculty qualifications can be described as consisting of two categories – faculty
credentials and faculty accomplishments. Faculty
credentials referred to academic degrees, licenses,
or other certifications that reflect a faculty member’s level of knowledge and/or skill. Faculty accomplishments refer to specific achievements in
areas of teaching, research, or service. Institutions
often attempt to enhance faculty qualifications
by establishing faculty award programs or offering professional development or travel money. In
the case of faculty awards such as a “researcher of
the year” award, the thinking seems to be that
such awards will motivate faculty to engage in
the behaviors necessary to achieve research successes. These achievements will then culminate
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
71
David W. Denton & William E. Rayburn
in receipt of an award. Such awards are effective
in recognizing excellence, but do little to generate excellence. In addition, faculty professional
development funds can be used to generate faculty accomplishments, but these accomplishments
may do little to help the unit achieve meaningful
goals such as accreditation.
Efforts to enhance faculty qualifications should
be informed by the growing literature on payfor-performance and related contingent incentive systems. At their core, such systems involve
identifying important outcomes or goals at
the individual-, unit-, or organizational level of
analysis and constructing incentive systems to
generate employee behavior that advances those
goals. Such approaches can be controversial, and
are not without their critics (e.g., Pfeffer & Sutton, 2006). However, a recent review of the pay
for performance literature notes that “... there is
strong empirical evidence showing that [pay-forperformance] can improve performance” (Gerhart, Rynes, & Fulmer, 2009, p. 300). Pay for
performance systems are likely to be maximally
effective when they are targeted at individual
performance where the outcomes for which performance is rewarded are objectively measurable.
The work of faculty is generally considered to be
individually-based, and thus the job of faculty
member would seem to be a good candidate for
a pay-for-performance system.
Pay for performance systems are ultimately believed to produce results by impacting employee
volition through the provision of incentives or
by changing the composition of the workforce
through what are referred to as “sorting effects”
(Gerhart et al, 2009). Research on the job demands-control model and work engagement suggests that providing financial or non-financial
incentives to employees represents a job resource
that can produce increases in the motivational
processes of vigor, dedication, and absorption
associated with work engagement (Hakanen &
Roodt, 2010). Improvement in work engagement
can in turn lead to higher levels of performance.
It is important to note that pay-for-performance
can be viewed as a criterion-referenced reward
system, i.e., all those who meet or exceed a criterion level of performance are rewarded. This kind
of system can be contrasted with an “employeeof-the-month” approach in which only a single
72
Designing Incentive Systems to Enhance Faculty Qualifications
employee is deemed to be worthy of reward. This
latter approach has more to do with acknowledging excellence than developing it across a workforce.
In addition, pay-for-performance systems can
also impact performance by changing the composition of the workforce through sorting effects.
Different kinds of compensation systems are differentially attractive to current and prospective
employees, and thus can change the make-up of
the organization over time. Those who remain
are likely to thrive under the compensation system in place leading to higher performance. This
is consistent with the attraction-selection-attrition model proposed by Schneider (1987).
There are many different ways to construct payfor-performance systems. Among the many decisions that need to be made, two of the most
critical are determining the extent to which the
system will rely on financial versus non-financial
incentives and the relative emphasis on resultsbased versus behavior-based measures of performance. In the context of faculty work, a potent
financial incentive can come in the form of extra
monetary compensation over and above salary.
With many states facing financial burdens, salary
increases for faculty employed at public institutions have been minimal. Perhaps the most valuable form of non-financial incentive to faculty
is the provision of time. Time is a particularly
valuable commodity that can be used to enhance
ones scholarly and creative work. In addition to
the distinction between financial and non-financial incentives, a decision needs to be made about
whether incentives are to be provided for faculty
who exhibit desired behaviors and/or faculty
who produce specific results. This decision really centers on defining the goals for the pay-forperformance system. Incentives tend to be more
powerful when the results or behavior for which
incentives are offered are within the capacity of
faculty to generate or exhibit. Where results are
not easily quantifiable in some way, it may be
best to tie incentives to desired behaviors rather
than to results. In determining the particular behaviors and results for which individuals should
strive, the research on goal setting suggests that
goals that are specific and moderately difficult
are more likely to be achieved than vague goals
or “do your best” goals (Locke & Latham, 1990).
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Faculty awards and the general use of professional development funds fall short as effective tools
for enhancing faculty qualifications. In the case
of faculty awards, these awards are norm-referenced thus limiting the award to only those top
performers rather than to everyone who meets a
certain standard of performance. As a result, the
goal of achieving such an award is not a “moderately difficult” goal as recommended in the gal
setting literature. It is instead an exceedingly difficult goal to reach and thus lacks motivational
potential. As for professional development money, the use of this money is framed as a “do your
best” goal. Again, the goal setting literature suggests that “do your best goals” are less motivating
than specific, moderately difficult goals (Locke
& Latham, 1990). Finally, professional development money is typically available on anon-contingent basis, and is thus less motivating.
What follows are descriptions of three incentive
systems developed in a manner consistent with
the framework described above and attempts to
address the weaknesses of current strategies for
enhancing faculty qualifications.
Improving Scholarly Productivity in a
Business Program
One of the elements that the business accrediting agency AACSB reviews in assessing faculty
qualifications is scholarly productivity. The goldstandard for scholarly productivity in business
disciplines is the peer-reviewed publication. To
increase the number of peer-reviewed publications being produced by faculty, an incentive
system was put in place that encouraged desired
behaviors that are conducive to research productivity and provided faculty with a financial
incentive for publishing a peer-reviewed journal
article.
In order to be predisposed to success in writing for publication, faculty must first be inspired
to conduct research and have access to the latest
thinking in their field. The first element of the incentive plan offered faculty additional financial
support, over-and-above the support provided
by the University, to attend to the premier discipline-specific academic conference in their field.
This is referred to as the Faculty Continuing
Education Fund. Faculty conference attendance
had been largely confined to regional conferences
or interdisciplinary national conferences that did
not feature the premier researchers in the various business disciplines. Exposure to the latest,
cutting-edge research in a field is more likely to
provide the knowledge base, motivation, and
research connections necessary to embark on research projects.
Once research projects are underway, faculty
often need support to bring those projects to
closure. An additional set of funds, known as
the Faculty Research Support Fund, was made
available to provide reimbursement for research
related expenses such as the purchase of survey
instruments. (It should be noted that this fund
can also be used to reimburse faculty for per page
production costs associated with articles accepted for publication.)
The final piece of the incentive program, known
as the Faculty Publication Incentive Fund, offers to faculty a payment for articles published
in peer-reviewed journals. Payment levels were
established based on faculty rank (or the highest
rank among faculty co-authors). A total amount
of money per faculty member is available to them
every two years. The underlying assumption of
the two-year time frame is that it is possible for
faculty to write an article for publication once
every two years and to be rewarded for doing so
given the teaching and service responsibilities
faculty have. That sum of money is available to
an individual faculty member for producing one
sole authored, peer-reviewed publication during
that time frame. Where an author has taken on
co-authors, the total pay-out is split among all coauthors. For example, if a faculty member (full
professor) co-authors a paper with a colleague,
the co-authors each receive a one-half payout at
the full professor rate. In this example, for the
authors to earn a full payout over the two year
period, it would require them to collaborate
again and successfully publish a second article
during that time frame. If one of these authors
was to publish a sole authored article, the payout
for that article would be the difference between
the total payout set aside for that faculty member
minus the payout previously received for the coauthored publication.
There are at least two elements of this incentive
compensation plan worth noting. First, a faculty
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
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David W. Denton & William E. Rayburn
member has little incentive to take on co-authors
unless those co-authors are prepared to make a
proportional contribution to the work. If the
initiating author can write the paper without assistance, he/she stands to receive a full payout for
the work. This provides an incentive for the initiating author to resist any pressure to add co-authors to a paper who might “need’ a publication
on their record for retention, tenure, or promotion purposes. Where collaboration does occur,
it behooves junior faculty to work with senior
faculty because the payout for the junior faculty
member will be higher than if he/she were to collaborate with another junior faculty member. If
the senior faculty members have been productive,
this increases the likelihood that junior faculty
can benefit from that experience. In addition, it
might very well spur senior faculty who have not
been particularly productive to re-engage with
research in anticipation that they might be approached by junior faculty as research collaborators.
This program provides incentives for both behavior change alone (e.g., attending the premier,
discipline specific conference in one’s field) and
for behavior change that produces specific results
(i.e., publishing articles in peer-reviewed journals). In the former instance, the incentive takes
the form of being granted the time to attend such
a conference and reimbursement for expenses. (In
most instances, funds are sufficient so that there
is no cost to the faculty member.) In the latter
case, faculty can “profit” financially from publishing in peer-reviewed journals. In addition,
faculty credentials improve in a tangible way and
the reputation of their program improves as well.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that this program
has been favorably received by faculty. Modest
increases have occurred in the number of faculty
attending the premier, discipline-specific conference in their field. In addition, there has been an
increase in the number of faculty publications
and the level of collaboration among faculty has
increased substantially. The degree of changes in
behavior is very much in line with the strength of
the incentives provided.
74
Designing Incentive Systems to Enhance Faculty Qualifications
Enhancing Faculty Credentials in a
Nursing Program
program is supported from funds dedicated to a
Doctoral Faculty Retention Fund.
A growing challenge in baccalaureate nursing
The workhorse element of this program is the
education/development component as supported
by the Doctoral Studies Tuition Reimbursement
Fund and the Doctoral Studies Support and
Performance Fund. The purpose of these funds
is to encourage faculty to pursue doctoral studies in nursing at no personal cost, and to reward
faculty with time and a modest performance
bonus for doctoral course completion. More
specifically, faculty are eligible for tuition reimbursement to cover tuition costs for enrolling in a
doctoral program that are not reimbursed as part
of the University’s standard tuition reimbursement benefit or as part of the statewide nursing
tuition assistance program. Funding is available
for faculty to pursue a research-oriented degree
(i.e., Ph.D.), a practice-oriented degree, (i.e., the
Doctor of Nursing Practice - DNP), or a nursing
education degree, (i.e., Ed.D. in nursing education). (Support is not available to complete a nonnursing related Ed.D. degree.) It is also possible
for faculty receive tuition support to pursue a degree in a related field. For example, a nursing faculty member specializing in mental health might
elect to pursue a doctoral degree in psychology.
In addition, faculty enrolled in one or more doctoral courses is offered a one course release from
instruction to provide them with time for their
educational pursuits. Finally, faculty are paid a
modest course completion bonus for each course
completed with a satisfactory grade.
programs is securing the services of faculty who
are doctorally prepared in the field. While the
terminal degree in nursing according to most regional accreditation agencies and state governing
boards has historically been viewed as a master’s
degree, it is becoming increasingly the case that
such agencies and boards are encouraging schools
to increase the number of doctorally-prepared
faculty. In addition, one of the premier accrediting agencies in the nursing field, the National
League of Nursing Accreditation Council (NLNAC), requires that 25% of the faculty teaching
in a baccalaureate nursing program be doctorally
prepared (NLNAC Standards and Criteria).
In an effort to increase the number of doctorally
prepared faculty in nursing, a financial incentive
program was developed. The incentive program
was designed to address this challenge on three
levels - faculty recruitment, faculty retention,
and faculty education/development. One way
to address this challenge is to enter the market
place and “buy” the credentials one needs. To
this end, the first element of the program allows
the School of Nursing to offer faculty positions at
the rank of associate professor to any successful
candidates who are in possession of a doctoral degree in nursing or closely related field given their
nursing specialty. (It has customary at this institution for all faculty positions to be posted at the
rank of assistant professor.) In addition, successful applicants in possession of a relevant doctoral
degree would be offered a substantial one-time
signing bonus as an incentive to accept an offer
of employment. Funds to support this element
of the program come from a dedicated Doctoral
Faculty Recruitment Fund.
Once doctoral faculty have been hired in nursing, institutions sometimes struggle with the
challenge of retaining them. To address this
challenge, a longevity bonus system was instituted whereby doctoral faculty are eligible for
a small longevity or loyalty bonus for each year
they remain with the University as a nursing
faculty member. (This bonus is also available to
faculty who subsequently complete a doctoral degree after initially employed.) This element of the
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Beginning with faulty hired for the 2011 - 2012
academic year, it will be a requirement for tenure
that faculty earn a doctoral degree in nursing or
a closely related field. The decision to add this requirement was made by faculty after the details
of the incentive program were made known to
them. This can be taken as evidence that faculty
believe the program is robust enough such that
conscientious tenure-track candidates will be
able to meet this standard in time for the tenure
decision.
Research & Writing Intensive Semester
The two incentive programs previously described
relied quite heavily on financial incentives in the
form of results-based bonuses in the case of the
incentive program for business faculty, and reimbursements for expenses connected with exhibiting desired behavior, i.e., pursing a doctoral
degree, in the case of the incentive program for
nursing faculty. However, funding to provide
financial incentives is not always available. This
section of the paper describes an incentive program that employs the non-financial incentive of
time to encourage desired behavior.
Encouraging and supporting faculty research
productivity is a ubiquitous challenge in higher
education. One approach often taken to address
this challenge is the use of the faculty sabbatical.
Faculty who are awarded a sabbatical are relieved
of all faculty responsibilities for one semester,
and sometimes longer, to pursue scholarly activity. The faculty member draws a full salary during
this time. The faculty member’s department is
usually required to staff his/her courses with adjuncts, and cover committee assignments, advising, other faculty work using colleagues. Because
of the costs involved, many institutions limit the
number of faculty who can be awarded sabbaticals. The faculty who receive sabbaticals are usually faculty who have demonstrated reasonable
research productivity already. Sabbaticals are not
a particularly effective tool for spurring research
on the part of new faculty or senior faculty who
have not been productive of late.
The Research and Writing Intensive Semester program is a no-cost option that can create
blocks of time for faculty to work on scholarly
pursuits. A faculty member awarded a Research
and Writing Intensive Semester is relieved of
all non-teaching responsibilities for the term in
question. Activities from which the faculty member would be relieved include:
• Service on any College committees
• Service on any unit level committees
• Service as a Faculty Senate representative
• Attendance at unit faculty meetings
• Attendance at University faculty meetings
• Attendance at graduation-related activities
or commencement ceremony
• Advising of students (advisees to be reassigned for term in question)
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
75
David W. Denton & William E. Rayburn
Designing Incentive Systems to Enhance Faculty Qualifications
• Serving on thesis, research paper, or field
study committees
Research and Writing Intensive Semester. They
cannot be awarded another such opportunity until this happens.
• Internship, practicum, or independent
study supervision
Designing an Incentive Program
• Program coordination responsibilities
• Holding general office hours for advisees
• All other faculty responsibilities not enumerated above EXCEPT teaching a full
load of classes and holding office hours to
serve the students being taught.
Department chairs are encouraged to give faculty
a teaching schedule (preps, teaching times) that
is conducive to research productivity. If a faculty member happens to be teaching a full-load
of classes online, he/she would not need to come
to campus during this term. By relieving faculty
members of these non-teaching responsibilities,
it is hoped that larger blocks of time can be created for research.
Because this is essentially a no-cost option for
the University, each department can offer this
opportunity to one colleague each semester provided that others are willing to shoulder some additional advising and committee assignments for
a term. This program is useful in creating blocks
of time for new faculty to start a research program or to encourage more senior faculty to reengage with research. Faculty typically provide a
one-page description of the work they want to do
during the term in question. This can range from
completing a manuscript in progress, to collecting data, to initiating a new piece of research. The
department chair consults with the dean to approve such “proposals.” Faculty who receive such
an opportunity are asked to publish an article at
some time in the future following receipt of the
To design an incentive program, it is critical to
begin by identifying the overarching goal one
hopes to achieve with the program, e.g., increase
faculty research productivity. This decision
should be coupled with the identification of a
specific criterion that will be counted, rated, or
measured in some way, e.g. peer-reviewed article
submissions, peer-reviewed article submissions
accepted. This should be followed by setting the
standard of performance to be achieved on the
criterion, e.g., publication in a national journal
featured in Cabell’s, publication in a journal
with an acceptance rate of X.
It is tempting to begin thinking immediately
about what can be measured or counted. Instead,
the focus should first be on the larger goal to be
achieved by the program. Once that goal has
been established, Table 1 table may prove helpful
in framing the components of the incentive system. For example, it asks you to identify the kind
of results and/or behaviors you want and what
the financial and non-financial consequences of
producing those results or exhibiting those behaviors will be. In some of the cells of the table
are a few examples of the “funds” set-up as part of
the previously described incentive programs.
Much has been written about the need to secure
buy-in for any change effort (e.g., Demers, 2007).
However, buy-in should not be mistaken for participation in decision-making. The design of the
incentive systems described in this paper was not
the result of extensive consultation directly with
Table 1
Components of an Incentive System
Financial
Non-Financial
76
Results
Faculty Publication
Incentive Fund
Pfeffer, J., & Sutton, R. I. (2006). Hard facts, dangerous half-truths, and total nonsense: Profiting from evidence-based management. Boston,
MA: Harvard Business School Publishing.
Schneider, B. (1987). The people make the place.
Personnel Psychology, 40, 437-453.
Yukl, G. (1998). Leadership in Organizations (4th
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall.
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Demers, C. (2007). Organizational change theories: A synthesis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications, Inc.
Gerhart, B., Rynes, S. L., & Fulmer, I. S. (2009).
Pay and performance: Individuals, groups,
and executives. The Academy of Management
Annals, 3, 251 - 315.
Hakanen, J. J., & Roodt, G. (2010). Using the
demands-resources model to predict engagement: Analyzing a conceptual model. In A.
Bakker & M. P. Leiter (Eds.), Work engagement: A handbook of essential theory and
research (pp. 85 - 101). London: Psychology
Press.
Latham, G. P. (2007). Work motivation: History,
theory, research, and practice. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Type of Outcome
Type of Incentive
faculty. The first author worked in conjunction
with the director of the unit in question to identify the overall goals to be achieved by the system
and to construct the specific reward contingencies for each incentive system. While these systems are believed to be faculty-centric because
of the developers experience as faculty members,
the programs were not faculty-developed. Research cited in Yukl (1998) on the Vroom-Yetton
Normative Decision Model suggests that there
are circumstances when a non-participatory
decision-making approach can be profitably
employed. Similarly, research on goal-setting as
described in Latham (2007) frames the issue in
terms of the difference between participatively
set goals and assigned (by the leader) goals. Based
on his own seminal research in this area, Latham
(2007) concludes that “... when the assigned goal
is given with a logic or rationale, it is as effective
as one set participatively.” The extent to which
faculty have supported these programs suggests
that the logic or rationale presented for their construction has been embraced.
Behaviors
Doctoral Faculty
Retention Fund
Research-and-WritingIntensive Semester
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (1990). A theory
of goal setting & task performance. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
National League of Nursing. (2008). National
league for nursing accrediting commission accreditation manual. New York: Author.
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
77
David W. Denton & William E. Rayburn
78
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
An Ethnographic Study of
New College Presidential Learning in a
Cultural Context
Michael J. Siegel, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Director, Administration of Higher Education Program
Suffolk University
ABSTRACT
This study examines the process by which new college presidents learn their role in a cultural context
during the first year of the presidency. It explores the manner in which presidential newcomers
utilize elements of campus culture (i.e., rituals, traditions, symbols, and stories) in carrying out
their presidential duties. Data were collected on five new college presidents utilizing a qualitative
research design, which included interviews, campus observations, and document analyses. Analysis
of the data reveal four themes: First steps are critical; discovering tenets of campus culture should
have primacy among early behaviors; symbolism in the presidency can be used as a powerful tool;
and understanding the paradoxical nature of the position is crucial to learning.
INTRODUCTION
THE CRITICAL FIRST YEAR
Newcomers to institutional settings often feel
overwhelmed by the all they encounter. The early
weeks and months after organizational entry are
often characterized by “disorientation, foreignness, and a kind of sensory overload” (Louis,
1980, p. 230). As a result, it is often difficult for
them to make sense of the environment in the
midst of ambiguous cultural elements.
Expectations run impossibly high for new college presidents. They are expected to be adept
at entering the institution with a broad, wellinformed perspective, and immediately set about
the task of not only leading, but managing with
effective decision-making. Realistic or not, these
expectations are driven by the need of the campus community to confirm its appointment of
the new president.
Newcomers to college and university settings
face such challenges, as they are not typically familiar with the campus’ norms, and do not fully
appreciate the meaning of certain campus behaviors, communication patterns and the use of language, symbols, rituals, and values that constitute
the organizational culture. Difficulty in understanding the nuances of campus culture is often
the result of too many competing interpretations
and explanations, rather than too few. This study
focuses on the college president as institutional
newcomer, and its purpose is to examine learning experiences in the critical first year that are
central to success in setting and implementing an
effective agenda.
To be sure, presidents face a paradox in their first
year: They are often tasked with proposing or enacting an agenda for the institution in the early
months, but to do so they must learn how to perform their presidential duties in the context of
the institution’s culture. Indeed the first year of
a college presidency will likely be ambiguous insofar as there are multiple, and often competing,
interpretations of any number of cultural phenomena that exist in the institutional environment. Negotiating the cultural environment and
bringing together constituent groups that have
disparate views, beliefs, and behavioral norms are
critical to first-year presidential success.
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Michael J. Siegel
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
This study uses a cultural framework to examine the process by which new college presidents
learn their role and discover and utilize campus
culture. The cultural framework, insofar as organizational studies are concerned, draws attention
to “…aspects of organizational life…such as the
stories people tell to newcomers to explain ‘how
things are done around here,’ which offices are
arranged and personal items are or are not displayed…the working atmosphere…the relations
among people…” (Martin, 2006, p. 3).
Culture studies such as this are grounded in the
work of anthropologists and ethnographers who
seek to examine norms, behaviors, belief systems,
symbols, rites, rituals, values and other cultural
elements existing in civilizations and societies throughout history. To the discipline of anthropology, culture is the fundamental concept
encompassing the entire range of behaviors and
beliefs in a society, from the symbolic forms of
communication that are enacted to the narration
of customs and practices by societal members to
the transmission of cultural norms and values
from one generation to the next.
Translated into the current study, this perspective suggests that much of what presidents do
is create and sustain belief systems about organizational life by invoking symbols, behavioral
norms, rituals, values, language and other elements of culture, which govern and influence the
way members make sense of the institution.
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Employing culture concepts to analyze institutional behavior and leadership has become a
standard in organizational studies (Deal & Kennedy, 1982; Louis, 1980; Louis, 1983; Lundberg,
1990; Martin, 1992; Morgan, 2006; Schein,
1991; Schein, 1992). Relatively few studies, however, have examined the role of culture in shaping
the daily work of campus leaders such as college
presidents.
There is a significant body of higher education
literature related to the roles and functions of
college presidents. Scholars have studied the role
of the college president (Kerr & Gade, 1986),
power in the presidency (Fisher, 1984; Neustadt,
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An Ethnographic Study of New College Presidential Learning in a Cultural Context
1960), leadership aspects (Birnbaum, 1992; Fisher & Koch, 1996), challenges facing presidents
(Birnbaum, 1989), and the status of minority
and women leaders (Bensimon, 1989). Though
the literature addresses the role and leadership
aspects of the college presidency, few studies
(Bensimon, 1990; Bensimon, 1991; Bensimon,
1993; Gilmore, 1988; McLaughlin & Reisman,
1990) have investigated the process by which
presidents learn role behavior and identify and
interpret cultural phenomena. Moreover, there is
a paucity of research that documents and assesses
the perceptions presidents have about their role
as president.
Describing success and failure in the college presidency, Birnbaum (1992) examines complex factors in the collegiate environment that influence
and have implications for presidential leadership.
Drawing on the results of a comprehensive fiveyear leadership study of college presidents, called
the Institutional Leadership Project (ILP), he
examined how college and university leaders interact with members of the campus community,
affect organizational functioning at their institutions, set and achieve goals, assess their own effectiveness, and make sense out the college environment in which they work.
The study indicates five circumstances that new
presidents generally face when they first assume
the presidency: (a) There is faculty dissatisfaction
with the former president; (b) there is initial faculty support for the presidential newcomer; (c)
pressure exists for new presidents to take action;
(d) new presidents effect an increase in communication; and (e) there are expectations of good
leadership for new presidents.
In the early months of a new presidential appointment, institutions can expect an increase in
the level of communication, both oral and written, which is central to campus culture. Whether
through town hall meetings or campus forums
or written strategic plans, new presidents often
attempt to foster an atmosphere cordial to open
communication, which is a predictably powerful
cultural component.
According to the ILP data, it is not uncommon
for new presidents to feel heightened pressure
to take action quickly. New presidents are typically seen in the cultural milieu as a symbol of
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
new direction and a fresh start; to that end, they
are engaged immediately upon arrival by various
constituency groups to address issues that have
remained dormant or been neglected by previous
administrations.
In a cultural analysis of new presidents and their
understanding of the campus as a culture, Bensimon (1990) offers three guiding questions which
are instructive for this study: “(1) What does it
mean to understand the campus as a culture? (2)
What are the means of understanding (ways of
knowing) an institution as a culture? (3) How
can institutional researchers help new presidents
acquire a cultural perspective as a way of knowing their institutions?” (p. 76). Focusing on how
new presidents become aware of and adapt to organizational environments, this study primarily
addresses the nature by which new presidents become effective leaders by learning their role and
balancing their expectations and intentions with
the expectations and demands of other members
of the institution.
Particularly relevant for the current research is
Neumann’s (1995) interpretative case study on
presidential leadership. In the study, the author
analyzes the relationship between culture and
leadership with respect to changes that occur
on a college campus when a new president is appointed. Under the premise that leadership is,
“…complex and multidirectional” (p. 252), Neumann addresses the manner in which the culture,
and attitudes about the reality of what occurs in
the social and cultural environment, is mutually
constructed by presidents and other campus participants by a process factors in elements of culture, cognition, and context.
In the case study, Neumann analyzes the relationship between the president and other organizational members as it evolves and changes
through five phases. The first phase reflects the
situation whereby the new president enters the
organization and tries to make sense out of the
setting (defining the setting); the second phase
occurs with the new president adjusting to the
cultural environment (redefining the setting);
the third phase is punctuated by the new president stirring the setting (stirring up the setting);
the fourth phase is reflected in the actions of the
campus community as campus participants discover and respond to the changes that the presi-
dent has made in the shared setting of the cultural environment (campus responses); and the
fifth phase marks the president addressing the
responses of the campus community and noting
their effects on his presidency (calibrating). This
research provides a unique framework for conceptualizing how presidents learn and adapt to
the cultural environment in phases or stages and
has relevance for the current research.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Underlying the current study is the basic assumption that understanding tenets of campus
culture has broad implications for successful
transition into the presidency. To that end, the
guiding questions for this study are: (1) How do
new presidents make sense of campus cultural
environment and their role within it?; and (2)
What cultural resources (for example, symbols,
stories, myths, norms of behavior, and campus
traditions) do presidents draw from during their
first year to help them learn the role of president?
METHODOLOGY AND
DATA COLLECTION
Because the current research is interpretive in nature and focuses on learning in a cultural context,
I chose a qualitative research design (Creswell,
1998; Lincoln & Guba, 1985) for this study.
More specifically, I utilized an ethnographic case
study approach (Creswell, 1998; Rhoads, 1995)
as the preferred method for discovering how new
college and university presidents learn about and
use the campus cultural environment to make
sense of their role during the first year.
Consistent with qualitative methodology, data
were gathered from multiple sources, including:
(a) semi-structured interviews; (b) document
analyses (policy statements, presidential addresses, and inauguration materials, for example); and
(c) observations of participants in their work environment and interactions with other organizational members.
Sample
The participants in the study are five college and
university presidents, selected from a variety of
backgrounds and institutional affiliations. Of
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Michael J. Siegel
the five presidents, three are White males, one
an African-American male, and one a White female. As the purpose of the study was to examine
first year experiences, it was necessary to select
first-time college presidents who were new in the
truest sense of the word. It was also important
to select new presidents who came from outside,
as opposed to inside, the institution they served,
which made for a richer portrait of cultural learning. Efforts were also made to ensure variation in
the backgrounds of the presidents, including race
and gender as well as academic experience and
background.
Presidents selected for the study, as well as their
respective institutions, were assigned pseudonyms to ensure confidentiality and anonymity.
The participants were: Willem, Caucasian male,
President of Whittmore State College; Luanne,
Caucasian female, President of Flowstone State
University; Mack, Caucasian male, President
of Northwest Stockton University; Martin, African-American male, President of Cloudland
State University; and Everett, Caucasian male,
President of Fisher University. All of the institutions are small- to mid-sized state universities
and members of the American Association of
State Colleges and Universities (AASCU).
Procedures
I made contact with the presidential participants
and sent a prospectus outlining the methodology
and design of the study; I then scheduled visits
and interviews with each president. Prior to visiting the campuses, I sent a sample of key questions
from an interview protocol to each of the presidents to further familiarize them with the study.
Interviews took place over a three- to four-day
period at each of the five institutions in the study.
Several interview sessions were conducted with
the presidents, each lasting approximately one to
two hours in length. A standard, semi-structured
interview protocol was used to facilitate discussion, and follow-up questions were modified and
adjusted to the context of the discussion.
During each visit, I attended as many meetings
and college functions as possible that were relevant the study in an effort to gather additional
data outside of the campus interviews. Further,
I examined institutional documents and other
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An Ethnographic Study of New College Presidential Learning in a Cultural Context
written materials such as catalogs, presidential
search materials, and letters and memos from the
president, which factored into the data analysis.
Data Analysis
Data from interview transcripts, document analyses, observations of campus events, and interactions with new presidents were analyzed using an
inductive process, whereby emerging categories,
patterns, and themes (Whitt, 1993) were developed from smaller units of data. To that end, data
were simultaneously collected, interpreted, and
classified in the categories, and written in narrative format that laid the foundation for further
analysis. During the course of the study, I recorded extensive field notes of my interviews and observations at each site in journals, which included
narrative accounts of interactions, observations,
interpretations, impressions of events, and other
reflections that occurred. A coding process (Creswell, 1998, p. 67) was used in the initial stages to
segment larger units of information into smaller,
more manageable categories, and further sorting
of the data helped to assemble the information in
new ways.
Categorizing and managing the qualitative, nonnumeric data was done by conducting multiple
sorts of the data, the first of which yielded several narrow themes. Further analysis included
cataloguing, storing, and indexing textual data
with the goal of establishing relationships between segments of data and refining the themes.
A second sort of the data, whereby the initial
themes were collapsed into more broad-based
and encompassing categories, yielded four major
themes. The third and final sort, conducted after
the completion of the first draft of the written
analysis, served as an attempt to mine the data
more thoroughly and ensure category reliability,
soundness, richness, and trustworthiness in the
final written analysis.
I sent a draft report of my analyses to each of the
presidents for review. These member checks (Creswell, 1998; Lincoln & Guba, 1985) were an opportunity to solicit information about the credibility of my findings and interpretations. Some
of the presidents made slight alterations to direct
quotations in the text, presumably in an attempt
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
to refine the language and make clearer the context in which comments were made.
FINDINGS
Analysis of the data revealed four themes among
the experiences of new presidents in the study:
(1) First steps are critical; (2) Discovering, learning, and respecting institution-specific tenets of
campus culture should have primacy among early
behaviors; (3) Symbolism in the presidency can
be used as a powerful tool; and (4) Understanding, and accepting, the paradoxical nature of the
position is crucial to cultural learning.
First Steps Are Critical, Literally:
Leaping Before Looking
The first theme examines the importance of early
actions and behaviors of new presidents and explores the process by which new presidents make
decisions about what first steps to take upon entering the presidency. All of the participants in
the study indicated that the most critical step
upon entering the presidency was to meet members of the faculty, in particular faculty leaders,
and become familiar with the issues, values, and
norms that were important to them. As reported by most of the presidents, taking first steps
included a kinetic learning experience: a walk
about the campus.
Willem, President of Whittmore State College,
first approached the vice president for academic
affairs who had been at the institution for thirty
years and asked questions about the faculty, such
as “Who are the most respected members of this
faculty? I would like to talk to them.” Seeking
out a veteran member of the institution to inquire about important individuals with whom
to meet was a common gesture among the presidents in the study. Willem talked about his first
day as a new president, arriving at the institution
where most people knew of his record but had
not met him:
“My first day here, I started to walk
around like anybody would…management by walking around. So I walked
down to the English department…I had
been introduced to the campus, alright,
but they didn’t know me. I saw a pro-
fessor…and I sat down in his office said
to him, ‘You know, I’m trying to learn
about the campus and faculty…tell me a
little bit about your colleagues.’”
Willem found it very important to take the initiative to meet members of the campus on their
own terms and in their departments, because it
conveyed the sentiment that he was reaching out
in his new position. He noted the idea of making
unannounced appearances at individuals’ doors
was very effective as well, for it gave him the opportunity to see people in their element.
Upon arriving at her new institution, Luanne,
President of Flowstone State University, walked
around the campus unattended by staff and assistants, and she used the process to meet with
various faculty and other groups around campus
in their own environment, similar to Willem. In
the course of her early months on campus, she
also requested to meet with all of the department
heads and deans on the campus; instead of asking them to come to her office to consort and talk
about issues, she asked to be invited to their offices, letting them know that she did not want to
impose her schedule on them and make it a formal discussion within their operating area.
Mack, President of Northwest Stockton University, was familiar with some of the individuals on
campus, having worked in business for several
years near the University and served as a prominent member of the U.S. Congress from the area,
he had not had a direct relationship with the university and its constituents and was therefore not
particularly knowledgeable about the culture of
the campus. Given the conditions under which
Mack was hired, namely, that he was approached
and selected by a board of trustees with minimal
consultation from members of the campus community, winning the trust of the university constituents was critical to his early tenure. With the
dual purpose of building a network of colleagues
and being proactive in attempting to better understand the culture of the campus, he developed
a plan to visit a new faculty department on campus each week. He noted during our interviews
that he found the process to be quite useful in
helping him understand the nuances of the multiple issues and concerns that various campus
constituency groups faced. Like Luanne, he made
intentional efforts to meet faculty on their own
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Michael J. Siegel
terms, hoping that they would feel more comfortable sharing their issues and talking about
their departments in their surroundings.
It is evident from the data that new presidents are
concerned with first steps, and often in the literal
sense. Taking the Office of the President to the
community, in essence, was the motivation behind many of the first actions of new presidents.
Rather than summoning groups, individuals,
and committees, to their offices, the presidents
in the study relied on a first-move advantage to
learn about the campus constituents on their
terms. The presidents were all cognizant of how
their first-action behaviors set the tone for their
presidency and put them in a learning posture.
Institutional Culture as a Gradually
Opening Flower: Looking Before Leaping
The second theme relates to the process by which
new presidents become acclimated to the culture
of the institution and understand the institution as a culture-bearing organization, and they
themselves as cultural leaders.
As the cultural drama of campus life unfolds or
is in process, members of the campus community
learn the tenets of institutional culture through
various means, including that of improvisation
and experimentation. For new college presidents,
as it were, leading an institution means having a
particularly deep understanding of campus culture and being able to interpret as well as communicate institutional values and beliefs. Consider Chaffee and Tierney’s (1988) follow up
point that, “As a result, effective leadership has
to do not only with planning and adaptation but
also with interpreting and communicating institutional values and understanding organizational processes” (p. 3).
I asked the presidents how they would characterize the values of the institution, and more
importantly, how they each came to understand
and respect the core values of the institution. The
presidents described what it was like to enter into
their positions as chief executive officer and attempt to discover, and make sense of, core tenets
of campus culture amidst a multitude of stimuli.
Martin, President of Cloudland State University,
talked in terms of the cultural learning process
as a “…gradually opening flower,” suggesting that
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An Ethnographic Study of New College Presidential Learning in a Cultural Context
the complexities of culture on a college campus
culture do not unfold quickly or completely. He
reflected that each day a little bit more of the culture reveals itself and that presidents need to be
careful when asserting the values of the institution with an eye toward change.
Presidents need to be careful when they want to
assert the values of the institution, Martin further suggested, because the landscape and the
culture of the institution can change from year
to year based on several reasons. Whether from
personnel changes, budgetary crises, the infusion
of cash during big fundraising years, or a host of
other dynamics operating on campus, the values of an institution have a tendency to change.
When listening to the voices of the community,
he admonished, a president should be cautious in
arriving at picture of a shared set of institutional
values, given that there are many constituent
groups and many value sets represented on campus. Martin noted:
…you have to be careful when people
come to you and say, “The values that we
hold dear at [Cloudland State] are….”
Normally there are very few people
who can articulate them because there
are very few people who understand,
who have got their fingers on the pulse
of that much of the university to understand the value of it. And there is so
much dynamism to it, that it does shift…
you need to be very wary and let the values become visible to you…and unfold
over time.
Martin is implying the core and fundamental
values of an institution are those that have stood
the test of time and have become a part of the institutional ethos. As his words suggest, presidents
should listen with caution to the pronouncements made about values in the campus culture
and exercise discretion in subscribing to the multitude of values people claim are endemic to the
institution.
One of the challenges to Everett, president of
Fisher University, during his first year was finding
an effective and direct way to indicate to campus
constituency groups that status quo (in terms of
campus programming, curriculum development,
and academic administration) was unacceptable.
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
He realized early on it was politically prudent to
move cautiously with change and honor the often
disparate views of campus culture represented by
the many constituency groups at the University.
Indeed, his background as a student affairs administrator, he said, taught him about the nature
of changing an academic culture and the need to
wade in cautiously when trying to facilitate collaboration.
All of the presidents found elements of the new
culture ambiguous and difficult to read. They
were used to operating in cultural environments
where they understood the processes and procedures by which institutional tasks were carried
out. Similarly, they were familiar with the norms
of behavior, values, and beliefs that were indigenous to the institutional culture of their previous
institution. Making the transition into a new environment with a different set of values, beliefs,
norms, and ways of doing things meant learning,
accepting, and respecting new cultural properties and patterns of behavior. It is not enough for
a president to simply explore culture and learn
how to strategically operate within a campus environment; he or she must be able to convey respect and an appreciation for the core values and
traditions of a college or university. In short, the
presidents in this study appeared to learn their
role most effectively when they intentionally attempt to understand, respect, and utilize core
institutional values.
The Role of Symbolism:
The President as Living Logo
One of the dominant areas I explored concerned
the nature of symbolism in the presidency, the
third theme. All of the presidents talked about
symbolism in the presidency and discussed elements of their daily work on campus where they
invoked cultural customs and addressed issues
related to the beliefs, values, and norms of the
institution. Similarly, they spoke about the position of president being symbolic in and of itself,
and discussed the phenomena by which the college community endows the president with symbolic properties and ascribe symbolic meanings
to everyday behaviors of the president. As one
president poignantly noted, “You become the living logo of the place as a president.”
Whether attending faculty or committee meetings, visiting campus functions or athletic events,
speaking to student groups, initiating town hall
discussions, or participating in ceremonies such
as graduation or convocation, the presidents
felt their daily interactions in the campus environment were replete with symbolic gestures.
Because, as one president said, “People hang on
every word of the president when they speak,”
the presidents indicated they used public appearances as a way to send messages to the community, both directly and symbolically. Similarly, they
found they were able to learn more about the
campus culture based on how institutional members reacted to their appearances and speeches.
He noted that every for every formal program
there is something for the president to say;
whether it be Founder’s Day or Honor’s Day or
any other ceremonial event on campus, “The
president is supposed to be professorial and filled
with wisdom and understanding.” As mentioned,
the campus community typically wants to hear
a new president talk about his or her vision for
the campus, and they will want to hear about any
new programs and initiatives that are abound in
university planning.
The consensus among the presidents is that practically every event on the campus in which the
president is in attendance can be construed as
symbolic. All of the presidents in the study recognized the importance of being aware of how
internal and external constituents view their
actions, interpret their interactions with people
on and off campus, and conduct the business of
the college. In terms of the symbolism surrounding attendance at events, the data suggest new
presidents often feel they are not able to say no
to attending programs; even when programs or
activities are judged not imperative to attend,
presidents still feel compelled to consider being present. In sum, it is common for presidents
to commit themselves to a tireless and endless
schedule of events, using each new event as an
opportunity to introduce themselves as well as
let campus members know the value of their programs.
One of the most important ceremonies over
which any president presides is the inauguration
ceremony. The inauguration, one of the most celebrated events in the early stages of the college
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
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Michael J. Siegel
presidency, is also one of the most highly symbolic in the life of any institution. In fact, many
academicians who are critical of the inauguration
ceremony argue that is nothing more than a symbolic event, serving no useful purpose other than
putting the culture of the institution on display.
I had the opportunity to attend the Inauguration
ceremony of two of the presidents in the study –
Luanne and Martin – where I documented the
use of cultural artifacts and other items used in
campus celebrations. I paid particular attention
to the use of language by the president and others, noting the many ways presidents use the ceremony to issue a clarion call to the college community to work together in a collaborative effort
to advance the institution.
While I was unable to attend the inauguration
ceremonies of the other three presidents in the
study, I interviewed each of them and explored
their thoughts on the ceremony. Interest was the
way in which Everett invoked several values of
Fisher University in his speech and fused them
into the theme of the inauguration ceremony. Deliberating on the theme of his inaugural speech,
it struck him one day that the words on a black
cherry wood plaque hanging in the entrance of
the campus library seemed most appropriate:
“Character, Culture, Scholarship, Service.” This
moment of epiphany, he said, helped launch the
concept that would eventually become his inauguration speech. About the ceremony, Everett
said:
For me to use in the inaugural, the sign
with the “Character, Culture, Scholarship and Service”…a sign that was given
to the state normal school in 1912…that
was very symbolic that I respected the
past. I took those four tenants and values and said, “Here’s some challenges to
our faculty and staff and students for the
future.”
An important phenomenon that Willem focused
on during our first conversation together was the
idea that members of the campus community
bestow the presidency with symbolic attributes,
and as a result they keep an observant watch over
the behaviors and words of the president and ascribe meaning to many of the things the presi-
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An Ethnographic Study of New College Presidential Learning in a Cultural Context
dent does and says. Everett described this same
phenomenon as “living in a fishbowl.”
To be sure, individuals in the campus community pay close attention to what presidents do as
well as what they don’t do. Behaviors and everyday activities that might be considered routine
and customary for most members of a campus
community are ascribed with highly symbolic
attributes where presidents are concerned. Correspondingly, many of the decisions made, and
actions taken, during the early tenure of the
presidency are seen as symbolic gestures that impart messages about the values and beliefs of the
president.
Understanding, and Accepting, Paradox
and Ambiguity
The fourth theme in the study addresses the nature of paradox in the presidency. It examines
the process by which presidents make sense of
ambiguity in the campus culture and reconcile
the myriad messages they receive concerning
what they should and should not do in conducting the business of the college. As Weick (1995)
notes, ambiguity in organizational functioning
has to do with the presence of too much information rather than not enough. Several presidents
discussed, for example, the ambiguity that develops when several institutional sagas or stories, or
iterations or interpretations of stories, about the
same event on campus are disclosed, making it
difficult to get an accurate picture of what actually transpired in a particular situation.
Presidents can observe how culture manifests itself in the daily actions of campus members, but
they can never be assured that cultural behaviors
are enacted in a patterned and predictable manner. While the process of role learning in the
presidency is intended to reduce cultural ambiguity, it can have the paradoxical effect of instilling it.
The participants in the study discussed their first
year in the presidency as a time characterized by
ambiguity and uncertainty. While they were often expected to propose and execute an agenda or
strategic plan for institutional change, they were
also aware that acting too quickly without proper
and sufficient consultation and failing to take the
necessary time to become familiar with institu-
Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
tional culture would be detrimental to their administration. The paradox is such that in order to
initiate and execute an agenda or plan for change
on campus they first have to learn how to perform their institutional duties in the context of
the culture of the institution.
Martin spoke of the strain to the presidency
when ambiguity is extant in the campus culture,
particularly when it affects interpersonal relations on campus. Once you build trust with individuals on campus, he believes, they will bring
you information that can potentially reduce the
amount of ambiguity that punctuates the presidency. He poignantly notes:
People challenge…presidents when
changes are made - presidents have to
navigate through the various value sets
of groups on campus and try to make
changes that respect the values of the organization. It is a precarious position to
be in because you will not be able to satisfy all constituency groups on campus
- not everyone will agree on core values,
and presidents have to make judgments
about whose interests will be best be
served when making particular decisions on campus.
Martin shared a very important lesson he learned
during his first year in the presidency. He found
that the role of the president in general is very
important to a lot of people on campus, and it
can often become too important. That is, so
many people in the college environment have a
vested interest and stake in the presidency that
it is doubtful anyone who assumes the office can
live up to the expectations inherent in the position. He said:
…People believe the president can do
more than he or she can do, and therefore there is a lot of attention [given]
to a place called the presidency, and the
president. That’s awfully humbling and
scary…I’ve learned that along with people expecting a lot and making the position too important, that…a part of your
success is to jog people back into reality
about what it is you can do and cannot
do. And I’ve learned that the reason why
people do this is they want some place to
store the success and failures of the institution, and they store it in the office of
the president…
Several of the presidents noted that it is a very
complicated process to get an accurate picture
of the presidency as well as the institution when
one first assumes to mantle of the leadership.
Given that the selection of new presidents is the
product of many dynamics that include the organizing and composition of search committees,
applicant screening processes, constituent group
self-interest, and politics and hidden agendas to
name a few, it is often a significant challenge for
new presidents to accurately gauge the level of
support from particular groups.
Given the often disparate interests and needs of
various campus constituency groups, as well as
the multiple meanings assigned to any one particular event on campus, it is no wonder that
presidents experience ambiguity when trying to
arrive at an accurate reading of the core values
and beliefs of an institution.
CONCLUSIONS
With the institution-specific nature of campus
culture and the unique place-bound experiences
of each president, generalizability of findings to
other presidential experiences is problematic.
Similarly given the geographical proximity of the
institutions and the scope of the study, prolonged
engagement at each site was not possible.
The research attempts to provide, however, an element of transferability (Creswell, 1998; Lincoln
& Guba, 1985). The detailed description inherent in qualitative research enables readers to determine whether the findings can be transferred
to similar settings. Transferability assumes that
similarly situated participants will have some
measurable degree of similarity among their experiences, and therefore tacit assumptions can be
made about the experiences of new presidents at
other institutions.
Institutions of higher education are complex,
culture-bearing entities. It follows that the learning experiences of new college presidents are
similarly complex. Among the most important
objectives for presidents the first year in office is
to discover and understand the various layers of
Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education
87
Michael J. Siegel
organizational culture. Making sense of ambiguous stimuli and attempting to understand unclear meanings in the context of an institutional
culture is a large part of the learning behavior of
new presidents. The presidents in this study report they must be able to transcend the boundaries that set apart various campus subcultures,
and they need to be adroit at bringing together
campus groups that often have disparate values
and beliefs.
Interviews with the presidents suggest that many
of them faced a significant paradox during their
first year: they felt compelled to propose major
agendas and strategic plans for programming
during the early part of their tenure, but they
felt they needed to be more knowledgeable about
the organizational culture and the ethos of how
plans and procedures are carried out on campus.
Most of the presidents were expected, or felt
compelled, to share a vision for the institution,
but they indicated it was a particularly difficult
task because of all the campus dynamics they had
to take into account in order to do so. The extent
to which change is needed, desired, or both, has
to be considered by presidents when programming and planning and many individuals and
constituency groups have to be consulted before
culture-changing initiatives are put into motion.
It is evident that much of what college and university presidents do is manage culture. In fact,
Schein (1992) suggests, it can be argued that “the
only thing of real importance that leaders do is to
create and manage culture and that the unique
talent of leaders is their ability to understand and
work with culture” (p. 5). There are no blueprints
or templates for understanding culture in institutions of higher education, and in the case of
new college presidents, past experiences alone do
not prepare them to assume the mantle of leadership and begin the process of learning about their
new institution’s culture. The pace of the college
and university president is typically hurried and
rushed. Ironically, this fast pace both contributes
to, as well as limits, cultural understanding and
role learning. This is particularly true for new
presidents, most of whom feel driven to maintain
a busy schedule of speaking engagements, offcampus meetings, public appearances, campus
committee meetings, fund-raising appointments,
departmental visits, and other responsibilities.
88
An Ethnographic Study of New College Presidential Learning in a Cultural Context
There is little time in the presidency for reflection, reading, and thinking extensively about
campus culture, yet it is such a vital part of understanding institutional behavior.
Presidents are bestowed with an enormous
amount of power and influence when they assume their role. With that power and influence,
presidents have a responsibility to serve as the key
representative of their institution as well as its
primary culture-bearer. Culture on college campuses is often hard to make sense of in any discernible pattern because it often rests below the
surface of institutional consciousness. The ambition of any new president, according to those in
the study, should be to intentionally engage in
the discovery, understanding, and utilization of
campus culture. How and what new presidents
learn during their first year is a function of the
success they have in that process.
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Spring 2011 (Volume 7 Issue 1)
JOINT CONFERENCE
May 23th, 24th and 25th 2012 in
Nashville, TN at the Holiday Inn Vanderbilt
Academic Business World
International Conference
(ABWIC.org)
International Conference on
Learning and Administration in
Higher Education
(ICLAHE.org)
The aim of Academic Business World is to promote inclusiveness
in research by offering a forum for the discussion of research in
early stages as well as research that may differ from ‘traditional’
paradigms. We wish our conferences to have a reputation for
providing a peer-reviewed venue that is open to the full range of
researchers in business as well as reference disciplines within the
social sciences.
All too often learning takes a back seat to discipline related research. The International Conference on Learning and Administration in Higher Education seeks to focus exclusively on all
aspects of learning and administration in higher education. We
wish to bring together, a wide variety of individuals from all
countries and all disciplines, for the purpose of exchanging experiences, ideas, and research findings in the processes involved
in learning and administration in the academic environment of
higher education.
Business Disciplines
We encourage the submission of manuscripts, presentation outlines, and abstracts pertaining to any business or related discipline
topic. We believe that all disciplines are interrelated and that looking at our disciplines and how they relate to each other is preferable to focusing only on our individual ‘silos of knowledge’. The
ideal presentation would cross discipline. borders so as to be more
relevant than a topic only of interest to a small subset of a single
discipline. Of course, single domain topics are needed as well.
Conferences
Academic Business World (ABW) sponsors an annual international conference for the exchange of research ideas and practices
within the traditional business disciplines. The aim of each Academic Business World conference is to provide a forum for the
discussion of research within business and reference disciplines
in the social sciences. A secondary but important objective of the
conference is to encourage the cross pollination of disciplines by
bringing together professors, from multiple countries and disciplines, for social and intellectual interaction.
Prior to this year, the Academic Business World International
Conference included a significant track in Learning and Administration. Because of increased interest in that Track, we have
promoted Learning and Administration to a Conference in its
own right. For the full call for papers and more information go to
http://ABWIC.org and http://ICLAHE.org
We encourage the submission of manuscripts, presentation outlines, and abstracts in either of the following areas:
Learning
We encourage the submission of manuscripts pertaining to pedagogical topics. We believe that much of the learning process is
not discipline specific and that we can all benefit from looking
at research and practices outside our own discipline. The ideal
submission would take a general focus on learning rather than a
discipline-specific perspective. For example, instead of focusing
on “Motivating Students in Group Projects in Marketing Management”, you might broaden the perspective to “Motivating
Students in Group Projects in Upper Division Courses” or simply
“Motivating Students in Group Projects” The objective here is to
share your work with the larger audience.
Academic Administration
We encourage the submission of manuscripts pertaining to the
administration of academic units in colleges and universities. We
believe that many of the challenges facing academic departments
are not discipline specific and that learning how different departments address these challenges will be beneficial. The ideal paper
would provide information that many administrators would find
useful, regardless of their own disciplines
Conferences
Prior to this year, Learning and Administration was a primary
track of the annual Academic Business World International Conference. Because of increased interest, we have promoted Learning
and Administration from a Track to Conference in its own right.
For the full call for papers and more information go to http://
ICLAHE.org and http://ABWIC.org.