Spring 2013: Strategic Management and Leadership

Hankamer School of Business Ranked No. 2 in Nation for Entrepreneurship

The undergraduate entrepreneurship program at Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business ranked No. 2 among the more than 2,000 schools nationwide surveyed by The Princeton Review for Entrepreneur magazine. Baylor was the highest ranked school in Texas. The eighth annual “Top 25 Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Programs of 2012” rankings surveyed business school administrators about their institution’s entrepreneurship programs. The annual lists salute 50 programs—25 undergraduate and 25 graduate programs—for their excellence in entrepreneurship education.

Baylor Business Review App Earns Recognition

The Baylor Business Review iPad app was published in May 2012 and has garnered over 1,400 downloads from more than 43 different countries. The BBR app was ranked #65 out of all free business iPad apps in the U.S. on the iTunes App Store shortly after its release. The app also earned a 2012 silver W3 Award from the International Academy of Visual Arts (IAVA) and holds a near-perfect 4.5-star rating on iTunes. The app was also featured in the November/December issue of BizEd, the magazine of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Search “Baylor Business Review” to download the free BBR app on the iTunes App Store.

bbr.baylor.edu/app

Regents Approve Joint MDiv/MBA Degree Program

The Baylor University Board of Regents approved a joint master’s degree in Divinity (MDiv) and Business Administration (MBA) from the George W. Truett Theological Seminary and the Hankamer School of Business. The joint MDiv/MBA will link the faculties, resources and education of Baylor’s internationally recognized business school and seminary, offering to students an education that prepares them well for a multitude of leadership opportunities. As religious institutions continue to morph into complex organizations and nonprofits continue to proliferate, the constituencies of such institutions are seeking qualified, competent and well-educated individuals to lead them. The MDiv/MBA degree program is expected to begin in fall 2013.

Hankamer Faculty Appointed to New Positions

Gregory Leman was named director of Baylor University’s Innovative Business Accelerator (IBA), which helps new technology companies grow their business more rapidly by taking advantage of the university’s research and academic intellectual capital. The IBA is a joint venture of the Hankamer School of Business and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research. It will be housed in the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative (BRIC). Leman, who has held the position of clinical professor, director of University Entrepreneurial Initiatives, and the Curtis Hankamer Chair in Entrepreneurship at the Hankamer School of Business since 2005, was appointed by Terry Maness, dean of Hankamer, and Truell Hyde, vice provost for research.

Cynthia K. Riemenschneider was named associate dean of Research and Faculty Development for the Hankamer School of Business. In this role, she will be creating and implementing programs to improve faculty research productivity and teaching. Riemenschneider has served as associate professor of Information Systems at Baylor since 2009, and as a visiting professor from 2008-2009. Her research interests focus on the information technology (IT) workforce, specifically, the retention and attraction of women and minorities into the IT field. In 2011, she received the Nitsche Award, an endowed scholarship funded by Baylor alumni Robert and Robin Nitsche that recognizes outstanding faculty research and involvement.

Baylor University’s Executive MBA Program Ranked Nationally

Baylor University’s Executive MBA program was ranked 44th in United States-only based programs, according to the Financial Times’ 2012 rankings. The program, which includes campuses in Dallas and Austin, also ranked first in Texas among Executive MBA programs for percentage salary increase for graduates.

Baylor Bears Abroad Invite You to Eurodeloso

April 20-21, 2013
Maastricht, Netherlands

Diadeloso is finally crossing the pond! Join Baylor alumni living abroad for this FREE event featuring:
– Interactive business panel discussions
– Dr Pepper Hour with live music
– Tours and shopping
– Singles mingle
– Family-friendly fun
– Christian social impact speaker

RSVP to Emily Kirwan. Connect with Baylor Bears Abroad on Facebook and LinkedIn. For more information, visit the McBride Center for International Business website.

Hankamer Welcomes New Additions to Faculty and Staff (2012):

FACULTY

Department of Accounting & Business Law

Aaron Hedlund
Assistant Professor

Febrio Kacaribu
Lecturer

Department of Information Systems

John Tripp
Assistant Professor

Department of Management & Entrepreneurship

Matthew Wood
Assistant Professor

STAFF

Graduate Programs

Michael Estepp
Assistant Director of Career Management

Hannah VanDyke
Assistant Director of Admissions

Department of Marketing

Amber Adamson
Program Coordinator
Center for Professional Selling

Department of Management & Entrepreneurship

Amy Easley
Publications Editor

Heather Gerber
Program Manager
John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship

Wes Nemec
Program Manager
International Entrepreneurship Initiatives

Coming Soon…a New Home for Baylor Business

At its February meeting, the Baylor University Board of Regents approved public fundraising for a new 275,000-square-foot business school building that will expand the school’s size and reach by nearly 40 percent. The architectural design for the new business school building features a highly corporate and sustainable business environment, including a centerpiece atrium that will showcase some of the school’s signature classrooms, such as the Southwest Securities Financial Markets Center. The design also includes a large 350-seat auditorium to accommodate guest lectures and special events, and a variety of classroom spaces that will fully incorporate the latest classroom technology for collaborative learning, innovation and problem solving. The project cost is estimated at $100 million. The current Hankamer-Cashion space occupied by the business school will become available for other academic needs on campus, benefitting students across disciplines.

 

 

Baylor Business Review, Spring 2013

by Barbara Elmore

One of the first things to know about ethical leadership in business is that the subject is greater than a collection of interesting anecdotes about good and bad CEO behavior dissected in a classroom.

Conveying that concept with clarity is important to Mitchell Neubert as he leads students through concepts in his Principled Leadership classes. The associate professor of Management and Entrepreneurship offers a focused picture of an ethical leader as a person who encourages workers to speak up when something on the job is wrong, someone who promotes an environment in which people enjoy going to work.

If anyone needs more explanation than “leading ethically is the right thing to do,” Neubert offers this: “Research shows that ethical leadership is critically important to the success and viability of an organization. It’s more than just a nice idea to discuss.”

Still, discussions about different kinds of leadership and leadership styles make up an important part of Neubert’s upper-level class, which mostly attracts business majors but sometimes draws in others interested in ethical leadership, such as students in the Academy for Leader Development and Civic Engagement, who study leadership from a Christian worldview.

“I try to make the class practical as well as conceptual,” said Neubert, who holds the Chavanne Chair of Christian Ethics in Business. His discussions of leadership styles include talking about the meaning of a servant leader and how to lead situationally. He also looks at working in groups and leading from within groups.

“We also spend quite a bit of time on the ethics of a leader and how those ethics apply to the decisions a person makes as a leader,” he said. Here, students must find and report on recent ethical failures in business and analyze the results of poor ethical decision-making.

Bad decisions do not have to be mammoth failures, such as News Corporation’s cellphone hacking scandal, but they do have to be relevant. For example, in a similar exercise in an Executive MBA class, one of Neubert’s students used an example of an employee fired for inappropriate use of social media.

“That was a small, individual type of behavior, not systemic like News Corp.,” said Neubert. “Examples don’t have to be limited to large corporations because it’s not just a corporation that has ethical failures.”

Also part of his classes are “leadership cafes” in which local leaders talk to students about their own leadership styles and ethical challenges. They discuss the actions they take to incorporate their values at work.

“I want to expose students to real world challenges in addition to what they are reading in academic literature,” Neubert added.

In the fall semester, Neubert encourages his students to attend Baylor’s Dale P. Jones Business Ethics Forum events. This two-week-long forum offers students opportunities to hear from national, recognized business leaders and participate in competitions that assess their own ethical decision-making.

During the spring semester, Neubert sends his students to the business school’s Paul J. Meyer Christian Leadership in Business Speaker Series, a one-day event. Speakers are asked to talk about how they link their Christian faith with their businesses, and have included Gil Stricklin, founder of Marketplace Ministries (2010); Ken Blanchard, author of The One Minute Manager (2011); and Gary Heavin, CEO of Curves International (2012).

“At Baylor we can have this broad discussion about bringing values to your work or your leadership,” Neubert said. “In class, I often talk more generically about values to be inclusive, but I also talk directly about Christian leadership. We discuss, as a Christian, how you can incorporate your values in business?”

The last part of the Principled Leadership course examines virtuous leadership, and the cast of interesting people available to focus on energizes Neubert. Students have looked at the lives of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz; Jeffrey Katzenberg of DreamWorks Animation; Blake Mycoskie of Tom’s Shoes; and Dan T. Cathy of Chick-fil-A. Neubert’s purpose in this portion of the class is to move students beyond recognizing what’s wrong and how to avoid doing it, to learning what’s good and right and promoting those practices, or “stop doing wrong and learn to do good.” His words are a paraphrase of Isaiah 1:16-17a: “Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed.”

In this part of the class, Neubert advances the philosophy of learning what deeds are harmful for an organization, and avoiding them. The second part of that philosophy is to spend time with people who are doing the right things. Neubert explained why he purposefully ends on a positive note.

“We end with virtuous leadership behavior, which is rooted in ethics and values, to try to make principled leadership practical and encourage students to demonstrate compassion and self-control, contribute to hope and optimism, act justly and wisely, and have faith in and serve others,” he said. “It’s about making a positive impact on our workplace and communities.”

When students leave the class, Neubert wants them to be able to reflect on their own leadership styles and think about what they desire their own legacies to be. Students depart with a practical framework for living out their values so that they are the best leaders possible.

“I hope they leave with a few more tools for how to lead in a way that they can be proud of, and promote good within organizations and broader society,” Neubert said.

Even though he sees a waning moral consensus in the United States about what is right and wrong, Neubert expresses faith in the future of business. A decline in moral consensus affects ethical behavior in business because capitalism is based on trust, he notes. But he believes there are still many businesses that promote and teach ethical, principled leadership.

“We hear more about unethical behavior now because information is so accessible, but that does not necessarily mean unethical business leadership is more widespread,” he said. “It is just more transparent. My great hope for business is that it does a considerable amount of good by providing jobs, meeting needs and spurring development. Business leaders should not assume this will naturally happen. They must be vigilant about promoting ethical leadership and virtuous behavior.”

Listen to podcasts from Ken Blanchard, leadership guru and past participant in Baylor’s Paul J. Meyer Christian Leadership in Business Speaker Series:

“This Segment Brought to You by the Letter H” [podcast]http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/141294.mp3[/podcast]

“Modifiable Management” [podcast]http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/140699.mp3[/podcast]

“Stinkin Thinkin” [podcast]http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/140129.mp3[/podcast]
Read associate dean of Graduate Business Programs Gary Carini’s article “Bad Leaders Don’t Do These Things” featured on the D Healthcare Daily website.

 

 

 

Baylor Business Review, Spring 2013

“Booz Allen’s core values form the basis of everything we do. Our colleagues are expected to demonstrate and value client service, excellence, diversity, entrepreneurship, teamwork, professionalism, fairness, integrity, respect and trust. Hankamer School of Business graduates are provided an excellent education with real-world experience in a culture of innovation guided by Christian values. This unique blend of education, experience and culture equips Baylor graduates to deliver high quality work at Booz Allen, which has clients across the federal government and beyond.”

Kirk Marshall, BBA ‘06
Associate
Booz Allen Hamilton

About Booz Allen Hamilton

Booz Allen Hamilton has been at the forefront of strategy and technology consulting for nearly a century. Today, the firm provides services primarily to the US government in defense, intelligence, and civil markets, and to major corporations, institutions, and not-for-profit organizations. Booz Allen offers clients deep functional knowledge spanning strategy and organization, engineering and operations, technology, and analytics-which it combines with specialized expertise in clients’ mission and domain areas to help solve their toughest problems.

Booz Allen is headquartered in McLean, Va., employs approximately 25,000 people and had revenue of $5.86 billion for the 12 months ended March 31, 2012. To learn more, visit www.boozallen.com. (NYSE: BAH)

For more information about hiring Baylor BBA graduates, contact Kevin Nall at 254.710.8522 or Kevin_Nall@baylor.edu. For hiring MBA graduates, contact Ken Buckley at 254.710.7053 or Kenneth_Buckley@baylor.edu.

httpv://youtu.be/Z0TZ_tYhm_s

 

 

Baylor Business Review, Spring 2013