| A Stages Of Change Perspective On Motivation To Learn In A Leadership Development Context: An Empirical Investigation |
| | Harris, Stanley G. | Auburn U. | harris@business.auburn.edu | (334)-844-6519 |
| | Cole, Michael S. | Auburn U. | mcole@business.auburn.edu | (334)-844-4073 |
| | Prochaska and colleague's (e.g., Prochaska, DiClemente, & Norcross, 1992) "Stages of Change Model", which has generated substantial support in the therapeutic literature as a useful framework for understanding the dynamics of motivation to change problem behaviors, was examined in a leadership development context to determine its applicability for adding insight into the motivation to learn in such a context. By modifying the Stages of Change Scales (SOCS, e.g., McConnaughy, DiClemente, Prochaska, & Velicer, 1989) from the therapeutic literature, we assessed the stage sentiments of initial participants in a large manufacturing firms' new leadership development program. In addition to examining the reliability of our modified SOCS, we examined the extent to which stage scores related in meaningful ways to relevant criteria such as job attitudes, perceptions of personal leadership areas needing improvement, and evaluation of actual development module content and presentation over a seven month period. Results suggest that the Stages of Change Model offers useful and pragmatic insight into improving the effectiveness of leadership development activities. |
| | Keywords: Development; Change; Stages |
| Lessons from an Educational Intervention Designed to Facilitate Strategic Repositioning and Leadership Development: The Case of a Professional Services Firm |
| | Conger, Jay A. | U. of Southern California | jconger@sba.usc.edu | 213 740-4318 |
| | Benjamin, Beth | U. of Southern California | benjamin_beth@bah.com | (415)627-3393 |
| | Recognizing the executive's role in leading corporate transition, many firms have begun to invest in a new form of leadership development. This new approach tends to be more customized, learner-centered, and integrated with the organization's immediate strategic agenda than past efforts (Conger & Xin, 1998; Fulmer & Vicere, 1995). No longer just a forum for teaching abstract concepts or functional skills, educational programs are increasingly used as opportunities to recast worldviews of executive teams and to align the organization to a new direction. These programs facilitate efforts to communicate and implement the corporate vision, to build strategic unity throughout the company, and to create a cadre of change agents.
Despite the potential impact of these programs and their growing popularity, there have been few investigations with regard to their effectiveness as measured by perceptions of participants. This paper reports on a field-based research project which explored design effectiveness issues of one such program. The setting was a large professional services firm which was undergoing a major strategic repositioning. An educational intervention was designed to accelerate the successful implementation of the new strategy and to enhance the leadership capabilities of the firm's senior leaders. The research findings suggest that certain design elements are necessary to ensure positive outcomes from these programs. These include a well-articulated strategic framework, sophisticated assessment processes, content customized to promote strategic objectives, learning organized around executive cohorts, curriculums designed to elicit collective dialogue, trained facilitators, and active feedback processes. |
| | Keywords: Education; Leadership; Intervention |
| Real Learning For Real Life: An Integrated, Service-Learning Case Study In Turnaround Management |
| | Papamarcos, Steven D. | St. John's U. | papamars@stjohns.edu | (718) 390-4396 |
| | Service-learning links service to the community with students' academic and career goals. It challenges students through reflection and analysis to grow academically while experiencing the value of service. It differs from other forms of experiential learning in that academic advancement is not the only objective. Ideally, the academic side enhances the service side and, similarly, the service experience the academic. This paper describes a service-learning project in turnaround management recently completed by MBA students at a major northeastern university. The client organization was a not-for-profit, inner-city high school.
The analytic procedure organized the effort into five steps, each is reviewed in detail: 1) Situation Analysis; 2) Opportunity and Issue Analysis; 3) Establishment of Objectives; 4) Strategy/Action Plan Development; and, 5) Financial Forecasts. The senior administrators of the school, with the assistance of the next class of MBA students, is now in the process of implementing the recommended action programs.
By participating in this project, students developed their critical and creative thinking skills, acquired the confidence to address the complexities of "real-world" management challenges, and experienced the vagaries and responsibilities of having an actual client. They also emerged with a deep sense of having made a meaningful social contribution.
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| | Keywords: Service-Learning; Management Education; Strategy and Policy |
| Strategies of Executive Learning: A Model |
| | Wiesman, Daryl W. | Florida State U. | dww9739@garnet.acns.fsu.edu | (850) 671-3164 |
| | Anthony, William P. | Florida State U. | banthon@cob.fsu.edu | (850) 644-7844 |
| | The success and survival of organizations increasingly depend on the abilities of their top managment teams to learn and to make sense of the complexities of the ever-changing global marketplace. This paper examines four strategies employed by executives that enable them to learn and to take advantage of opportunities that support their growth and development. The four executive learning strategies include: Experience, Association, Involvement, and Direct Education. An Executive Learning Model is proposed depicting the relationship among the four strategies, placing them on a continuum from experiential learning to academic learning. |
| | Keywords: Executive Learning; Executive Education; Management Learning |
| Presentation Self-Efficacy: Increasing Managerial Skills Through Service-Learning |
| | Tucker, Mary L. | Ohio U. | tuckerm1@ohiou.edu | (740)-593-2044 |
| | McCarthy, Anne M. | Colorado State U. | mccarthy@lamar.colostate.edu | (970)-491-6876 |
| | Communication skills are consistently recognized as critical to effective job performance, career advancement, and organizational success. An important component of communication skill is the ability to present to multiple audiences. Previous research supports the importance of presentation skills as a core competence for managers. A crucial component of presentation skill is self-confidence. This research applies self-efficacy theory to determine whether the experiential nature of service-learning (SL) improves students' presentation self-confidence beyond typical classroom assignments.
By measuring students' presentation self-efficacy before and after a course with a service-learning project and comparing their scores to a control group, we were able to determine whether the service-learning project improved their sense of presentation self-efficacy. We hypothesized that students who participate in the service-learning project would experience an increase in presentation efficacy when compared to the control group. Further, students with low pretest presentation efficacy would benefit more than students with medium or high pretest efficacy.
Undergraduate business students participated in this study. Student SL teams taught five modules of economics and business concepts to elementary students. All students were required to do in-class presentations. Therefore, while students were likely to increase in presentation efficacy through classroom practice, this research isolated the impact of service-learning beyond normal classroom effects. Students participating in the SL project increased their presentation efficacy; students with low pretest presentation efficacy benefited most from the service-learning experiential exercise. Further, the increased presentation efficacy generalized to other audiences.
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| | Keywords: Presentation; Self-Efficacy; Management |