The Business Review

MBA Business Schools’ Global Best Practices: A Performance Ladder Model and Discussion of its Application to Australian MBA Business Schools

Dr. Kleanthes Yannakou, MBA Professor, Holmes Institute and Torrens University, Australia

Dr. David Robinson, MBA Professor, Holmes Institute, Australia

ABSTRACT

A benchmarking study was conducted on a sample of 20 top ranked global MBA programs, with the aims of identifying common characteristics of and strategies adopted by top ranked MBA programs globally, identifying any regional/country differences among them, developing a set of recommendations for Australian MBAs to widen the scope of their activities in post-pandemic resilience efforts. It was found that top global business schools have adopted a range of extra-curricular activities that add value to the MBA experience. The findings were then summarised and it was clear that top-tier business schools had much in common, which mainly surrounded extra-curricular attributes that add value to students. Ten such attributes were converged upon. These were then included in a model referred to as Performance Ladder, by which any business school can score itself on a five-point scale, relative to the global top performers. The Performance Ladder can be useful when business schools are setting improvement targets, and wish to monitor their progress toward them. This article includes four worked examples demonstrating the use of the Performance Ladder. MBA programs in Australia, like most of higher education, were shocked existentially by the pandemic, and after three years are setting course for a ‘new normal’ in terms of infrastructure, education dynamics, and graduate outcomes. This paper examines options for improvement, applying a validated global benchmarking instrument to a structured sample of Australian programs to bring out growth opportunities. The paper reports on research which validated a benchmarking tool, provoked empirical insight into the state of the sub-sector, and foreshadowed options for innovation and development. Australian business schools are world renowned and respected. There are thirty-five public universities and two private universities offering MBA degrees. In addition, there are several private colleges, known as Higher Education Institutes, registered and approved by the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA) to offer MBA degrees. The main difference between the university sector and the private higher education sector rests in the extent of facilities, research focus and extra-curricular activities, which are more extensive in public institutions.

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Raising Awareness of AI: What it is, What it is Not, Impact on Accounting Profession

Dr. Farrell Gean, Pepperdine University, CA

Dr. Fred Petro, Pepperdine University, CA

Virginia Gean, California Lutheran University, CA

ABSTRACT

Disagreement and controversy seem to be widespread over the nature and definition of artificial intelligence, hereafter referred to as AI. These differences over the definition of AI have led to a variety of myths about the impact this unclear concept has and will continue to have increasingly on the practice and education of accounting. Based upon a review of relevant literature, this paper will first present some of the more generally accepted definitions of AI. Following a discussion of the attributes of AI, some of the misunderstandings or myths that have developed in both the practice of accountancy and accounting education will be set forth. The paper will then describe some of the teaching methodologies that are being used in accounting education to debunk the AI myths that currently surround the accounting profession. These pedagogical changes are turning the negative characterizations of AI into positive benefits to accounting education. The authors agree that a study of this type should begin logically with an examination of the concept of intelligence itself. This is partly based upon the responses given by accounting practitioners and professors during casual conversation. The recurring opinion expressed was how can one study the artificiality of intelligence without some general understanding of the essence of intelligence itself? Sources consulted reflect a consensus that different definitions of intelligence share three characteristics in common. The first being that they all share the fact that intelligence is a property of some agent that interacts with the environment, second that intelligence is usually indicative of that agent’s ability to succeed at a particular task or stated goal, and third that there is an emphasis on learning, adaptation, and flexibility within a wide range of environments and scenarios. These fundamental attributes of intelligence may be summarized succinctly by claiming that intelligence is the ability to detect small goals that need to be achieved given very dynamic environments. Armed with this three-prong definition of intelligence, the next step was to investigate the alternative definitions of attempts to create artificially this cornerstone of the human condition. One of the simplistic definitions discovered was AI is a non-human intelligence that is measured by its ability to recreate certain human skills. Another definition of AI states that artificial intelligence is the field of study devoted to making machines intelligent. Thirdly, AI is conceptualized as something that is devised into machines within a program that can learn, reason, and auto-correct. Machines with artificial intelligence can perform speech recognition, perception, learning, reasoning, planning, and problem solving. Some of these skills include: pattern recognition, understanding natural language, learning adaptively from experience, reasoning about other people or things, and strategizing.

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Case Study - Company Dispute Resolution By Means of an Integrated Approach Involving Managerial Mentoring, Management Development Workshops, and Cross-Functional Team Projects

James Crowe, Associate Dean, Holmes Institute, Australia

Dr. David Robinson, Professor, Holmes Institute, Australia

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to document and illustrate a consulting project in the form of a case study. The case study explains the processes that were implemented in a manufacturing firm, located in a host country (Vietnam), to which the home country corporate head office (France) had recently appointed a home-country ex-patriate general manager (GM). Faced with opposition to the organisational changes the new GM attempted to mandate, the corporate office found themselves questioning the wisdom of the acquisition and the GM’s appointment. Hence, they initially sought guidance by commissioning an external ‘social audit’ with the aim of fact-finding, which was followed by a proposal being generated by that project team to resolve the dispute using an integrated approach, which included management development, GM mentoring, and a series of team-based operational projects, over a ten-month duration. The case study introduces several models that were used in the project and reports on the processes implemented and results achieved. This case study could be beneficial to consultants, trainers, coaches, mentors, students of business management and leadership and ex patriot managers of multinational companies. The Academy of Business Acumen (The Academy) was approached by the French holding company of a Vietnam-based subsidiary, which had been experiencing conflict between the established management team and the newly-appointed CEO, which had escalated and resulted in the resignation of three key personnel. Several symptoms were apparent but the root cause was uncertain. It was presumed that there had been poor interaction between the newly-appointed general manager (French) & the employees (Vietnamese). The firm was suffering from a lack of innovation which manifested as poor results from the research and development team. Quality had also waned and the R&D manager had resigned. The new general manager appeared to have a dictatorial and aggressive style that did not sit well with the locals, who felt that adaptation was needed. Specifically, it was felt that their concerns went unheard. Some felt that the GM was either ‘looking down’ on Vietnamese people or just had weak interpersonal skills. Furthermore, it appeared that the GM’s assistant was becoming too forthright in taking decisions beyond her technical capability or the extent of her actual authority. Basically, they were losing trust in the new GM and felt disempowered. Additionally, the human resources function at the Vietnam factory seemed to have become ineffective. Employees had no clear job descriptions and the working atmosphere could be described as ‘heavy’. People were confused and had their doubts about the future. Some felt that there were too many meetings, yet employees felt they had ‘no voice’ and there was a lack of focus on the people side of the business.

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Job demands and Nurses’ Intention to Stay in Saudi Arabia

Dr. Abdullah Ghaleb Alshareef, University of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the relationship between the Job demand, job control, job difficulty, and job satisfaction on nurses’ intention to stay in Saudi private hospitals. A cross-sectional survey design was used in this research. Data were collected using a survey questionnaire comprising four sections (intent to stay, demographic characteristics, Job demand, job control, job difficulty, job satisfaction, and open-ended questions). The sample consisted of 345 nurses in private hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Structural equation modelling was conducted to examine key relationships. Qualitative analysis of the open-ended questions was also undertaken. The analysis of the main survey indicates that intention to stay of nurses is influenced by workload, Job demand, job control and job satisfaction. Furthermore, job satisfaction was negatively affected by job demands and job control but was positively affected by job difficulty. Another important finding was that nurse who worked day shift perceived higher job difficulty while nurses who worked 12 hours shift felt that they had higher job demand and less cob control. The evidence from this study suggests that decrease job demand may increase intention to stay among nurses in health system. In general, it seems that the availability of a floating system and heavy workloads are a greater issue for nurses than expected and it is therefore essential there is an increased awareness of these issues. Numerous studies (Bogaert et al., 2013; Hayward et al., 2016) have linked nurses’ intention to leave with work environment factors, such as feeling overworked, shift work, and the physical requirements of the job. In the nursing field, the concept of job demand is an important driving factor of work-related stress. Job demand (heavy workload) can lead to stress in the nursing workplace and can occur as a result of a high nurse-to-patient ratio or work that is too physically demanding. Moreover, in the health field, several studies (e.g. Roelen, Koopmans, & Groothoff, 2008) have shown that registered nurses perceive a higher job demand as leading to less job satisfaction. Today’s working environment for the nursing workforce contains many challenges, such as high workloads and long working hours, which are often characterised by multiple shifts. Thus, as healthcare providers in the current climate require nurses to work longer hours, it is more difficult for nurses to have effective personal time or time outside of the profession (Lobburi, 2012). Further, healthcare organisations frequently experience scheduling issues which can affect nursing experience and performance. For example, when nurses are scheduled to work unpredictable shifts, there can be difficulties in accomplishing all task and duties. A combination of these factors pressures nurses into believing that they need to leave or look for other positions that will provide greater flexibility and reliability in their schedules. This suggests that if healthcare organisations provided better working environments and greater flexibility with their nursing schedules, fewer nurses would consider leaving their positions (Brewer, Kovner, Yingrengreung, & Djukic, 2012).

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