Time to be grateful? Or pro-active?

Indeed, these are interesting times. Many say it’s a time to be grateful that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania reduced its financial support by “only 18%” –as opposed to 54% that was originally proposed. Also, it’s time to be glad that the collective bargaining agreement that governs the employment relations between faculty and coaches has not been re-negotiated; what can we expect when the first move by the faculty negotiators was to offer –not even accept—a salary freeze for the next academic year! Time to be grateful that we have jobs, right? After all, unemployment has kept stubbornly above 9% in the past months! (For details, click here.)

But, before we accept this common wisdom, take whatever the Commonwealth and the union offer and resign ourselves to a new contract with salary raises that barely match inflation (if at all!), I suggest we check some of the assumptions behind all of this gratefulness we, faculty members should have.

First of all, while it’s true that national unemployment has remained at the highest level of the decade, I believe we should examine some evidence. Consider the graph in the following link (the Bureau of Labor Statistics will probably be changing it to the most current figures as time goes by):

http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm

This figure also clearly ties to us, as faculty, in a number of ways. First, it clearly shows that what we do as teachers has significant economic (as well as cultural and intellectual) value for our students and our state --and we need to remember that and remind others of it. Moreover, this figure demonstrates that, for individuals with faculty-level qualifications, the average unemployment rate in 2010 can be as low as 1.9% for doctoral degree holders or as high as 4.0 for colleagues with only a master’s. It turns out that all those years in school, student loans, etc. do pay off!

Now, before you conclude that I’m suggesting we should all pack up and find jobs in private universities –since our state government is evidently uninterested in continuing to support rural higher education—, I will acknowledge that faculty mobility is not high, especially once one has achieved tenure. Instead, we have to be proactive in these difficult times.

I believe we must start by looking after our own basic needs. Trying to do “more with less” –or even “the same!’’—may be not only insulting, but also dangerous to our health. I already see some colleagues taking on increased workloads as a result of frozen hiring, coupled with recent retirements, smaller budgets for temporary positions, student workers, etc. Burnout may be right around the corner if we don’t take appropriate measures (see Ms. Scholar's column for suggestions clicking here).

Next, our professional development and commitment to research cannot stop! Unless there is a sudden change of heart in Harrisburg, it is quite likely that this is only the first of four, perhaps eight years of reductions in state support for our schools. We must continue to grow professionally. We also need to continue using and honing the rarest and potentially most valuable of our skills, the ability to do research. Not only do publications improve our individual résumés and collective reputation, they might be one of the strongest ways in which we differentiate our university from organizations that charge lower fees but simply cannot offer students what we can when we stay current in our fields. If our skills and reputation take a hit in the next few years, we will be unable to convince the shrinking student population that our university is worth attending, or find alternate sources of employment, should the need arise.

I am sure there are other ways to be proactive in these difficult times. If we work together to be proactive, we can be grateful to each other. I hope we do inspire and help each other find ways in which we will not only survive but thrive during these interesting times.

…my new “Ba-B-JHR”!

Many times I’ve heard authors talk about their latest publication as “their baby” –in fact, I have used this metaphor several times, especially when I show the results of my efforts with colleagues or friends, after months of thinking, writing, analyzing, submitting manuscripts and responding to reviewers and editors.  Well, a few days ago, I received my newest “baby,” the “ba-BJHR” or Business Journal of Hispanic Research, first issue of its fifth volume, and I can hardly wait for opportunities to talk about it!

The funny thing is that I only wrote one page in this issue.  But I can tell you that I spent many more hours, energy and effort as Editor-in-Chief of this issue than I have for many other publications, even those in which I am single or first author.  Coordinating the efforts of twenty-six highly qualified individuals who so conscientiously wrote their manuscripts to be scrutinized by our editorial boards –another forty, highly qualified, well known individuals from industry and academia—and several ad-hoc reviewers is an experience in interdependence that I had never had before.  I sure hope that many conscientious managers and researchers will agree with us that this issue is full of helpful, relevant advice, distilled through rigorous methodologies.

I believe that this is one of the clearest ways in which NSHMBA distinguishes itself from other organizations that only have a yearly event or two to serve their stakeholders! And this is one that creates a tangible legacy for generations to come!

Let me share with you how this journal is different from other business publications.  First and foremost, most of the authors are highly trained individuals: you will notice in its index and Contributors section that all have finished graduate school and most –over 80%--have doctorates.  Secondly, there are five sections in this journal, three of them written mainly for the thoughtful manager who wants her or his practice to stay away from fads and “intellectual snake oil” –the Executive Articles, Summaries, and Book Reviews—and the other two sections –the Academic or Scholarly Articles and the Research in Progress—are written mainly for business scientists and researchers, who report their work in a more technical fashion.  All the content is intended to document how Hispanics in business have different sets of circumstances than the rest of our society, and provide information that will not just be rigorously distilled, but also highly usable.  Lastly, while the BJHR, like most journals, is distributed through libraries and electronic databases, it is also sent directly to NSHMBA’s sponsors and partners, both academic and industrial; to chapter presidents and to subscribers.  This increases the chances that it will be read and used actively, not just found occasionally.

Contributions

Have you ever noticed how some blue-collar workers seem to be more stressed than others?  Dr. Carol Howard and her co-authors from Oklahoma City University and from the U. of Tennessee -Knoxville surveyed not just workers but also their supervisors to examine whether ethnical matches made any difference on job stress and burnout.  They found measurable differences in stress levels, on burnout and on intent to turnover, but Hispanics appeared to be more vulnerable to ethnic mismatches than their Anglo counterparts; for that reason, they recommend a focus on job design for Anglo workers and on perceived ethnic fit for Hispanic workers.  But don’t take my word for it; read the full article on pp. 54-71 so you can draw your own conclusions!

You might also have noticed that some organizations have Diversity Management initiatives that are readily accepted, whereas other organizations struggle to find support for them, even among the employees that are expected to benefit.  Dr. Richard Herrera from Texas A&M in Texarkana and his collaborators from Our Lady of the Lake and UT-Dallas have been able to find empirical support for a number of relationships that link cultural descriptors with leadership preferences and ratings of diversity management.  Among their recommendations, Human Resource and other managers of people might do well by promoting a collectivistic rather than individualistic culture to increase the acceptability of their diversity practices.  Again, I invite you to read the full report on pp. 72-85.

Now, if you have been following the debates over illegal immigration and how the local and state debates may impact businesses –hey, your business might have experienced some of these concerns!—you will be interested in a case study that Dr. Mark D’Antonio and his colleagues from Northern Virginia Community College wrote.  This review of the legal precedents and justification for Affirmative Action programs, not just for compliance but from a competitive advantage perspective will put you –or your trainees—in the driver’s seat.  In addition to the case printed on pp. 86-97, there is a full set of teaching notes available from the Managing Editor of the BJHR; they are free for qualified instructors with a current subscription to the BJHR, but others who are not so close to NSHMBA may also purchase the teaching notes in electronic or print form.

Our Executive sections include articles on entrepreneurs and services offered to them, on academy-business collaborations and academic inequality, a couple of summaries that address differences on Hispanics’ happiness and job-related stress levels, in addition to two reviews of highly relevant books.  From well-known to recently minted academics from universities like Indiana, Tulane, UT-San Antonio, Saint Xavier, Quinnipiac, Marymount, and Clarion are present in these articles.

And, did I mention that NSHMBA Premier and Executive members have online access to the electronic version of the journal included as a benefit of their membership?  All you need to do is login to the NSHMBA site and continue your professional development through reading and internalizing the information in this multi-disciplinary effort by businesspersons and academics.  As always, I look forward to hearing from you via email or through my social networking pages (please remember to let me know that you’re a fellow NSHMBA member if you send me a connection request).

¡Hasta la próxima!

…repetition –luxury or necessity?

Somehow, it had become easy for me to look down on repetition. Visiting manufacturing plants or observing jobs that are not so high in the prestige scale made it hard for me to appreciate the importance of repetition in developing expertise. In classrooms, workshops, and offices, work that is complex, wide-ranging and varied tends to be associated with higher levels of cognitive complexity, education, pay, status, and so on. Rarely do we have a chance in organizations to appreciate the importance of repetition. Sometimes, we might even think it is a luxury we cannot afford!

Remember your coursework that included quality management? Or, if you haven’t yet taken Operations Management or a related course, you will soon read that “re-doing things is waste”! Even the dictionary tells us that “repetitive” is a synonym of “boring, dull, monotonous, tedious, tiresome, and uninteresting.” Not exactly what we would consider graduate level work, right? At least not in the School of Business…

But that is perhaps a major difference between a graduate program in Business and another in, say, Fine Arts or Health Sciences, where students have to practice, practice, practice, before they are allowed to pass from the basic to the advanced stages, much less graduate.

A Lesson from my Children

For the past four or so years, I have been taking my children to music classes (not at the graduate, but basic level) and to martial arts classes. I guess I had forgotten how I learned to play the guitar, and all the time I spent in front of the piano...

Well, before my body’s catabolism clearly beats its anabolism (i.e., before I get much older!), I decided it was time to join them at the gym (actually, dojang, is the Korean word for it). After about fifteen weeks of repeating specific sets of movements –or “forms”—I hope to get my first promotion and receive my first colored belt in a week or two.

In addition, I have been realizing how my children’s musical abilities have improved by virtue of reiteration. I do not even want to remember how the violin sounded whey they were starting “twinkle, twinkle, little star…,” but now it is hard to be humble when they play some classical selections, in arrangements suitable for their age! This has made me wonder… When do managers have chances to get better at work, if most managerial work is not repetitive? Moreover, how difficult it is to appreciate the necessity to do many times the same thing before we can truly master it! Is repetition at work truly a luxury, or is it a necessity?

Well, Parts of Managerial Work Are Repetitive...

Before I start receiving a flurry of email or comments on my facebook profile for ignoring how some managerial work actually involves reiteration, I should include an example or two. Some HR managers have to interview dozens –if not hundreds—of candidates before their companies’ line managers interview or consider those applicants in the hiring process. Also, it is true that MBAs with Accounting or Finance specializations include generating relatively similar reports every quarter, end-of-year, or other term. In Marketing, some colleagues go through well-established seasons of heavy advertising, promotions, distribution, etc. every year. Clearly, going over such cycles every so often, gives them an opportunity to learn and execute their jobs in an increasingly effective fashion. Perhaps your work includes some of this?

In Higher Education, we also run through well-defined periods of time (a.k.a. semesters, quarters, terms, etc.) that require repetition and afford learning opportunities, not just for students, but also for instructors, administrators, etc. Of course, there is the need to renew and update courses and procedures every semester, but individuals that do it too often, end up never consolidating their work in a manner that truly benefits their students or other clients.

What do you think? Do you feel that your work gives you enough repetition so that you can get better at it? Perhaps your work is one in which reiteration is actually a luxury that you cannot afford. Would you mind sharing your thoughts on this matter? You can send me your comments or reflections via email to drolivaslujan_at_gmail.com or by posting a comment on my facebook profile (I am also test-driving twitter -@drolivas is my username). I look forward to hearing from you.

¡Hasta la próxima!

...déjà vu

This month I am visiting my grandparents' home state, Chihuahua. It has been several years since I last visited my extended family in Mexico and this year I found an airfare that was too good to resist. Besides, my wife and I are raising our kids in a bilingual manner, and there is no amount of schooling, TV watching or web-browsing in Spanish that can substitute for a few weeks immersed in using the language "live," especially when surrounded by the love of relatives and friends from old times.

As you may imagine (or experienced!), walking around the streets where my ancestors grew up -streets and roads I also have traveled several times throughout my life--, often gives the feeling that we know as "déjà vu." These French words literally mean "already seen" but the experience involves all senses, not just the sight. These days I have perceived the smell of a farm that reminds me of my grandfather milking his cows; I have enjoyed the flavor of "requesón," a fresh and creamy type of cheese that you simply cannot find in any modern supermarket, as it has to be consumed very shortly after it is produced. My skin, which is hardly used to the cold and dry Northeastern US winter weather, shows more moisture than I have felt since the warm summer days ended in Pennsylvania; and my ears listen to old jingles and songs that I used to know very well a few decades ago.

In Foreign Relations

In addition to the senses, my mind is also engaged by interesting recollections that might not be very scientific but help me make sense of recent events. For example, browsing some old magazines in the family library, I recalled how José López Portillo, Mexican president from 1976 through 1982 bragged about how his government would have to "manage abundance" (administrar la abundancia) -after Mexico's petroleum exports increased from $500 million in 1976 to $13 billion in 1981. During those "petrodollar-happy" years, López Portillo defied the United States' positions several times, including recognizing the "Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front" rebels in El Salvador as a legitimate political force, or ignoring the 1980 US-led boycott of the Moscow Summer Olympic games. Around the time he left office in 1982, however, oil prices had dropped from over $40 per barrel to less than $30. Other problems like hyper-inflation and excessive foreign debt also plagued the economy to the point that many investors started pulling their money and López Portillo nationalized all banks before he left office in tears, apologizing for having failed the country's poor.

If you can identify current strong men in some national economies that were boisterous a few months ago when the barrel of oil was nearing $150 per barrel and now that we are in the $40's have changed their discourse, you understand why I get the "déjà vu" feeling as I read these magazines.

In National Politics

Another set of readings for which I see very strong parallels involve the election of Vicente Fox in the year 2000, the first president of Mexico that was not from the PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional), the party that had been ruling the country since the 1920s. One of the major slogans was "¡Sí se puede!" (Yes, we can!) and the expectations for the new president were so high in 2000, at the beginning of the presidency, that many voters felt betrayed when their particular agenda items were not fulfilled as it was originally expected.

Again, I see so many parallels between the election of Barack Obama this year and Vicente Fox in 2000 that I would hope that somebody close to the President-elect is able to provide the advise needed to avoid many disappointments. Of course, just as with financial instruments, past performance is no guarantee of future earnings, and there certainly are many major differences among the countries and the actors. Still, paraphrasing Spanish-born, American philosopher and poet George Santayana, "Those who cannot learn from others' past are condemned to repeat it."

I certainly hope that this New Year brings along much better news than what we saw in the previous one. As always, I look forward to hearing from you via email (drolivaslujan@gmail.com) or through your comments to this blog (http://drolivaslujan.blogspot.com).

¡Hasta la próxima!