…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!

Rigor? or Relevance? …in your MBA

This is a thorny issue, so, let's tackle it head-on. In a spirit of full disclosure, I have a double stake on this theme, because I earned an MBA and I have been teaching in various MBA programs for some time. I am interested in your reactions and your experiences; as I stated in last month's column, please contact me via email, regular mail, or any way you want! (My email to keep track of this column is: drolivaslujan@gmail.com or you may post comments directly below.) The basic topic this month is: Have you found rigor or relevance in your MBA studies? Let me explain what I mean.

A debate that has been running among academic circles for at least some sixty years is whether Business Schools should be rigorous or relevant. You may have read periodicals like The Economist, BusinessWeek, Newsweek, and other publications dedicated to practicing managers adding to the debate at times, bringing scathing criticism to the work that is being done in many business schools around the nation.

Herbert Simon, 1978 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences wrote about business education in the 1950s that it was "a wasteland of vocationalism that needed to be transformed into science-based professionalism." He was advocating the use of scientific methods in business, steering business schools away from the "apprenticeship" or "commerce school" models that used to train office managers, private accountants, administrative assistants and salespeople before business schools became prevalent at the university level. Seeking rigor in their work, academicians were successful in bringing ideas and methods from the "basic" sciences like Psychology, Economics, Social Psychology, Sociology, even Anthropology, History and some Natural Sciences into business schools.

However, many suggest that they went too far in making business schools "rigorous" and scientific, to the point of irrelevance! Most of the research reports that appear in the most prestigious journals are considered unreadable, inappropriate, esoteric, or downright useless by the managers that have to make daily decisions to compete in our business environment. The questions addressed by such articles, the techniques used and their writing style is sometimes seen as “pontificating” or of no consequence for the manager needs advice on a given area such as what is the best way to dismiss an employee or salvage a deteriorating work relationship.

In 1994, Donald Hambrick, President of the Academy of Management –arguably the most influential association of Management researchers in the world—lamented the lack of relevance of the association. Since that time, several of his successors have followed suit, expressing their disappointment with the research that many business schools produce and the lack of professionalism of many of their graduates.

I am sure you have read relatively recent articles in the popular press that not only echo these thoughts, but even blame (at least partially) business schools for the lack of ethical training demonstrated by managers at Enron, Tyco, Adelphia, Parmalat, and others like these. Without entering the debate on business ethics at this time (Let’s talk about… that sometime in the future, shall we?), I would like to ask you to reflect on those MBA classes you are taking (or took sometime ago) and write your thoughts on any of the following ideas (or at least think about them):

• What type(s) of rigor do you see in your MBA classes? How do you recognize it? Is it in the application of the scientific method? In the use of theories, algorithms, systematic procedures, models, statistics, etc.? Something else?
• Have you found relevance in the lectures, exercises, projects, presentations, papers, and so on? If so, how? Where and when have you been able to apply what you learned during your MBA?
• What would be your suggestions to improve the status quo? Does this debate resonate with your feelings and experiences?
• If you have been so lucky to find rigor and relevance in your MBA (or at least one of the two), please let me know!

Excluding the possibility that I receive a deluge of responses, I will be happy to include your name and institution in a future column. Also, if you are interested in the bibliography I used in preparation for this month’s column, don’t hesitate to contact me. I look forward to reading your thoughts!