Mary K. Foster

A reflection on the relative merits of three modes of teaching (in-person, remote/synchronously online, and flex (in-person and synchronous online combined). Learned that the merits of an instructional mode may vary by the learning objectives and learning activities of a course.

This exercise is designed to introduce business students to the concept of implicit theories, a foundational concept for individuals and organizations interested in developing more effective learners. This easy-to-implement exercise can be used in any type of management course, with any level of student; it is best positioned at the beginning of the semester. This exercise engages students cognitively and emotionally at the individual, team, and class levels. Personal reflection and… Mehr zeigen

This exercise is designed to introduce business students to the concept of implicit theories, a foundational concept for individuals and organizations interested in developing more effective learners. This easy-to-implement exercise can be used in any type of management course, with any level of student; it is best positioned at the beginning of the semester. This exercise engages students cognitively and emotionally at the individual, team, and class levels. Personal reflection and storytelling are used to identify mindsets in practice. A brief video introduces content about mindsets via a shared experience. Small-group discussions facilitate peer teaching about mindsets in action. Class discussion is used to showcase meaningful stories, explore connections between student experiences and mindset concepts, and allow students to share how their thinking about learning has evolved. A reflection assignment helps students consolidate their learning. Supplemental materials are available here (e.g., slides, worksheets, etc.): http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/2379298120930352 Weniger anzeigen

n an interview with Dr Mary Foster, Mr Steven Rogers, Finance Instructor at the Harvard Business School (HBS), discussed his views on diversity, inclusion and the value of teaching cases which feature black protagonists. Mr Rogers estimates that fewer than 1 percent of HBS’ 10,000 or so teaching cases feature a black executive as protagonist, or central decision-making figure, despite US Census estimates that about 9 percent of US companies are now black-owned. Mr Rogers decided to address this… Mehr zeigen

n an interview with Dr Mary Foster, Mr Steven Rogers, Finance Instructor at the Harvard Business School (HBS), discussed his views on diversity, inclusion and the value of teaching cases which feature black protagonists. Mr Rogers estimates that fewer than 1 percent of HBS’ 10,000 or so teaching cases feature a black executive as protagonist, or central decision-making figure, despite US Census estimates that about 9 percent of US companies are now black-owned. Mr Rogers decided to address this imbalance; he has lead the development of 24 business cases featuring African-American business people over the last two years. Weniger anzeigen

This quick start guide provides a tutorial on how to review teaching cases and the associated instructor’s manual or teaching note. The purpose of this guide is to help develop the confidence and skill of novice reviewers and refresh and refocus experienced reviewers. Case writers may also use this guide to anticipate peer reviewer feedback and assess or refine their cases before submitting them to a journal. Reviewing is essential to the Academy – without peer reviews there would be no peer… Mehr zeigen

This quick start guide provides a tutorial on how to review teaching cases and the associated instructor’s manual or teaching note. The purpose of this guide is to help develop the confidence and skill of novice reviewers and refresh and refocus experienced reviewers. Case writers may also use this guide to anticipate peer reviewer feedback and assess or refine their cases before submitting them to a journal. Reviewing is essential to the Academy – without peer reviews there would be no peer reviewed journal articles, a pillar of the tenure process. Reviewing is also a valuable way to learn, to keep current in a field and to be a good citizen – contributing to one’s professional community. This guide will help scholars become even more effective reviewers, writers and contributors to the Academy. Weniger anzeigen

Design thinking—understanding the human needs related to a problem, reframing the problem in human-centric ways, creating many ideas in brainstorming sessions, and adopting a hands-on approach to prototyping and testing—offers a complementary approach to the rational problem-solving methods typically emphasized in business schools. Business school instructors may perceive design thinking, a relatively new and complex multistep, iterative process, to be beyond their capabilities or time/resource… Mehr zeigen

Design thinking—understanding the human needs related to a problem, reframing the problem in human-centric ways, creating many ideas in brainstorming sessions, and adopting a hands-on approach to prototyping and testing—offers a complementary approach to the rational problem-solving methods typically emphasized in business schools. Business school instructors may perceive design thinking, a relatively new and complex multistep, iterative process, to be beyond their capabilities or time/resource constraints. This experiential exercise provides a relatively easy, low-investment approach to incorporating an overview of design thinking into any course. With minimal instructor preparation, participants can have a positive experience using design thinking to solve a real problem, consuming as little as an hour of class time. This activity is suitable for undergraduate and graduate courses in any business discipline. The provided lesson plan, slides, and workbook make it easy to facilitate students’ experience of the design thinking process. Weniger anzeigen

AfrobitLink Ltd was an information technology (IT) firm with headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria. AfrobitLink started as a very small IT firm with less than two dozen staff. Within a few years of its founding, AfrobitLink established itself as a dependable organization known for delivering high-quality IT services. However, starting in 2004, AfrobitLink experienced rapid growth as it expanded to serve the telecommunications firms taking advantage of the deregulated market. This rapid expansion… Mehr zeigen

AfrobitLink Ltd was an information technology (IT) firm with headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria. AfrobitLink started as a very small IT firm with less than two dozen staff. Within a few years of its founding, AfrobitLink established itself as a dependable organization known for delivering high-quality IT services. However, starting in 2004, AfrobitLink experienced rapid growth as it expanded to serve the telecommunications firms taking advantage of the deregulated market. This rapid expansion resulted in many challenges for AfrobitLink. The firm rapidly expanded into all 36 states in Nigeria, hiring a manager to oversee the company’s operations in each of the states. Poor hiring practices, inadequate training, excessive spans of control, low accountability, a subjective reward system, and other cultural issues, such as a relaxed attitude to time, resulted in low motivation, high employee turnover, poor customer service, and financial losses. By 2013, the firm was operating at a loss and its reputation was in shambles. Generally, the culture was toxic: employees did not identify with the firm or care about its goals, there were no performance standards, employees were not held accountable, self-interest and discrimination prevailed. The organization was in a downward spiral. Consultants were hired to help sort out the firm’s problems but these efforts yielded few results. Ken Wilson, the founder’s son, was hired in 2014 as VP of Administration to help get the firm back on track. As a change agent, Ken had to decide how to address the issues facing the firm and how to achieve profitable growth.
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This case may be used to illustrate, analyze, and evaluate the selection process and interviewing approaches (e.g. behavioral interviewing). The importance of selection, best practices for selection, candidate assessment methods, best practices for candidate interviews, and common biases which affect the fairness of selection processes are reviewed.

We propose an extension of the Hollenbeck, Beersma, and Schouten team context model to include a fourth dimension: virtuality—the distance between team members. Based on an analysis of 29 unique approaches to conceptualizing virtuality and a critical comparison of these approaches with the Hollenbeck et al. framework, we recommend that virtuality be measured, along with skill differentiation, authority differentiation, and temporal stability when conducting team research. We conclude that the… Mehr zeigen

We propose an extension of the Hollenbeck, Beersma, and Schouten team context model to include a fourth dimension: virtuality—the distance between team members. Based on an analysis of 29 unique approaches to conceptualizing virtuality and a critical comparison of these approaches with the Hollenbeck et al. framework, we recommend that virtuality be measured, along with skill differentiation, authority differentiation, and temporal stability when conducting team research. We conclude that the addition of this redefined construct, virtuality, is warranted based on the following: (a) its uniqueness versus the other dimensions, (b) its impact on team outcomes, and (c) the moderating or interaction effects between virtuality and the other contextual dimensions.

http://sgr.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/02/25/1046496415573795.full.pdf?ijkey=XLCwewOndV00DC7&keytype=finite
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This methods-in-action case explores data collection for team research projects. This field study was designed to assess the degree of virtuality of teams in organizations and to determine what, if any, impact virtuality has on team effectiveness. Research methods included the use of an online survey and an innovative, respondent-centric, self-select network approach to collecting data from teams. The unique design, measurement, and data collection considerations associated with research about… Mehr zeigen

This methods-in-action case explores data collection for team research projects. This field study was designed to assess the degree of virtuality of teams in organizations and to determine what, if any, impact virtuality has on team effectiveness. Research methods included the use of an online survey and an innovative, respondent-centric, self-select network approach to collecting data from teams. The unique design, measurement, and data collection considerations associated with research about teams are discussed and illustrated via the case. A checklist for data collection procedures when conducting team research is included. Weniger anzeigen

The movement toward accountable care organizations and patient-centered medical homes will increase with implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA will therefore give further impetus to the growing importance of teams in health care. Teams typically involve 2 or more people embedded in a larger social system who differentiate their roles, share common goals, interact with each other, and perform tasks affecting others. Multiple team types fit within this definition, and they all… Mehr zeigen

The movement toward accountable care organizations and patient-centered medical homes will increase with implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA will therefore give further impetus to the growing importance of teams in health care. Teams typically involve 2 or more people embedded in a larger social system who differentiate their roles, share common goals, interact with each other, and perform tasks affecting others. Multiple team types fit within this definition, and they all need support from leadership to succeed. Teams have been invoked as a necessary tool to address the needs of patients with multiple chronic conditions and to address medical workforce shortages. Invoking teams, however, is much easier than making them function effectively, so we need to consider the implications of the growing emphasis on teams. Although the ACA will spur team development, organizational leadership must use what we know now to train, support, and incentivize team function. Meanwhile, we must also advance research regarding teams in health care to give those leaders more evidence to guide their work. Weniger anzeigen

This summary reflects on this monograph regarding multilevel intervention (MLI) research to 1) assess its added value; 2) discuss what has been learned to date about its challenges in cancer care delivery; and 3) identify specific ways to improve its scientific soundness, feasibility, policy relevance, and research agenda. The 12 submitted chapters, and discussion of them at the March 2011 multilevel meeting, were reviewed and discussed among the authors to elicit key findings and results… Mehr zeigen

This summary reflects on this monograph regarding multilevel intervention (MLI) research to 1) assess its added value; 2) discuss what has been learned to date about its challenges in cancer care delivery; and 3) identify specific ways to improve its scientific soundness, feasibility, policy relevance, and research agenda. The 12 submitted chapters, and discussion of them at the March 2011 multilevel meeting, were reviewed and discussed among the authors to elicit key findings and results addressing the questions raised at the outset of this effort. MLI research is underrepresented as an explicit focus in the cancer literature but may improve implementation of studies of cancer care delivery if they assess contextual, organizational, and environmental factors important to understanding behavioral and/or system-level interventions. The field lacks a single unifying theory, although several psychological or biological theories are useful, and an ecological model helps conceptualize and communicate interventions. MLI research designs are often complex, involving nonlinear and nonhierarchical relationships that may not be optimally studied in randomized designs. Simulation modeling and pilot studies may be necessary to evaluate MLI interventions. Measurement and evaluation of team and organizational interventions are especially needed in cancer care, as are attention to the context of health-care reform, eHealth technology, and genomics-based medicine. Future progress in MLI research requires greater attention to developing and supporting relevant metrics of level effects and interactions and evaluating MLI interventions. MLI research holds an unrealized promise for understanding how to improve cancer care delivery. Weniger anzeigen

Background: Multilevel intervention research holds the promise of more accurately representing real-life situations and, thus, with proper research design and measurement approaches, facilitating effective and efficient resolution of health-care system challenges. However, taking a multilevel approach to cancer care interventions creates both measurement challenges and opportunities.

Methods: One-thousand seventy two cancer care articles from 2005 to 2010 were reviewed to examine the… Mehr zeigen

Background: Multilevel intervention research holds the promise of more accurately representing real-life situations and, thus, with proper research design and measurement approaches, facilitating effective and efficient resolution of health-care system challenges. However, taking a multilevel approach to cancer care interventions creates both measurement challenges and opportunities.

Methods: One-thousand seventy two cancer care articles from 2005 to 2010 were reviewed to examine the state of measurement in the multilevel intervention cancer care literature. Ultimately, 234 multilevel articles, 40 involving cancer care interventions, were identified. Additionally, literature from health services, social psychology, and organizational behavior was reviewed to identify measures that might be useful in multilevel intervention research.

Results: The vast majority of measures used in multilevel cancer intervention studies were individual level measures. Group-, organization-, and community-level measures were rarely used. Discussion of the independence, validity, and reliability of measures was scant.

Discussion: Measurement issues may be especially complex when conducting multilevel intervention research. Measurement considerations that are associated with multilevel intervention research include those related to independence, reliability, validity, sample size, and power. Furthermore, multilevel intervention research requires identification of key constructs and measures by level and consideration of interactions within and across levels. Thus, multilevel intervention research benefits from thoughtful theory-driven planning and design, an interdisciplinary approach, and mixed methods measurement and analysis. Weniger anzeigen

Health care in the United States is notoriously expensive while often failing to deliver the care recommended in published guidelines. There is a need to consider our approach to health-care delivery. Cancer care is a good example for consideration because it spans the continuum of health-care issues from primary prevention through long-term survival and end-of-life care. In this monograph, we emphasize that health-care delivery occurs in a multilevel system that includes organizations, teams… Mehr zeigen

Health care in the United States is notoriously expensive while often failing to deliver the care recommended in published guidelines. There is a need to consider our approach to health-care delivery. Cancer care is a good example for consideration because it spans the continuum of health-care issues from primary prevention through long-term survival and end-of-life care. In this monograph, we emphasize that health-care delivery occurs in a multilevel system that includes organizations, teams, and individuals. To achieve health-care delivery consistent with the Institute of Medicine's six quality aims (safety, effectiveness, timeliness, efficiency, patient-centeredness, and equity), we must influence multiple levels of that multilevel system. The notion that multiple levels of contextual influence affect behaviors through interdependent interactions is a well-established ecological view. This view has been used to analyze health-care delivery and health disparities. However, experience considering multilevel interventions in health care is much less robust. This monograph includes 13 chapters relevant to expanding the foundation of research for multilevel interventions in health-care delivery. Subjects include clinical cases of multilevel thinking in health-care delivery, the state of knowledge regarding multilevel interventions, study design and measurement considerations, methods for combining interventions, time as a consideration in the evaluation of effects, measurement of effects, simulations, application of multilevel thinking to health-care systems and disparities, and implementation of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Our goal is to outline an agenda to proceed with multilevel intervention research, not because it guarantees improvement in our current approach to health care, but because ignoring the complexity of the multilevel environment in which care occurs has not achieved the desired improvements in care quality outlined by the Institute of Medicine. Weniger anzeigen

The use of virtual teams is widespread and growing in importance. Yet, our knowledge about virtual teams has lagged behind their use. In research, virtual teams have often been treated as undifferentiated entities, resulting in a lack of comparability between studies, inconsistent findings, and an inability to replicate findings.
I argue that the virtual versus face-to-face team dichotomy is a false dichotomy; rather, teams are more or less virtual. This study defines virtuality as the… Mehr zeigen

The use of virtual teams is widespread and growing in importance. Yet, our knowledge about virtual teams has lagged behind their use. In research, virtual teams have often been treated as undifferentiated entities, resulting in a lack of comparability between studies, inconsistent findings, and an inability to replicate findings.
I argue that the virtual versus face-to-face team dichotomy is a false dichotomy; rather, teams are more or less virtual. This study defines virtuality as the degree of distance a team experiences, using Ghemawat's C.A.G.E. framework to identify four dimensions of distance: cultural, administrative, geographic, and economic. Virtuality is operationalized as a multidimensional continuous construct. Further, a model of virtual team effectiveness is proposed and is empirically tested. This complex, open systems model posits that all the dimensions of virtuality negatively impact team effectiveness. However, if sociotechnical systems are optimized, they may moderate the negative effects of virtuality, whereas, environmental turbulence may exacerbate the negative effects of virtuality.
The virtual team effectiveness model was evaluated via a cross-sectional study of existing teams in organizations. I found some support for the idea that virtuality is a multidimensional construct comprised of four independent dimensions. Further, there was some evidence which supported the hypotheses that cultural, administrative, and economic distance are negatively related to team effectiveness. Some evidence substantiated the moderating effect of optimized sociotechnical systems on the virtuality-effectiveness relationship. Significant evidence was found for the moderating effects of environmental turbulence on the virtuality-effectiveness relationship. A significant relationship was found between organizational context, team size, some dimensions of virtuality, optimized sociotechnical systems, environmental turbulence, and team viability.
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